Faizullo Karomatov’s Contribution to the Study of the Musical Heritage of Bakhshi in the South of Uzbekistan

Abstract

Musical culture of Uzbekistan has a rich tradition and several
thousand years old history. The musical heritage of Uzbek people exists
today in all the variety of genres. One of the important places in it
belongs to dastan (epic poems) and to creativity of bakhshi. Nowadays
the epic poems (legends), as a part of intangible cultural heritage, have
been included into the treasure of the world culture.The great attention
is paid to the creativity and activities of the dastan performers, to their
heritage by scholars in Uzbekistan. The study of the musical heritage of
dastans is in many ways associated with the research and field works of
musicologist and folklorist F. M. Karomatov (Karomatli). The name of prof.
Faizullah Muzaffarovich Karomatli (Karomatov) is inextricably linked with
the development of Uzbek musicology in the second half of the 20th and
early 21st centuries. He is the author of numerous research articles and
monographs related to maqamat and folklore of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
He also has been an organizer of the symposiums, research conferences
and seminars, guide for musicologists from different countries of the
world. This article is dedicated to some aspects of the research activities of
prof. F. Karomatli related to the study of epic tradition of south Uzbekistan.