Berta Davidova

Berta Davidova (Davydova) was born on 20 December 1922 in Margilan into a family of Bukharan Jews. From 1935 to 1938 she studied at the Tashkent Medical Technical School and then worked as a nurse, first in a maternity hospital and, during the war, in a military hospital.

Her singing career began in the hospital, where she took part in amateur concerts for wounded soldiers. In 1943 she became a soloist of the choir of the Uzbek State Radio Committee and studied maqom with Yunus Rajabi.

She was the first woman entrusted with the solo sections (shubes) in a recording of the Bukhara Shashmaqom; before that, women had not performed maqom.

From 1960 she was the leading soloist of the maqom ensemble of Uzbek State Radio and Television, a collective she was tied to for more than forty years. With her lyric soprano she performed Munojot, Fig'on, Sarahbori Oromijon, Samarkand Ushshoq, Dugoh and Bayot-1; her recordings of Munojot from 1949 and 1975 are especially well known.

Davidova taught in the traditional performance department of the State Conservatory of Uzbekistan and passed on her skills to young singers. She also performed in remote towns and villages and before work collectives.

In 1959 she was awarded the Medal «For Labour Distinction», and in 1964 she received the title People's Artist of the Uzbek SSR; she was later given the Order «El-yurt hurmati».

She died on 11 August 2007 and was buried in the Bukharan Jewish cemetery (Allon district) in Tashkent. Her recordings are part of the Golden Fund of Uzbek radio; a memorial evening was held in 2013 at the Centre of National Arts, and her centenary was marked in 2022 at the Navoi Grand Theatre.