Domla Halim Ibodov

Domla Halim Ibodov (Ibadov) was born in Bukhara into a family of weavers and became a leading figure of the Bukharan school of Shashmaqom performance. From the age of ten he learned the doira from the singer and musician Usta Sharof, who introduced him to Shashmaqom and to the renowned performers Ota Jalol and Ota Giyos.

Before he was twenty he was a known singer in Bukhara and was already teaching pupils. In 1923 he travelled to the first agricultural exhibition in Moscow with Yusufjon Qiziq Shakarjonov, Mulla Tuychi Toshmuhammedov, Ghulam Zafariy and other artists, where their performances were well received.

When the institute of music and choreography opened in Samarkand in 1928 he was invited there; the musicologist N. N. Mironov notated many Shashmaqom pieces from him. In Samarkand he gave many concerts together with Hoji Abdulaziz Abdurasulov.

From 1931 he sang on Uzbek Radio. His performances of “Savti Sarvinoz”, “Qashqarchai ushshoq”, “Iroq”, “Nasrulloi”, “Mo‘g‘ulchai dugoh”, “To‘lqin” and “Navro‘zi Sabo” entered the radio’s golden fund. In 1933–1934 the musicologist Y. E. Romanovskaya notated a number of melodies and chants in his performance.

Ibodov took part in the republican arts congress of 1932, the first republican conference of artists in 1936 and the Decade of Uzbek Art in Moscow in 1937. His pupils included Yunus Rajabiy, Mukhtor Ashrafiy, Tolibjon Sodiqov and Mardon Nasimov; his son Olimjon Halimov became a People’s Artist and composer.

He was given the title People’s Hafiz of the Uzbek SSR. He died in 1940; an arts college in Bukhara bears his name.