Enmark Salikhov

Enmark Shakirovich Salikhov was born on 12 September 1934 in Tashkent. In 1963 he graduated from the Tashkent Conservatory, in the composition class of B. I. Zeidman. He began his creative work in Uzbekistan in the 1950s, while still a conservatory student.

In the 1960s and 1970s he led several ensembles: he was artistic director of the variety-symphony orchestra of the Uzbek SSR's television and radio committee and worked at Uzbekkontsert and Uzgosestrada. He was the first artistic director and conductor of the National Variety-Symphony Orchestra of Uzbekistan, founded in 1964, and the first head of the department of the conservatory's variety and jazz faculty.

From 1971 he was executive secretary of the Union of Composers of the Uzbek SSR, and in 1975–1981 its chairman. From 1981 he headed the musical theatres department of the republic's Ministry of Culture. In 1984 he received the title Honoured Art Worker of the Uzbek SSR.

His songs include «Ballad of the Monument» (words by Alo Khojaev), «Song of Tashkent» and «Qiz bola», one of the first songs in the repertoire of the VIA «Yalla». He wrote scores for «Prozreniye» (1965), «Vesennyaya melodiya» (1978), «Zolotoye runo» (1981), «Shakaly» (1989) and other films. In 2005 he moved with his family to Russia; he died in 2022.