Farogat Rakhmatova

Farogat Rakhmatova was born on 25 May 1926 in Karshi into the family of a cobbler. She went on stage early: in 1940, at the Kashkadarya theatre, she played Oymomo in the play “Yoriltosh”, which marked the start of her creative life.

She later appeared at the Bukhara theatre as Shirin (“Farhod and Shirin”) and Muhabbat (“Davron ota”). From 1942 she worked at the Yangiyul theatre named after the Tashkent Soviet (Tashsovet), where she created the roles of Guloyim (“Muqanna”), Zuhra (“Tohir and Zuhra”), Guljon (“Nasreddin in Bukhara”) and Oftobkhon (“Oftobkhon”). In 1944–1945 she studied on the preparatory course of the conservatory.

In 1948 the Tashsovet theatre was merged into the Muqimiy theatre, and from then on Rakhmatova was an actress of the latter. On its stage she played Barchin (“Alpomish”), Obida (“Mavlono Muqimiy”), Kumush (“The Girl from Zarafshan”), Risolat pari (“Toshbolta the Lover”), Sanam (“Aziz and Sanam”) and Zulkhumor (“Ravshan and Zulkhumor”), and later the Mother in “Muqaddas diyor” and Zubayda in “Devona”.

Rakhmatova was also known as a singer, performing songs such as “Diyorimsan”, “Go'zal”, “Tuprog'im mening”, “Yoring unutma”, “Yordan salom kelibdir”, “Vafo qilsa”, “Onajon”, “Unutma”, “Gul mavsumi” and “Dugoh”. As a young woman she drew attention with old Uzbek folk songs sung in the maqom manner.

She was an Honoured Artist of the Uzbek SSR, and in 1964 she was named People's Artist of the Uzbek SSR. In the independence years, in 1996, she received the Order “Mehnat shuhrati” (Labour Glory). For many years she taught maqom singing at a theatre institute, and at the theatre she helped young talents find their feet.

Farogat Rakhmatova died in 2014.