Ilyas Malayev

Ilyas Malayev was born on 12 January 1936 in Merv (now Mary, Turkmenistan) into a Bukharan Jewish family. He grew up in Kattakurgan, where he learned the tar, tanbur and violin and studied shashmaqam, the classical music tradition of Bukhara.

In 1951 he moved to Tashkent and performed with state ensembles, including the ensemble of Tamara Khanum. He worked with the Uzbek Song and Dance Ensemble in 1952–1960, the Ensemble of Singers and Dancers of the Peoples of the World in 1953–1956, the folk and variety orchestras of Uzbekistan Radio in 1956–1962, and the Symphonic Variety Orchestra of Uzbekistan Radio from 1962 to 1992.

He became known as a variety performer and wedding entertainer, combining comic routines, poetry recitations, shashmaqam excerpts and his own songs. His stadium concerts drew tens of thousands of listeners.

He wrote poetry but was unable to publish it in the Soviet Union. After the breakup of the USSR he moved with his family in 1992 to Queens, New York, where a large Bukharan Jewish community was forming. In New York he published the poetry collections “Shiru shakar” (1994) and “Sadoi dil” (1990s) and formed a Maqom ensemble.

In 1997 the musicologist Walter Feldman told The New York Times that Malayev was one of perhaps half a dozen people in the world with such a deep knowledge of shashmaqam.

He died on 2 May 2008 in New York and was buried at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Queens. In 2011 an honorary concert marking what would have been his 75th year was held in Queens, with Bukharan Jewish and Uzbek performers.