Komiljon Otaniyozov

Komiljon Otaniyozov (in Russian Kamildzhan Ataniyazov) was born in 1917 in the village of Buyrachi in the Khanate of Khiva, now in the Shovot district of Khorezm region. He learned the Khorezm song tradition from Matpano Khudoyberganov and the performance of dastans from Bola-bakhshi. In the 1930s he began singing complex folk songs and epic poems.

From 1936 to 1952 he worked as a singer and actor in the theatres of Khorezm region, playing Farhad in Farhad and Shirin, Tahir and Parfi-hafiz in Tahir and Zuhra, Qodir in Gulsara and the title role in Davron ota. In 1949 he formed a song and dance ensemble at the Khorezm regional theatre and organised concerts; that year he was named People's Artist of the Uzbek SSR. He later graduated from the Tashkent music school (1955) and studied at the conservatory (1955–1956).

From 1957 to 1975 he was a soloist of the Uzbek State Philharmonic. In 1957 he founded the Khorezm song and dance ensemble at the Philharmonic, now known as the Lazgi ensemble, and was its artistic director in 1957–1959 and 1963–1968. In 1967 he set up a folklore ensemble at the Tashauz drama theatre in Turkmenistan, and in 1973–1974 the Feruz ensemble in the Shovot district. He was also named People's Artist of the Turkmen SSR (1964) and of the Karakalpak ASSR (1968), and toured countries of Asia.

Otaniyozov was among the first to perform Uzbek songs solo on the professional stage with accompaniment on the tar, and he composed and arranged his whole programme himself. He brought the poetry of the Turkmen poets Makhtumkuli and Mollanepes into Uzbek music and also sang the ghazals of Sufi poets such as Mashrab, Huvaydo and Gʻoyibiy. He became famous for performing Khorezm suvoras and maqoms, and is described as the only singer to have performed the 6.5 Khorezm maqoms in full.

As a composer he wrote the songs "Salom, senga Xorazmdan" (Greetings from Khorezm), "Muborak", "Vatan" (Homeland), "Olqish", "Temir yo'l" (The Railway), "O'zbekiston" and "Xorazm", and, with A. Stepanov, the musical dramas Aziz and Sanam and Ashiq Gharib, and with S. Hayitboyev The Last Khan. His song "Dog'man" and others were later taken into the repertoire of Fakhriddin Umarov, T. Qodirov, Sherali Jo'rayev and other singers.

His pupils include Olmakhon Khayitova, Atajon Khudoyshukurov and Bobomurod Hamdamov. Komiljon Otaniyozov died in Tashkent on 5 November 1975.

In 2000 he was posthumously awarded the Order of Outstanding Merit. For the centenary of his birth (2017), a park of culture and recreation named after him was rebuilt in the Shovot district, and in Urgench a park and creative centre bearing his name were laid out and a house-museum opened.