Ma'murjon Uzoqov

Ma'murjon Uzoqov was born on 20 April 1904 in the Mashhad quarter of Margilan, the son of Uzoqjon, a weaver, and Zebiniso. His father was a keen music lover who took the boy along to the gatherings of singers and players at the teahouse of the neighbouring Chorchinor quarter, and it was there that he first took to singing.

He began to sing under the influence of Margilan's renowned hafizes Mamatbuva Sattorov, Boltaboy Rajabov and Hamroqul Qori. From Hasan Qori he learned to play the dutar and to sing yalla, and from Jo'raxon Sultonov the demanding modes of katta ashula. As was customary, he sang with a partner: with the hafiz Xudoybergan Maqsumov in 1922–1925 and with Hasan Qori in 1926–1932. His early audiences were at weddings, open-air festivities and teahouse gatherings.

From 1933 to 1962 his constant partner was his teacher Jo'raxon Sultonov. Their duets in katta ashula and classical yalla made both singers known well beyond the Fergana Valley. At the 1937 festival of Uzbek art in Moscow they sang yallas such as “Ul parivash” and “Jonon” in the programme “Festivities and a Collective-Farm Wedding”. In 1937–1939 Uzoqov was a singer at the Margilan theatre, and in 1939 he received the title of People's Hafiz of the Uzbek SSR. That same year he performed at the concerts given for the builders of the Great Fergana Canal.

From 1939 to 1950 he worked as an actor and singer at the Muqimiy Musical Theatre in Tashkent. In Sobir Abdulla and To'xtasin Jalilov's musical drama “Tohir and Zuhra” he played first the Herald and later Tohir, although it was his singing rather than his acting that made his name. He was a soloist of the Uzbek Radio Committee in 1950–1952 and of the Uzbek State Estrada in 1952–1962, touring the republic and beyond, and sang at the 1959 festival of Uzbek literature and art in Moscow.

After the war he worked with the composer and rubab player Muhammadjon Mirzayev, who wrote songs for his voice such as “Yakka bu Farg'onada”, “Surating”, “Dog'man”, “Yor istab”, “Qachon bo'lg'aykim” and “Bir kelib ketsin”. Uzoqov was known for a high, rich and moving voice. His repertoire took in folk songs, yallas, katta ashula and classical pieces such as “Feruz” and “Mustahzod”, most often set to verses by Muqimiy, Furqat, Hamza, Habibiy and Sobir Abdulla. His performances were preserved in the Uzbek Radio archive and on 78 rpm records, and in 1982 Melodiya issued an LP of his archive recordings from 1953–1956.

Ma'murjon Uzoqov died in Margilan on 12 June 1963; by accounts, he was singing to the very end. He was buried in Margilan.

In 2000 he was posthumously awarded the Order “Buyuk xizmatlari uchun” (For Outstanding Merit) for his contribution to Uzbek national culture. In 2004, his centenary year, the Uzbek post issued a stamp bearing his portrait. A street, a children's music school and the city park of culture and recreation in Margilan bear his name, and since 1997 the town has held a singers' competition named after Jo'raxon Sultonov and Ma'murjon Uzoqov. His son Muhammadjon Uzoqov is an actor and singer, and his grandson Alisher Uzoqov is a film actor and director.