Orif Alimakhsumov

Orif Alimakhsumov was born on 21 May 1927 in Tashkent. He began as a working man: from 1944 to 1954 he was a weaver and then an assistant foreman at a Tashkent textile enterprise. He took his first singing lessons from his grandfather, Usta Qochqor, who taught him popular tunes and songs; he learned katta ashula from the singer Eshmat Haydarov and maqom melodies from Yunus Rajabi and Fakhriddin Sodikov.

In the mid-1950s he started performing on the Uzbek variety stage (the Uzbek Estrada Theatre, 1956–1957). In 1957 he was invited to the «Maqom» ensemble at Uzbek Radio, led by Yunus Rajabi. From then until 1986 he was a soloist of Uzteleradio; in 1976–1979 and 1983–1986 he directed the Yunus Rajabi maqom ensemble, and in 1979–1983 an ethnographic ensemble. In 1972–1978 he also led the maqom ensemble of the House of Culture in the town of Yangiyul.

In 1967 he graduated from the musical drama faculty of the Tashkent Theatre and Art Institute. His voice had a wide range, strong yet soft. He sang long pieces with high climaxes, katta ashula and maqom melodies with ease, and performed ghazals by Jami, Lutfi, Navoi, Babur, Mahmur, Mashrab, Ogahi, Nodira, Uvaysi, Muqimi and Furqat. On the radio he performed such maqom pieces as «Shahnozi Gulyor», «Mughulchai Navo», «Savti Kalon», «Girya», «Chorgoh» and «Dugoh Husayniy», as well as more than 200 works by Yunus Rajabi, Orifkhan Hotamov, Fakhriddin Sodikov and other composers.

In the films «Shashmaqom» and «Uzbek Folk Music» he performed maqom melodies and katta ashula, and he took part in the concerts of international music conferences in Moscow (1971) and Samarkand (1978, 1983). In 1977 he was named People's Artist of the Uzbek SSR.

Alongside performing he taught: at the Tashkent State Conservatory in 1983–1985 and from 1986 at the Tashkent State Institute of Arts, first as a senior lecturer and later as an associate professor. After independence he hosted the television programme «Otalar so'zi — aqlning ko'zi» («Words of the Fathers Are the Eyes of the Mind»).

After independence he received the Order «Sog'lom avlod uchun» (1997) and the Order «El-yurt hurmati» (2000). Orif Alimakhsumov died on 14 February 2005.