SINGING CENTRAL ASIA: UNCOVERING KAZAKH AND UZBEK ESTRADA

Abstract

It would have been absurd if it wasn’t quite so sincere: at least seven Kazakhstani composers sitting in a conference room, drawing up lists of people I needed to interview for my dissertation chapter comparing Uzbek and Kazakh estrada, a difficult-to-define genre of music one of my interlocutors had called “pop music in a planned economy.” These were all members of Kazakhstan’s Association of Composers – or at least people who worked in the same building. And they were thrilled that I was working on estrada. For at least two hours, I took notes as each one scrolled through their contacts list to determine who among their classmates and former colleagues were now suitable interview subjects. I might have been embarrassed to have taken so much of their time if I wasn’t so grateful.