Munojat Yulchieva

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Munojat Yulchieva, in Uzbek Munojot Yoʻlchiyeva, is an Uzbek singer, born in 1960 in the Buloqboshi district in the Andijan region in the Fergana Valley. She sings classical Uzbek music and the related shashmaqom, the classical music in Persian. She is known for the distinctive colour of her voice and her natural presence. Her talent showed at an early age, and she almost became an opera singer, but the slow, aching music of her own ancient culture attracted her more strongly. Her first name means ascent to God, or simply prayer.

Music and breakthrough

She performs with her mentor, the rubab player Shawqat Mirzaev, and also sings his compositions. His ensemble uses Uzbek instruments such as the dutar, a long lute with two strings, the three-stringed tanbur, the ghijak, a bowed instrument with a spike, the frame drum doira and the ney, a flute, and sometimes the chang, a zither. At concerts abroad she stands out for her traditional dress and long braids down to her waist.

Influence

In 1990 she became Meritorious Artist of the Uzbek SSR, in 1994 People's Artist of Uzbekistan, and in 1997 she won the Sharq Taronalari festival. In 2005 she performed at the Austrian festival Glatt und Verkehrt. In 2021 she received the title Hero of Uzbekistan. Her music is best known from two recordings, for the French label Ocora in 1994 and for the German Network in 1997, under the title A Haunting Voice.

Listening