Ari Babakhanov
Ari Babakhanov (born 1934) is a musician who performs the long-necked lutestanbur, qashqarirubab and dutar.
Biography
Babakhanov was born in Bukhara into a Jewish family which can look back on an outstanding dynasty of traditional musicians. It was founded by his grandfather Levi Babakhan (1873–1926), the legendary court vocalist of Alim Khan, the last emir of Bukhara. Levi Babakhan's son Moshe Babakhanov (1910–1983) was also a famous vocalist who accompanied himself on tanbur and doira.
In contrary to his grandfather and father Ari Babakhanov became a pure instrumentalist. After his musical studies according to the European curriculum at the Tashkentconservatory he graduated in 1959 with the state examination. Because of the Soviet cultural politics using the customary instruments was still permitted but mainly for a European repertoire. By the discrepancy between the monophonicUzbek music and the European polyphony these constraints led to an artificial cultural hybrid.
In spite of his artistic successes in Tashkent Ari Babakhanov returned to Bukhara, where he taught for the following 40 years at the music college. With the help of his father and musicians like Maarufjon Tashpulov, Najmiddin Nasriddinov und Aminjon Ismatov he gradually found back to the traditional Bukhara music, the Shashmaqam. He made it his life task to develop this art and achieved a unique contribution for keeping it by writing down an enormous number of notes and texts of Persian Poetry as well as popular Uzbek and Tajik poems. Hereby he revived a series of lost creations which had formerly belonged to the Shashmaqam repertoire. This basis inspired him to compose own instrumental pieces and songs in the traditional style of which several became very popular in Uzbekistan.
In 1991 he founded at the Bukhara Philharmonic Society the Shashmaqam Ensemble which grew within a few years from initially 10 to 19 members. Shortly afterwards the group under the artistic direction of Ari Babakhanov performed for the Uzbek radio and TV and established itself in the traditional music scene. In 1998 their CD Ari Babakhanov & Ensemble - Shashmaqam: The Tradition of Bukhara was published by New Samarkand Records.
ウズベキスタンの独立後、中央アジアの ブハラ系ユダヤ人コミュニティは移住によりほぼ分散してしまったため、アリ・ババカノフ氏の家族は新たな将来の展望を求めてドイツに移住し、現在はそこで暮らしている。
出典
で: <Stephan Trudewind、Ari Babakhanov、der Hüter der Musik des "Schaschmaqam" aus Bukara。Der Arabische Almanach - Zeitschrift für orientalische Kultur、2005/06、16. Jg.、Frank & Frei Verl.、ベルリン、ISSN 1432-0215>
収録：<Alexander Djumaev、Ari Babakhanov & Ensemble - Shashmaqam: The Tradition of Bukhara . CD-booklet、1999年、New Samarkand Records、アムステルダム>
