Madonna of Central Asia wades into ethnic conflict through pop song

As in any conflict, all aspects of society are eventually drafted in to make their contribution. The lastest fighting between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz is no exception. As reported in Central Asian news websites, the 'Madonna of Central Asia', the extremely popular Uzbek singer Yulduz Usmonova has released a song called Kyrgyzlarga (To the Kyrgyz), where she asks “What was this bloodshed for? Don’t you have a conscience? Ah, my Kyrgyz, how cheaply you’ve sold yourselves and destroyed your wellbeing.” She also hinted at reports that the violence was instigated by provocateurs who paid locals to take part in attacks on Uzbek neighborhoods: “Don’t trust every hand that gives you bread; don’t rejoice in victory for nothing. You’ve inflicted pain on the souls of my Uzbek people; don’t regret it tomorrow.” Now this is something I believe is true. Usmonova goes on to sing “If you kill and strangle each ethnic group, who will stay in the land of the Kyrgyz?” Usmonova asks in the song, to accompanying images of people fleeing, people in burnt-out houses, APCs driving through city streets and houses belonging to ethnic Uzbeks painted with SOS signs in a desperate plea for help. Here's the song:

Naturally the Kyrgyz are not answering Usmonova's questions and see this as a provocation. What I expect now is that Kyrgyz pop singers will sing something just as provocative in response, and there, a pop war. I've seen this happen in all Balkan conflicts, resulting in some of the scariest lyrics ever I've ever heard.

When you have pop stars and conflict, soon after come the bitchy comments. In response to Usmonova's song, Kyrgyz composer Gulshair Sadybakasova wrote “Better a slave who has a motherland than a singer who has no motherland.” Meow! This is a direct reference to the fact that Yulduz Usmonova now lives in Turkey where she has expanded her already successful career to become a high profile star there.

So how come Yulduz Usmonova is considered the 'Madonna of Central Asia'? She was born in Marghilan, Uzbekistan in 1963 to a poor Uzbek family of silk factory workers . Her talents as a singer and composer were discovered quite early with her big break coming in 1991 when debuting at the Voice of Asia song competition held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, she won with the hit 'Kyzyl alma' (Red Apple). Her powerful delivery and exuberance on stage, added with her compositions displaying an intoxicating mix of traditional Uzbek music with Russian and Western pop landed her with a huge fanbase not only in Uzbekistan and neighbouring countries, but eventually among the World Music scene. Her third album 'Jeli jeli' was released by a Dutch label and soon after her songs were being copied and sung into many other languages, most famous of which was the signature Alabina song by Ishtar. Here is the original by Yulduz:

And here is the Ishtar version released four years after

Due to her popularity, she was courted by Uzbek president Islom Karimov. Usmonova was invited to write the anthem for the newly independent Uzbekistan and was also a deputy in the Uzbek (rubber stamp) parliament. Now this wouldn't be Central Asia if there was no nepotism - Yulduz's daughter Nilufar also has become a pop singer though decidedly more Western in approach than her mother.

Despite being quite close to the Uzbek leadership in the 1990s, Usmonova did have fall outs with the authorities. As I have written before about the importance of politicial patronage with the careers of music stars in the former Eastern bloc, Usmonova is no exception, who has seen her career rise and fall in Uzbekistan in accordance with the level of favour she showed to Karimov's dictatorial government. In Uzbekistan, where freedom of expression is tightly restricted, singers often use the arts to address political themes. She wrote the song "I Won’t Give You to Anyone, Uzbekistan" after a series of terrorist bombings in Tashkent in February 1999, earning her brownie points. However Usmonova turned against Karimov in 2005 after the bloody crackdown on opposition forces in her home region of the pious Ferghana Valley. Her opposition to the government was displayed in subtle ways, such as her greater use of Islamic imagery in her video clips, appearing increasing more in full veil and her 2007 album was written using Cyrillic and not the officially sanctioned new Latin alphabet - all symbols of opposition. Her fall from grace came in 2008 when an arrest warrant was placed on her, which some in Central Asia speculated that this was more to discredit Usmonova not only for her increasing disloyalty but also to wipe out the competition to Karimov's despised daughter Gulnara Karimova who had decided then to become a pop star. Usmonova was arrested while singing at a wedding in the Kyrgyzstan capital Bishkek and was threatened with extradition. However she was able to make her way to Turkey where she has been based since. Usmonova has been on the record of saying that she moved in protest against the government’s efforts to exert control over artists’ creative independence. Her release of her second Turkish album in 2009 has made her immensely popular there. However, the release of this new Uzbek nationalist song against the Kyrgyz is seen as a mending fences exercise with the Uzbek authorities.

I had the rewarding opportunity to have seen Yulduz Usmonova perform live at a World Music Festival in Adelaide, Australia in 1998. It was amazing to see how many Uzbeks actually live in Adelaide, coming out en masse to see their superstar and elegantly dressed in colourful Uzbek-style glam - lots of colour! The group of obsessed Kylie-fan gay men with me instantly were mesmerised by Usmonova's enchanting performance style, energy and charisma. I'd love to see her again, though we'll see what her next step is. By making herself persona non grata in an increasingly polarised Kyrgyzstan, a rapprochment with her old political patron may now be on the cards, especially since the President's daughter quit singing.

Please enjoy my favourite Yulduz Usmonova song, released in 2000, called 'Dunyo' (World) featuring vocals by a South African choir. Magical!

Russian rocker latest darling of West

Yuri Shevchuk, legendary rock star famous for fronting the cult Soviet-era rock band DDT, has had a lot of press lately in the West over his opposition to Putin and how he is being excluded from TV and radio, in a pattern much like he faced during Soviet times. The West is using this as yet another example of how Putin's Russia is USSR 2.0. The reality is that it is true that Shevchuk is being shunned, but he is not unique nor is this purely a Russian phenomenon. As I have mentioned briefly in previous posts, just like under the former Communist regimes as today, political patronage is the most important factor to building a music career not only in Russia but in practically all former Eastern bloc countries undergoing democratisation. The Shevchuk experience is also being faced by artists in countries allied to the West such as Georgia, Ukraine and even current EU members.

While most musicians, singers and actors in the West are and can be apolitical, in the Eastern bloc that is just not possible. As a layover from Communist times when good politicial credentials was the main prerequisite for a long and fruitful career, the same still applies. That there is multi-party politics in most former Eastern bloc countries makes it even riskier than before. A singer must carefully chose for which political party he/she will sing for at politicial rallies during election campaigns. If that party wins and enters into government, expect to appear on TV quite a bit. On the otherhand, if a singer is identified with an opposition party, quite often they will face a difficult time appearing on TV, getting advertising and face punitive bureaucratic hassles. A firm example of making and breaking political patronage in Eastern Europe came with Ukraine's selection of its representative for Eurovision this year. At first the relatively unknown singer Vasyl Lazarovych was announced as Ukraine's singer and that a competition would be held to pick a song for him. Lazarovych happened to be close friends with the government-appointed Director of the Ukrainian national broadcasting station, the organisation responsible for Ukraine's selection for Eurovision. When elections in March saw the pro-Western Yushchenko government ousted for pro-Russian parties led by Yanukovych, as is often the case with political appointees, the Ukrainin TV director was quickly replaced with a new person close to the new government. Also to go was Lazarovych as a supposed anti-corruption measure (Lazarovych was selected as he would self-fund his Eurovision campaign), but most people in Eastern Europe saw the real reason for this sacking of sorts was that he was too closely identified as a Yushchenko supporter. A new competition to select a new song was quickly organised, heavily featuring singers who had been sidelined under the previous government and consequently sung on the election campaign for political parties that eventually formed the new government. Another obscure singer won the competition and went on to sing at Eurovision.

Ukraine is not alone in having had politically motivated selections for representatives. Bulgaria's singer at Eurovision 2008 worked as an assistant to the head of Bulgarian National TV and was an member of the youth wing of the then ruling Socialist Party. Macedonia's 2000 entry featured the cat screeching of 'I lurve you a hundert persent yes ay du' by XXL, a girl band whose members happen to be the daughters of high ranking functionaries tied to Macedonia's then ruling party. While the Serbo-Montenegrin entrants in 2005, 6 boys hoddled together as boy band 'No Name' were all sons of businessmen with very close relations with the sleazy and very corrupt Montenegrin president Milo Djukanović.

As always, politics and music go hand in hand. It's no surprise that many of Russia's top singers of Russia happen also to be members of Putin's Edinnaya Rossiya (United Russia) party, much like how many were Communist Party members back in the day. In Serbia, the pink-haired turbofolk singer Zorica Brunclik will always be associated with her membership in the much despised JUL party led by Milošević's wife Mira Marković. Being close to the ruling family awarded Brunclik with heavy exposure on the government controlled media, a string many surprising number one hits and even a short stint as Minister of Culture. After Milošević was toppled in October 2000, so too did Brunclik's profile and career, disappearing from public sight due to her close connections with the old regime and not daring to reappear on the idiot box until many years later, and that being only on local provincial stations. Brunclik recently appeared on a celebrity reality TV show, helping her to resurrect her career, though she had to face a barrage of criticism due to her past political allegiances while being followed by the cameras.

Now don't think that all this only applies to the Eastern Bloc. Country stars the Dixie Chicks faced a major backlash after their very public opposition to the US invasion of Iraq and disapproval of George W. Bush. The US government were not behind this, but many political elements close to the then administration were responsible for villifying the country music band.

Relatively speaking, it would have been better if Shevchuk was the unique case that the Western media would like us to believe. However, the reality is that in any political system, if you want to go far, best toe the line.

You're behaving like Miloš Bojanić!

As I reported a few days ago about Serbian turbofolk star and now reality show winner, Miloš Bojanić, the latest of the pathological lies typical of the backwardness of his Balkan rural mentality is that he defeated Ceca at the Poselo 202 song festival in 1995. In reality, Ceca defeated Bojanić by 4 votes, but details have never been a strong point with him, even if the Serbian press has splashed the truth across its pages.

Poselo 202 was the name of a folk music programme on Radio Belgrade in the 1980s and 1990s instrumental in promoting turbofolk and, eventually, Serbian nationalism. Every year in January Poselo 202 would organise a grand concert to pick its singer of the year. 15,000 Serbs would pour in to sing the hits of their favourite turbofolk stars and be intoxicated in the frenzy of locally-made celebrity, music and national pride. A scary example of this madness is when in 1992, while heavy fighting engulfed Vukovar, Rade Vučković, Zoran Kalezić and Čobi whipped the Serbian audience into nationalist delirium with their song 'U boj, u boj, u boj!' (To Battle, To Battle, To Battle)

In the interview at the end of the clip, though he gives praise to Arkan's men in fighting the Croatians, there seems to be a sense of sadness and regret in Vučković's voice, somewhat suggesting that he wrote the song more as a way to keep with the madness of the time than anything else. As has always been the case in Eastern Europe, a music career has always depended on political patronage.

Once the Balkan wars of the early 90s finished, so did Poselo's purpose and slowly withered away.