With her powerful voice coupled with the necessary feeling for nuance and a strong stage presence, the young vocalist Gulzoda Khudoynazarova made a powerful impressiion last year at Womex, the leading international celebration of world music. Gulzoda comes from Bukhara, together with Samarkhand the most important historical and cultural centre in Uzbekistan, where she studied traditional folk music and Shashmaqam at the state university of the Arts.

Shashmaqam was created in the city of Bukhara by musicians and singers from a variety of different origins and religions: Uzbeks, Tajiks and Jews. It is a refined style of music with texts from sufi poems about divine love. The instruments provide an austere accompaniment to the vocals. Shashmaqam means literally 6 maqams (modes) and the style has been included in UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage. Gulzoda is one of the most important voices of Central Asia.

 Gulzoda Khudoynazarova : vocals
 Bekzod Safarov : dutar (lute), tanbur
 Farruh Vohidov : gijjak (fiddle)
 Husniddin Atoev : artistic direction