UZBEKISTAN: OFFICIALS FORCING ENTERTAINERS TO SING PRAISES TO THE GOVERNMENT — OR ELSE

Eurasia Insight
ticles/eav100609b.shtml
10/06/09

As it struggles to keep a lid on political dissent while also trying
to keep the wheels from coming off the economy, the government of
Uzbekistan is co-opting the country’s entertainment industry. Local
show-biz personalities are being forced to conform to the state’s
wishes, and those who don’t get with the program are having the plugs
pulled on their careers.

The experience of Yulduz Usmanova, dubbed Uzbekistan’s "Madonna,"
highlights the extent of Uzbek government meddling in show
business. Usmanova became a household name across Central Asia by
producing more than a dozen albums and selling close to 5 million
copies by 2008. But early that year she went into exile in Turkey,
complaining of political persecution.

"I am an artist, and art needs freedom. What bothers me is this: why
do politicians keep interfering in art? I can’t comprehend this,"
Usmanova, a former MP, told Voice of America’s Uzbek Service last
year. "As an artist, I need to perform. I left the country because
[politicians] did not understand this."

Her problems with Uzbek authorities began in late 2006, she said,
after she toured Turkmenistan without obtaining official authorization.

Usmanova’s rise to fame coincided with the dramatic expansion of
Uzbekistan’s entertainment industry during the 2000s. A wide array of
performers — ranging from the singers of traditional Uzbek folk songs
to rappers emulating American stars like Eminem — began gobbling up
airtime on Uzbek TV and radio channels.

The country’s film industry began flourishing as well. According to
2008 statistics released by UzbekKino ("Uzbek Film"), the national
agency overseeing the Uzbek film industry, there are close to 50
private film studios in the country. In 2008 they produced 48 films,
compared with 30 in 2006, 20 in 2005, and a mere dozen between 1991
and 2000.

The rise in popularity of Uzbekistan’s entertainment industry did
not go unnoticed by President Islam Karimov’s administration. In
recent years, the government has drafted actors, pop singers, poets,
and even comedians into state service, forcing them to perform in
agit-prop campaigns to promote Uzbek state ideology.

There are two state agencies — the National Coordination Committee on
Music, established in 2001, and UzbekNavo, an agency formed in 2004
that has the authority to license or ban artists — that Karimov’s
administration relies on to act as enforcers. According to several
Uzbek journalists who spoke to EurasiaNet on condition of anonymity,
UzbekNavo and UzbekKino effectively serve as censors, ensuring that
Uzbek performers toe the state line. Additionally, the entities oblige
performers to participate in state-sponsored rallies and campaigns
designed to promote patriotism.

"There is an unwritten law here that is rigorously enforced . . . At
least 30 percent of the repertoire must be patriotic," a Tashkent-based
singer told the Ferghana.ru news agency on condition of anonymity in
a September 2007 interview.

According to one Tashkent-based journalist, artists who are willing
to cooperate with the administration can enjoy free airtime on
state-controlled television and radio stations, free use of concert
venues, government-funded tours abroad, access to cheap property in
posh neighborhoods, and other privileges.

On the other hand, the government has applied bureaucratic force to
punish less cooperative artists. In addition to Usmanova’s high-profile
ban, Sherali Juraev, a prominent performer of traditional Uzbek folk
songs, was barred from appearing on Uzbek television and radio stations
because of his alleged political unreliability. Other performers have
been harassed, physically assaulted and even jailed. For example,
Dadahon Hasanov, a celebrated Uzbek lyricist, has languished in prison
since 2006 after releasing songs that criticized the government’s
handling of the May 2005 Andijan massacre. [For background see the
Eurasia Insight archive].

In some cases, authorities have punished performers for having
personal connections to government critics. In 2002, for instance,
another popular female singer who goes by the name Shaxzoda was
banned from Uzbek television. Though officials declined to provide a
reason, according to unofficial reports, Shaxzoda’s father, Bahodir
Musayev, was an independent political analyst critical of the Uzbek
government. Shaxzoda made a comeback in 2003 after she reportedly
renounced all links with her father.

Uzbek fans suggest that since the chief qualification for mainstream
success in the Uzbek entertainment industry these days is patronage,
not talent, dilettantes are proliferating. One Tashkent observer
described it this way to EurasiaNet: Uzbek singers "are like mushrooms
that pop up after a rain. Some of them are talented, but a lot of
them are on TV because of their connections and money. If you have
a lot of money, you can also become famous now."

The government’s meddling in the entertainment industry is annoying
ordinary fans. "Singers like Yulduz [Usmanova] and Sherali [Juraev]
are different from the singers on TV these days. They have genuine
popularity because their songs appeal to the hearts of ordinary
people," one Usmanova fan told EurasiaNet. "It’s sad that Yulduz
is gone."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress