Tokhtasyn Dzhalilov

Born 1896 in Andizhan; died May 10, 1966, in Tashkent. Soviet composer. People’s Artist of the Uzbek SSR (1937). Member of the CPSU from 1942.

From 1925 to 1927, Dzhalilov played the gizhak (a three-stringed viol) with an Uzbek folk group directed by Kh. Khamza. In 1929 he began composing, writing the music for the stagings of S. Abdulla’s The Gardener’s Daughter and Iashen’s Comrades. In 1935 he participated in a folk dance and music competition in London. From 1934 to 1936, Dzhalilov was musical director of the Ia. M. Sverdlov Tashkent Musical Theater and from 1937 to 1940, artistic director of the Tashkent Philharmonic Society. Between 1940 and 1949 he directed the Mukimi Theater of Musical Drama. His musical compositions include the opera Takhir and Zukhra (with B. Brovtsyn; first version, 1949; second version, 1955) and the musical dramas Oikhon (1929), Kurban Umarov (with la. Sharafutdinov, 1941), and Mukimi (with G. A. Mushel’, after S. Abdulla’s play). In addition to these, he composed many choral works and songs. Musical folklore is widely used in his works. A deputy to the third convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the Uzbek SSR, Dzhalilov was awarded the Order of Lenin, three other orders, and various medals.