Theatre, music and new art forms

According to the textbook, folk theatre was performed in Bukhara, Khiva and Kokand by masxarabozes, puppeteers and comedians; in their shows miserly rich men, half-literate mullas and careerist beks were ridiculed. In the second half of the 19th century the associations of Zokir Eshon in Kokand and To‘la masxara in Bukhara became famous, and the puppet theatre had the figure of Kachal Polvon. In the colonial period Russian theatres arrived: in 1870 the Samara theatre and in 1910 the troupe of V. Komissarzhevskaya toured; in 1910–1912 Tatar and Azerbaijani troupes toured; U. Hajibeyov’s musical works (“Leyli and Majnun”, and later “Arshin mal alan”, written in 1913) were also warmly received. In 1911 the first written national stage works were created: Behbudiy’s “Padarkush”, A. Samadov’s “Mahramlar” and Fitrat’s debate piece. The first Uzbek national theatre was formed in Samarkand under Behbudiy and staged “Padarkush” in early 1914; in early 1914 Abdulla Avloniy formed the “Turon” troupe in Tashkent, whose tours in 1915 were successful; in 1916 an amateur theatre was organised in Kokand under Hamza and staged the play “Zaharli hayot yoxud ishq qurbonlari”. From 1916 Mannon Uygur and the first Uzbek actress Ma’suma Qoriyeva appeared on stage. In Khiva the photographer Khudoybergan Devonov (1878–1940) began taking pictures in 1903. In music terma, songs, lapar, yalla, ashula, epics such as “Alpomish” and “Goroghli”, and maqoms were widespread; instruments included the gijjak, dutor, tanbur, rubob, nay, surnay, karnay, doira and others. In 1882 the khan of Khiva Muhammad Rahimkhan II (Feruz) issued a decree declaring the Khorezm maqoms the inviolable property of the people.