Ziyodullo Shahidi

The philosophical canvas of Ziyodullo Shahidi's Symphony of Maqams is common to the main part of his art. As a more clear cultural tradition, that cyclic type of thinking is the basis of his opera Komde & Madan. Parts of the opera were issued in Moscow at different times during the 60s and 70s, while the score was published in its entirety in 1982. The opera was recorded for Moscow radio under the direction of the well-known Russian conductor G. Rogdestvensky. As part of the repertoire of the Opera and Bali Theater in Dushanbe and Samarkand, it has been staged in our own time. The dancer Komde and the singer Madan, separated by the 'harem culture' of the rulers, form the nucleus of this narrative of two loving hearts. The spectacle itself has two main levels of perception: illustrative and symbolic.

The symphony Buzruk (1972) drew the attention of the former Soviet Union's leading musicians by virtue of the 'cordial warmth' of his interpretation. Another composition, the opera Komde and Madan (???), based on Abdulqadir Bedil's poem (17th century), linked classical Persian verse and modern musical symbols, while the opera Gulomon /'The Slaves'/ (1978), a new interpretation of the liberation movement of Central Asia of the turn of the century, utilized some key Tajik folklore. Symphony and Maqam represented a classical contradiction of the musical thought in East & West, as they were formations of two types of cultures which emerged in modern times in the process of liberalization from the political canons of contrasting systems. Ziyodullo Shahidi's contribution to that process was based on his own dramaturgy, coming from the other traditions of interconnection of a variety of things and thoughts.

After The Second World War, in 1946, a group of Tajik melodists entered Moscow Conservatory, but only one of them managed to graduate from that School of Music. He was Ziyodullo Shahidi (1914–1985). Merging maqam with symphony, he formalised modern Tajik music and became known as an outstanding figure of this form of synthesis. The reconciliation of different cultures as an idea goes back to the philosophy of Abu Ali ibn Sina (born in Bukhara in 980), known in Europe as Avicenna.

Ziyodullo Shahidi was born in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, at the beginning of the century. He overcame two crucial events in the culture of the region: the replacement of Arabic-based Persian and Turkish writing systems by Cyrillic, and the persecution of intellectuals - his father, Mucaddaskhan Shahidi, was murdered during the Bolshevistic terror of 1937. As an amateur musician, virtuoso in several traditional instruments, such as nay (flute), tanbur and dutar (a string instrument), he developed his musical gift in tours beyond Central Asia, and participated in the organisation of the modern theatres in Tashkent and Samarkand. Due to political events he moved to Dushanbe, where he found his own sphere of activity. In 1946, in his mature age, Ziyodullo Shahidi entered the Moscow Conservatory, where he plunged into the atmosphere of the complicated interconnections between the Russian, Caucasian and Central Asian traditions. The masters of musical thinking of that period were varied in their forms of expressions: Schostakovich, Khachaturyan, Khrennikow, Kara-Karaev, etc. His first chamber instrumental pieces, such as Rondo (1948), Concert for piano & violin (1949), were inspired by the search for new forms, styles, and expressions of modern music.

Ziyodullo Shahidi (May 4, 1914 – February 25, 1985) (Tajik: Зиёдулло Шаҳидӣ/Persian: زیادالله شهیدی) was a Tajik musician and father of Persian Symphonic Music in Tajikistan.