Draft:Razia Sultanova

• Comment: Excessive primary sources as shown in the references are not suitable for Wikipedia. LR.127 (talk) 03:58, 25 August 2024 (UTC)

• Comment: The bio is unsourced - only the publications have sources KylieTastic (talk) 18:16, 24 August 2024 (UTC)

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Dr Razia Sultanova (Uzbekistan/UK) is an ethnomusicologist, dutar performer and cultural anthropologist at the University of Cambridge, and a leading international expert specialising in the study of Central Asian music in its social and cultural contexts.

Sultanova's expert knowledge of this field stems from her native background. As an Uzbek with part Tatar heritage, born in Vladivostok during the time of the Soviet Union, she grew up in Ferghana Valley (Uzbekistan), witnessing firsthand many forms of traditional music and rituals. She dedicated her life to their in-depth study and recording, helping to preserve this valuable heritage for future generations. Upon graduating from the Uzbek State Conservatory in Tashkent, she completed her PhD at the Moscow State Conservatory, where she was awarded the position of Visiting Professor. During her postgraduate work at the Moscow Arts Study Institute, Razia developed the theory of music relating to the centuries-old Central Asian court music culture of Shashmaqam, resulting in her monograph on Rhythm of Shashmaqam (1988).

Following a networking and editorial role at the Union of the Soviet Composers and the Russian Institute of Arts Studies in Moscow, she moved to UK in 1994, where she worked at the University of London and from 2008, at the University of Cambridge.

Sultanova is the author of four books and five edited volumes (in Russian, French and English) on Central Asian and Middle Eastern music and gender, and music and Islam. She is internationally known for her work in the fields of religious belief and cultural heritage of Central Asian music and dance, in its theoretical and methodical approaches, with particular focus on the role of women; work, which has been enabled over the years by more than twenty grants and fellowships at the AHRC, EHRC, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Institut Français d'Etudes sur l'Asie Centrale, the British Council and the British Academy, among others. She has been at the forefront of introducing and raising profile of traditional Central Asian music to international audiences through her numerous lectures, talks, articles, dutar performances, TV and radio interviews, books, recordings and collaborations, such as with Peter Wiegold at the BBC Proms in 2007, where Sultanova secured UK's first public appearance for a group of Karnay musicians from Tashkent, performing alongside European brass instruments, for a UK-wide audience. She has also organised other numerous concerts and workshops showcasing traditional Uzbek music and renowned Uzbek musicians at academic institutions and cultural venues in the UK and across the world.

Sultanova is a distinguished musicologist and social scientist with an international reputation, whose body of works spanning over 40 years is notable for its insight and expertise on the subject. Her research is set apart by the direct access she receives as a native female into the otherwise hidden Islamic female quarters of households across Central Asia, and her personal connections and professional relationships with performers, instrument makers and music professionals across the region. Through years of research, study and dedicated fieldwork, she has helped to serve the global music heritage conservation agenda. In 2002, due to her insider expertise and as part of her conservation efforts, Sultanova assisted the Horniman Museum with procuring a collection of more than 100 Central Asian musical instruments and accompanying videos of instrument-making and rituals for a collection entitled "The Rhythms of Life"[1], where it remains exhibited as part of the extensive World instrument collection, educating generations of visitors about the music of Central Asia.

Sultanova held the post of Vice President of the International Council for Traditional Music from 2015-2019, during which she organised and coordinated the 43rd ICTM World Conference in Astana (Kazakhstan) with over 600 participants from 70 countries. In 2006, she also founded the ICTM study group on Music of the Turkic-Speaking World, at SOAS, University of London, which she chaired until 2019. She currently chairs the ICTM's study group on Global History of Music.

In 2019, as a leading expert in her field, Sultanova was tasked with collating and editing an encyclopaedia entitled Islam & Music of the Turkic Speaking World , a project supported by Cambridge Muslim College [2].

Sultanova is affiliated to University College Cork (Ireland) and the University of Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), and is currently a Visiting Professor at Khoja Ahmet Yassawi Kazakh-Turkish University (Turkistan, Kazakhstan) and at the Kazakh National University of Arts (Nur-Sultan). Previously, she held the post of Research Fellow at Goldsmith's College and at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London.

Her most recent book published in 2023, entitled: "Afghanistan Dispossessed - Women, Culture and the Taliban", focuses on the plight of musicians and women under the Taliban rule and is the result of her fieldwork in Afghanistan during times of political upheaval.

Sultanova's greatest contribution to Music of Central Asia lies in raising awareness and profile of Central Asian music among audiences and scholars across the globe, facilitating its proliferation, study and preservation, earning her international acclaim. She has supported a new generation of musicologists branching out into the field of Central Asian Music, like Tanya Merchant, in the capacity of teacher and mentor. As a Chair of Study groups on global forums and in her role as a Professor, Sultanova has been actively building collaboration around the subject throughout the academic circles, conserving the musical and traditional cultural heritage of the entire Central Asian region, with her works profiling countries and people groups in the area spanning from Afghanistan to Siberia. Over the past 40 years, her writings, recordings, performances and lectures have been enabling the audiences to experience the Music of Central Asia in an accessible and informative way.

Selected Publications

• "The Rhythms of Shashmaqam"
• "Usul and Rhythm in Shashmaqam"
• "From Shamanism to Sufism: Women Islam and Culture in Central Asia"
• "Sacred Knowledge: Schools or Revelations
• "Turkic Soundscapes: From Shamanic Voices to Hip-Hop."
• "Afghanistan Dispossessed - Women, Culture and the Taliban"

Selected publications in ethnomusicological journals

"Music and Identity in contemporary Central Asia and guest-editor for "Ethnomusicology Forum", "Entre Femmes", and "Yearbook for Traditional Music" with Timothy Rice.