Shoista Mullojonova
Shoista Mullojonova |
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Shoista Mullojonova (Tajik: Шоиста Муллоҷонова) (born September 3, 1925) is a famous Bukharian Jewish Shashmakom singer. She won many awards and titles in her career including the prestigious "People's Artist of the Republic of Tajikistan" and "Merited Artist of the USSR". To this day, she is regarded as one of the greatest singers of the USSR and of Tajikistan and her recordings are still preserved in the archives of Tajikistan. Her surname was originally spelled as Mullodzhanova (Russian: Муллоджанова).
Her nephew, Yudik Mullodzhanov, is a singer, and her niece, Rosa Mullodzhanova, is known as an "Honored Artist of Tajikistan".[1]
Biography
Early life
Mullojonova was born as "Shushana" in Dushanbe, Tajikistan to a religious Bukharian Jewish family. Her mother, Sivyo Davydova, was from Samarkand and her father, Ruben originally came from Bukhara. Her family traces its ancestry to an artistocratic Levite tribe that has been into performing and entertaining since the time of the First and Second Temple in Jerusalem.[2]
Her family is full of entertainers (actors, singers, and musicians), so singing was in her blood. In 1924, her parents and older siblings (Ribi, Levi, Itzakh, Roshel, Zulai) moved from Uzbekistan to Tajikistan, where Shoista was born a year later. She learned to speak fluent Bukhori, a dialect of the Persian language, and Russian. Her mother was also a singer and her whole family was into music and acting. She graduated from the Stalinabad Women's Pedagogical School in 1943 and studied at the Moscow Conservatory from 1947 to 1953.[3]
Career
Mullojonova had her debut at age 8 when she sang on Dushanbe radio. During the beginning of her career, in the early 1940s, she sang all over Central Asia and the Middle East. While in secondary school, beginnining in 1941, she was part of the Rubab Player Ensemble in Tajikistan's Ensemble. [2] In 1945, she sang in Iran for the royal Shah family, including Reza Shah the Great, and for the Iranian audience in her native Persian language. She was also named "Merited Artist of Tajikistan" at the tender age of 20.[4]
By the mid-1940s, Shoista was Tajikistan's first Shashmakom princess (equivalent to a pop princess). After graduating cum laude from Moscow Conservatory in 1953, she performed at the Aini Theater for Opera and Ballet. The roles that she developed there include Mahin in Tohir va Zuhro (Tohir and Zuhro) by A. Lenskii; Gulizor in Shurishi Vose (The Vose Uprising) by S. Balasanian; Marfa in Arusi Shoh (The Bride of the King) by Rimsky-Korsakov, and others.[5]
Through the years, she sang Shashmakom music all over the Soviet Union and made a wonderful living. She was named the "People's Artist of Tajikistan", in 1957 and Merited Artist of the USSR ([3]). From the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s, she was a soloist vocalist for the Tajik State Philharmonic. Mullojonova sang music of all other Soviet republics and of Eastern people. She always preferred the music of the Eastern and Tajik people. In 1975, she was named senior instrutor at the Tajikistan State Institute of Arts. [4]
In addition to being a People's Artist and Merited Artist, she received the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner of Labor, two Order of the Badge of Honor, four medals, and the Honorary Order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of Tajikistan and other republics. In the 1980s, Mullojonova earned a reputation for being the Queen of Tajik Music. She sang in Central Asia and all over the former Soviet Union for more than 50 years.
Personal Life and Later Career
Mullojonova was married to Efrem Haritonovich Benyaev until his death in 1999. They have three children: Ana (a businesswoman who lives in Forest Hills, NY), Negmat (a doctor, based in Moscow), and Sofia (a doctor based in Austria). In 1991, Shoista and her family began to move from Central Asia, to the United States because of the Collapse of the Soviet Union and the start of the civil war and rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Tajikistan. The family settled in Forest Hills, New York.[6]
After emigrating to New York, Mullojonova joined the Bukharan Ensemble, founded by Fatima Kuinova, "Merited Artist of the Soviet Union". After her husband, Efrem Haritonovitch Benyaev, died, she dedicated an album in memory of her husband. In September 2005, in Forest Hills High School, Mullojonova came out to sing for a crowd of audience who all came to celebrate her 80th birthday, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Governor George Pataki, President Emomalii Rahmon of Tajikistan, and Boris Kandov, President of the Bukharian Jewish Community. Aged 80 she was able to touch people with her singing and remind them that she is singing for each and every one of them, as she says, "I am singing for you."
Boris Kandov published a biography about Shoista Mullojonova, entitled "Born to Sing", as well as making a documentary about the legendary singer. In March 2008, Mullojonova performed at the Golden Ilyas Awards Ceremony singing "Ey Dukhtari Nozanini Qadras" (Persian for "Hey, Beautiful Girl, All Grown Up) and received an award. The concert was held in honor of renowned Bukharian poet, musician, and playwright, Ilyas Malayev.[7]