By the way, for those who read Uzbek, apparently Shoxruhxon, Shohrur, Bojalar, and Jo’rabek have had their licenses to perform in public revoked due to an article by Alijon Eshboy are mindless drivel incomprehensible to Uzbeks to paraphrase my Uzbek instructor (who sent me this and summarized the article for me). The person who told him about this also said that he is sure the artists have been banned from television as well. Does anyone know anything about that? Anyhow, the speculation is that this is all to keep these musicians out of the running for a spot in the Independence Day concert.
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Nathan Hamm – author of 2040 posts on Registan.net.
Nathan founded Registan.net in 2003. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan 2000-2001 and received his MA in Central Asian Studies from the University of Washington in 2007. Since 2007, he has worked full-time as an analyst, consulting with clients on Central Asian affairs, specializing in how socio-cultural factors shape risks and opportunities. Follow him on Twitter or drop him a line.
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As if the Uzbek government wasn’t bad enough without the addition of Simon Cowell as Minister of Culture. What’s Uzbek for “I’m sorry Paula – you must have ears of tin; that was appalling!”
poor guys! It’s really something, the way the gov’t essentially picks who gets to be a pop star. Does that go under the Ministry of Culture? Thanks for the info – I’ll try to get my teacher to help me read the original article.