POLITICIAN AND DIPLOMAT (1965 - 1970). POPULAR MUSIC (BATYR ZAKIROV)
In the summer of 1966, the singer Batyr Zakirov gained one more victory for Uzbek (as well as Soviet) art on the international stage: he gave a concert in one of the most prestigious halls in Europe – Olympia in Paris.
In the late 1950s, Batyr Zakirov's fame as a singer was only beginning to rise. A decade later, this name was already known to millions of listeners. Records with Zakirov's songs were swept off the shelves like hotcakes, and he was a frequent guest on television. Two of his songs were especially popular – Habiba and The Girl and the Jug. There were records with these songs in my collection, too, and they were among the most listened to.
THESE ARE THE IMPRESSIONS OF THE MUSICOLOGIST I. VOLKOV: "THE SONG THE GIRL AND THE JUG BY T. BABAEV, WITH LYRICS FROM YU. ENTIN, IS IN THE ORIENT ROCK STYLE. IT TURNS OUT THAT BATYR ZAKIROV FEELS COMFORTABLE IN SONGS LIKE THIS, TOO. MOREOVER, HE NOT ONLY MAINTAINS THE STYLE AND RHYTHM BUT ALSO ADDS HIS OWN INDIVIDUAL PERFORMER'S FEATURES – OPENNESS, SPECIFICITY, PICTORIAL CONCRETENESS, AND PERSONIFICATION OF THE LYRICAL HERO... HE SINGS IT WITH SO MUCH PASSION AND BOLDNESS! IT SEEMS AS IF YOU REALLY SEE A CHEERFUL GUY FROM THE MOUNTAINS AND A TIMID, FRIGHTENED BEAUTY. AND THE PLAYFUL BACKING VOCALS OF LUIZA ZAKIROVA (BATYR'S SISTER) SEEM TO ENCLOSE THIS FUNNY PICTURE IN A FRAME OF A SMILING ORIENTAL ORNAMENT. THE SONG TURNED OUT TO BE VERY SUCCESSFUL
It should be noted that Zakirov's repertoire was truly international. It contained not only Uzbek and Russian songs but also Azerbaijani, Iranian, Afghan, Turkish, Indian, Greek, Italian, Spanish, French and other. And he sang them all in the original languages. Zakirov was also known in Uzbekistan as a talented writer: his stories and essays were published from time to time in various magazines. In addition, he translated into Uzbek The Little Prince by Antoine Saint-Exupery and The Shadow by Eugene Schwartz. Moreover, Zakirov was seriously interested in painting (as a young man, he even had to choose between being a singer or an artist).
IN THE AUTUMN OF 1968, A SIGNIFICANT EVENT TOOK PLACE IN THE SPORTS LIFE OF UZBEKISTAN: FOOTBALL TEAM PAKHTAKOR FROM TASHKENT, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ITS HISTORY, REACHED THE FINAL OF THE USSR CUP.
The road to this final turned out to be very difficult, but the Uzbek football players passed it with dignity. They beat Dinamo Batumi (2-0), Sokol Saratov (1-0) and Shakhtar Donetsk (2-1). In the end, on 8 November, on the pitch of the Central Stadium named after Lenin in Luzhniki, in front of 52,000 spectators, the Pakhtakor team played in the Cup final against the Moscow Torpedo (for the latter, that was already the 8th USSR cup final).
