Abstract
The article examines one of the oldest representatives of the instrumental school of the Bukhara Shashmaqom tradition, the tanburist Ma’rufjon Tashpulatov (1897–1982). Scholarly interest in his legacy stems from the insufficient study of his life and artistic career, the divergent assessments of his performance style, and the absence of both an analysis of his notated musical materials and a published discography of his recordings.The aim of the article is to characterize the artistry of this master as an example of the preservation of the indigenous instrumental traditions of Shashmaqom.M. Tashpulatov studied under Mirza Abdukarim Vobkandi Tanburi, a renowned authority on the Bukhara Shashmaqom tradition. Subsequently, by refraining from concert performance and, consequently, from adapting his playing to changing public tastes, he preserved the old elite, so-called “court” style and its instrumental traditions.An insight into Tashpulatov’s performance style is provided by his audio recordings preserved in the Sound Archive of the Institute of Art Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, recorded by musicologist M. Sh. Akhmedov during the Bukhara expeditions of 1957 and 1959. His playing is characterized by a measured and concentrated manner, with each individual tone carefully articulated and a minimum of melismatic ornamentation. This performance style has received divergent assessments, ranging from a denial of its artistic value to recognition of M. Tashpulatov as a highly knowledgeable performer of instrumental mushkilot and a masterful tanbur player. This divergence underscores the need for a comprehensive performance-based analysis of the musician’s notated and audio recordings.In the contemporary context of renewed scholarly attention to the study and preservation of traditional musical heritage, Tashpulatov’s artistry may serve as a promising subject for comparative analysis of the evolutionary changes in the instrumental performance practice of Shashmaqom.