Sevara Nazarkhan

Sevara Nazarkhan rose to prominence as an Uzbek pop artist whose command of both modern idioms and Central Asian traditions sets her apart. Her command of the Uzbek doutar, a two-stringed shepherd’s lute traceable to the fifteenth century, marks her simultaneously as a leading world musician and a chart-topping pop figure. Born to a classically trained vocalist father and a mother who taught music and specialized in string instruments, Nazarkhan spent the years 1998 to 2003 immersed in Uzbek folk repertoire at the Tashkent State Conservatory. While enrolled she collaborated with numerous regional ensembles and cultivated a devoted underground audience; her early songs circulated widely through Tashkent’s informal networks, local broadcasts, and bootleg compilations.

Calabash issued her first album, the self-produced Gozal Dema, which brought a BBC World Music Award and immediate international notice. Festival bookings across Europe followed, culminating in her 2000 appearance at WOMAD. There she met Real World founder Peter Gabriel, who invited her to record for his label; the resulting 2003 album, Yol Bolsin, juxtaposed centuries-old melodies and instrumentation with contemporary production. A subsequent Calabash release further explored this duality, substituting oud and tambour for turntables. Nazarkhan returned to a sharper urban sound on the 2007 Real World album Sen, which ascended straight to the summit of World Music Charts Europe.