DUSHANBE, February 5, 2009, Asia-Plus — Publication of 500 copies of the book “Mavrigi” was funded under the Small Grants Program implemented by the Swiss Cooperation Office in Tajikistan, press release posted on SDC website said.
“Mavrigi” is a genre of Tajik musical culture that was extensively developing in Bukhara in 19-20s centuries and still exists nowadays. This genre represents a cycle of folk songs which are lyrically connected to folk and at times to improvised text of comic and everyday nature. The term “Mavrigi” comes from the word “mavri”. It had a trace of disdain and was used by Bukhari aristocracy towards Iranians who had migrated to Bukhara from Khurasan, mainly from Merve. Thanks to the language and musical culture similarities this folk arts of the Iranians had rapidly spread among inhabitants of Bukhara, which subsequently resulted in fusion of the Iranian and Tajik musical folklore.
The book “Mavrigi” is a product of a laborious work carried out by such dedicated persons in the field of art as Prof. Nurdjanov and musicologist Dr. Kabilova, and has an extensive research activity behind. The best musical patterns of the “Mavrigi” genre were written down by Professor Nurdjanov from the lips of oldest Bukhari performers in 50-60s of the last century, and were afterwards decrypted and put into notes by Dr. Kabilova and partially by Dr. Tadzhikova. These materials are unique and have no analogues in Tajikistan, let alone Central Asia.
Publication of the book “Mavrigi” is exclusively aimed at presenting one of the most ancient pieces of musical heritage of Tajik people and promoting the revival of forgotten national artistic traditions. A sufficient number of copies of the book will be available at the libraries and education institutions.
The present project is one of the two hundred small scale projects supported by the Small Grants Program since 2001. Various initiatives supported within this Program include those in the field of gender, human rights, culture, health care, effective management, environment, etc.
