Panir Ibragimova (28 December 1926 – 28 December 2021), better known by the
stage name of Fatima Kuinova ( tg, Фатима Куэнова, fa, فاطمه کوینوا), was a
Bukharan Jew
Bukharan Jews ( Bukharian: יהודיאני בוכארא/яҳудиёни Бухоро, ''Yahudiyoni Bukhoro''; he, יהודי בוכרה, ''Yehudey Bukhara''), in modern times also called Bukharian Jews ( Bukharian: יהודיאני בוכאר ...
ish
Shashmakom singer. She was named "Merited Artist of the Soviet Union".
Biography
Kuinova was born in
Samarqand
fa, سمرقند
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from the top: Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zin ...
,
Uzbek SSR
Uzbekistan (, ) is the common English name for the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Uzbek SSR; uz, Ўзбекистон Совет Социалистик Республикаси, Oʻzbekiston Sovet Sotsialistik Respublikasi, in Russian: Уз ...
on 28 December 1926. She moved to
Stalinabad,
Tajik SSR
The Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic,, ''Çumhuriji Şūraviji Sotsialistiji Toçikiston''; russian: Таджикская Советская Социалистическая Республика, ''Tadzhikskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Resp ...
with her seven brothers and two sisters when she was thirteen years old, after their father was jailed and murdered by the Soviet government for his mercantile prosperity. Her family were
Bukharian Jews, and their last name was originally Cohen, but she changed it to Kuinova to escape the persecution Jews faced under Stalin.
During her childhood, she knew the famous Mullojonov family and was a friend to
Shoista Mullojonova
Shoista Mullojonova ( tg, Шоиста Муллоҷонова, fa, شایسته ملاجانآوا, russian: Шоиста Рубиновна Муллоджанова; September 3, 1925 – June 26, 2010), born Shushana Rubinovna Mullodzhanova, ...
. Kuinova was raised in Central Asia under Stalin's Soviet regime and spoke Russian, but she also learned
Bukhori, which is a dialect of
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
. Her father was the cantor of a synagogue in her hometown and taught his daughter the music of her Bukharian Jewish heritage.
Life and career
Kuinova began singing in different festivals at a young age. She also sang for
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
, who was likely ignorant of her Jewish faith and ethnicity.
Kuinova became famous after performing for the soldiers during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. In 1948, she was named "Honored Artist of the Soviet Union".
After that, she began to study
Shashmakom music and sang it throughout the Soviet Union and Central Asia. Kuinova became the lead singer of the Tajik State Philharmonic, with long-time friend Shoista Mullojonova. The two were widely recognized in the republic and were some of the Soviet Union's leading traditional performers.
Both Kuinova and Mullojonova were soloists in the Tajik Ensemble "Rubobistok" that performed on television and radio throughout the Tajik SSR, Central Asia and the USSR and traveled to sing in areas like
Kiev,
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, and
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
. She also went on tours to
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
,
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
, and
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, where she sang for the Shah.
She immigrated to
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
,
New York, U.S. in 1980
and settled in
Rego Park, where she founded and was the lead vocalist for the Shashmaqam Music of the Bukharan Jews Ensemble. In 1992, Kuinova was a recipient of the
National Heritage Fellowship
The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States government's ...
award, given by the
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
.
In Queens, Kuinova worked with the Bukharian Jewish musical community and performed in numerous cultural and folk events in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
.
Kuinova died in Queens on 28 December 2021, her 95th birthday.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuinova, Fatima
1926 births
2021 deaths
20th-century American Jews
20th-century Tajikistani women singers
People from Samarkand
Soviet Jews
Bukharan Jews
Jewish women singers
Mizrahi Jews
Tajikistani Jews
Soviet emigrants to the United States
Tajikistani emigrants to the United States
People from Rego Park, Queens
National Heritage Fellowship winners