Eson Kandov (born 1941) was a singer and musician from Uzbekistan with a successful career during the 1960-80s. He was awarded the distinction as Honored Artist of the Uzbek SSR in 1974 and is considered the first artist who represented the

Republic of Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

on the international stage at the

Sopot Festival The Sopot International Song Festival or Sopot Festival (later called ''Sopot Music Festival Grand Prix'', ''Sopot Top of the Top Festival'' from 2012–13 and ''Polsat Sopot Festival'' in 2014) is an annual international song contest held in So ...

Sopot Sopot (; or ) is a seaside resort city in Pomerelia on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000. It is located in Pomeranian Voivodeship, Pomerania Province and has the City with powiat ri ...

-73". His

albums An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

and

EPs An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

were successfully distributed throughout the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

through the major

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

Melodiya Melodiya () is a Russian record label. It was the state-owned major record company of the Soviet Union. History Melodiya was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm of the USSR Ministry of Culture Melodiya" in accordance wi ...

in the 1970s and 1980s.

Early life

He was born as the second son into a family of

Bukharian Jews Bukharan Jews, also known as Bukharian Jews, are the Mizrahi Jews, Mizrahi Jewish sub-group of Central Asia that dwelt predominantly in what is today Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan. The group's name is derived from the E ...

. His father was a teacher of the

Uzbek language Uzbek is a Karluk Turkic language spoken by Uzbeks. It is the official and national language of Uzbekistan and formally succeeded Chagatai, an earlier Karluk language endonymically called or , as the literary language of Uzbekistan in the 19 ...

and his mother was a housewife who worked in the financial administration when he was young. During his childhood his maternal grandfather, who had lyrical

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

voice, and his mother often sang to him on weekends or on holidays.

Education

After graduating from school, Eson Kandov entered the acting department of the Theater and Art Institute, and from the second year he chose to enter the Tashkent State Conservatory. At the conservatory he mainly learned classical singing. After successfully participating in a competition at the Conservatory in 1964, he was accepted as a soloist and singer in the Variety Orchestra of

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

. His real name at birth was Isaac Ilyich Kandov, but early into his career singer Botir Zokirov suggested adopting the name Eson as it sounded more romantic and artistic. Over the 25 year long career in the

, he grew into the name so much that he couldn’t imagine associating with different name.

Career

Eson Kandov was among the singers who appeared as a soloist in the Estrada

Symphony Orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

, which was founded in the Uzbek Soviet Republic for state television and radio in 1963. The Estrada Orchestra consisted of a large

string section The string section of an orchestra is composed of bowed instruments belonging to the violin family. It normally consists of first and second violins, violas, cellos, and double basses. It is the most numerous group in the standard orchestra. In ...

saxophones The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

trumpets The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B o ...

trombones The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the air column inside the instrument to ...

guitars The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

and

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, and occasionally instruments from older

Uzbek music The music of Uzbekistan has reflected the diverse influences that have shaped the country. It is very similar to the music of the Middle East and is characterized by complicated rhythms and meters. Because of the long history of music in the count ...

traditions. Along with singers such as Botir Zokirov, Luiza Zokirova and Elmira Urazbaeva, he is considered a co-founder of modern Uzbek pop music with traditional influences in the 1960s. In 1973 he represented the Soviet Union at the

Sopot International Song Festival The Sopot International Song Festival or Sopot Festival (later called ''Sopot Music Festival Grand Prix'', ''Sopot Top of the Top Festival'' from 2012–13 and ''Polsat Sopot Festival'' in 2014) is an annual international song contest held in S ...

with the song “Ormonlarga konarokshom” (translated from Uzbek as “Evening falls on the forests”) in the Forest Opera,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. In the same year, on the basis of the Uzbek Variety Orchestra, the Tashkent Music Hall was created, where he was the leading soloist and singer. Since 1974 he has been collaborating with the state ensemble " Yalla". With Yalla, he toured a dozen European countries as well as across all over the Soviet Union. In 1977 when the state ensemble "Navo" was formed, he became its soloist singer. After he moved to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

in 1991, he founded his own ensemble "Shirey a Olam" ("Songs of the World"), which was active until 1997. However, even though he had a high number of performances in Israel, he was unable to repeat the earlier big successes he had in the Soviet Union. He continued to work as a teacher and coach for young musicians.

Personal life

He has one son, Gabriel, with his wife Mira, who he married in Tashkent in 1982. The family currently lives in Israel, in

Petah Tikva Petah Tikva (, ), also spelt Petah Tiqwa and known informally as Em HaMoshavot (), is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jews of the Old Y ...

Discography

Selection of songs

*Boi, boi / Бой, бой *Bukharian Wedding / бухарская свадьба *Емина / Emina *Romansi / Романсы *Song about Tashkent / Песня о Ташкенте with Yunus Turaev and Naufal Zakirov (in 1965)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kandov, Eson 1941 births Living people Soviet singers 20th-century Uzbekistani male singers Jewish singers Bukharan Jews