ORNAMENTATION AND EMOTIONAL AFFECT IN THE TANOVAR REPERTOIRE OF TWENTIETH CENTURY FERGHANA MASTERS

Abstract

The Tanovar genre of Uzbek classical vocal music occupies a unique position between the unmetered improvisations of maqom and the metered folk song traditions of the Ferghana Valley. Unlike the larger Shashmaqom cycles, Tanovar prioritizes intimate expression, lyrical poetry, and highly individualized ornamentation. This study examines how leading twentieth century vocal masters from the Ferghana school - including Hoji Abdulaziz Abdurasulov, (also known as Hoji Abdulaziz), Orifkhon Khatamov, and Mamurjon Uzokov - employed specific ornamental techniques to generate distinct emotional affects. Through qualitative analysis of early Soviet-era field recordings (1920s-1960s) and notated transcriptions from the Tashkent Conservatory archive, I identify four primary ornament types (ishkala, nola, oshirma, and qaytarish) and map their affective functions. The results demonstrate that Ferghana Tanovar ornamentation operates not as decorative excess but as a systematic semiotic system of emotional modulation, with pitch bending generating melancholy, rapid mordents expressing longing, and register shifts evoking spiritual elevation (hal). The study concludes that Tanovar ornamentation functions as an embodied affective technology, inseparable from poetic text and performer vulnerability, offering broader implications for understanding non-Western vocal traditions beyond structuralist maqom analysis.