TRANSMISSION OF SHASHMAQOM REPERTOIRE IN CONTEMPORARY MASTER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS

Abstract

The Uzbek and Tajik Shashmaqom stands as a monumental classical music tradition, a complex fusion of melodic modes, poetic cycles, and prescribed instrumental and vocal movements. While its structural and modal architecture has been extensively documented, the vital human process through which this living canon is perpetuated remains less examined. This article investigates the contemporary transmission of the Shashmaqom repertoire through the foundational ustoz-shogird (master-student) relationship. It argues that despite profound socio-political transformations in the twentieth century - including Soviet-era institutionalization and post-independence national revival - the ustoz-shogird dynamic remains the irreducible core of authentic transmission. This study employs an ethnographic methodology, drawing upon participant observation and in-depth interviews with masters and apprentices within major cultural centers in Uzbekistan. The analysis reveals a dynamic, negotiated process where traditional pedagogical principles of oral imitation, holistic immersion, and ethical formation are consciously adapted within modern contexts of conservatoires, state ensembles, and digital media. The findings demonstrate that the transmission process is not a mere transfer of fixed repertoire but a total socialization into a aesthetic worldview, where technical mastery of maqom is inextricably linked to the cultivation of cultural memory, ethical disposition (adab), and a distinctly personalized artistic voice. The contemporary ustoz-shogird relationship thus emerges as a crucial, resilient site for both the preservation of canonical knowledge and its thoughtful evolution in a globalized era.