Enver İzmaylov (, ; born June 12, 1955) is a Crimean Tatar folk and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

guitarist who uses a

tapping Tapping is a playing technique that can be used on any stringed instrument, but which is most commonly used on guitar. The technique involves a string being fretted and set into vibration as part of a single motion. This is in contrast to stand ...

style on

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

Career

Enver İzmaylov was born in

Fergana Fergana ( uz-Latn-Cyrl, Fargʻona, Фарғона, ), () or Ferghana, also Farghana is a district-level city and the capital of Fergana Region in eastern Uzbekistan. Fergana is about 320 km east of Tashkent, about 75 km southwest of A ...

Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (, ), also known as Soviet Uzbekistan, the Uzbek SSR, UzSSR, or simply Uzbekistan and rarely Uzbekia, was a Republics of the Soviet Union, union republic of the Soviet Union. It was governed by the Communist ...

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 ...

into a Crimean Tatar family previously deported from the

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

in which he later returned to 1989. Although he played guitar since he was fifteen, he studied

bassoon The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity ...

at the Fergana Music School and graduated in 1973. For eight years he was a member of the band Sato with leader Leonid Atabekov and appeared on the albums ''Efsane'' (1986) and ''Pass the good around'' in (1987). He went back to school and got a degree from Tashkert University, then began a solo career. In 1995 he won the First European International Guitar Competition in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

, Switzerland. During the same year, he was named Musician of the Year by Ukrainian music critics. He has toured in Ukraine, Russia, Estonia, Moldavia, Bulgaria, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Turkey, and the U.S. In addition to recording solo albums, he has worked in duets with French keyboardist Xavier Garcia, Turkish drummer Burhan Ocal, and British saxophonist Geoff Warren. He founded the Art Trio of Crimea with Bari Rustem on percussion and Narket Ramazanov on clarinet, saxophone, and flute. İzmaylov is also a throatsinger.

Technique

İzmaylov plays guitar by

the neck of the electric guitar with his fingertips as if it were a keyboard. A similar technique is used by jazz guitarist

Stanley Jordan Stanley Jordan (born July 31, 1959) is an American jazz guitarist noted for his playing technique, which involves tapping his fingers on the fretboard of the guitar with both hands. Music career Jordan was born in Chicago, Illinois, United St ...

. İzmaylov combines Crimean Tatar traditional music, Turkish, Uzbek,

Balkan The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

, and

. Many of his pieces are composed in

time signatures A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...

such as 5/8, 7/8, 9/8, 11/8, 11/16, and 13/16 which are common in Crimean Tatar music. He has a triple-neck guitar that was custom made for him in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. He uses two nonstandard tunings: (low to high) E, B, E, E, B, E and C, C, G, C, C, C.

Family

Enver's daughter Leniye İzmaylova is a popular singer among Crimean Tatars. She combines folk, jazz, and pop music in her repertoire.

Discography

* ''At a Ferghana Bazaar'' (Tutu, 1993) * ''Art of the Duo'' with Geoff Warren (Tutu, 1996) * ''The Eastern Legend'' (Boheme, 1998) * ''Minaret'' (Boheme, 1999)

References

External links

*
Enver Izmailov: A Guitar From The East That Conquered The West (interview with Olga Potekhina)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Izmaylov, Enver Living people 1955 births People from Fergana Crimean Tatar musicians Ukrainian folk guitarists Ukrainian jazz guitarists Uzbekistani emigrants to Ukraine Recipients of the title of Merited Artist of Ukraine