Ever-tightening restrictions on musicians and artists continue to take their toll in Uzbekistan as state-run arts association Uzbeknavo revoked the licenses of three pop artists for holding performances abroad to lacklustre audience numbers, reported Uzbek news outlet UZ24 on 20 July 2016. Uzbeknavo license department head Odiljon Abdukahhar said the …

The Uzbekistan government tightens its control over the arts, prohibiting anything that is believed to threaten national values – including 700 films which have been banned, and musicians who have their performing licenses withdrawn. Censorship was a key instrument for controlling the masses during Soviet times. These days Uzbekistan’s ageing …

Uzbekistan’s government has ordered the state agency in charge of giving licenses to performers to tighten conditions under which they are granted, citing a plethora of pop songs, videos and concerts that fail to conform to the “country’s spiritual, cultural and national values”, according to Transition Online and BBC News …

On 1 May 2014, tweeting in both Uzbek and Russian, singer Ozoda Saidzoda appeared to lay the blame for her career setback squarely at the door of the country’s prime minister, Shavkat Mirziyaev Ozoda later elaborated on her tweets in an exclusive interview with RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service, claiming she has …

Newsletter from Article 19, published on article19.org on 14 March 2014: Art, in any form, constitutes a key medium through which information and ideas are imparted and received. Artist Alert, launched by ARTICLE 19 in 2008, highlights cases of artists around the world whose right to freedom of expression has …

President Islam Karimov’s government strictly regulates the lucrative entertainment industry in the Central Asian nation of 30 million by banning films, pop music and books, reported RIA Novost Singers Dilfuza Rakhimova, Otabek Mutalhozhaev and Dilshod Rakhmonov, along with groups Ummon and Mango, found themselves out in the cold after the …

Newsletter from Article 19, published on article19.org on 14 August 2013: Art, in any form, constitutes a key medium through which information and ideas are imparted and received. Artist Alert, launched by ARTICLE 19 in 2008, highlights cases of artists around the world whose right to freedom of expression has …

Uzbek pop stars sing about the forbidden. Homosexuality, currently banned in Uzbekistan, is finding its way into performances by pop musicians. In 2012, Azlar became famous – and banned – in Uzbekistan for a song about this topic, and now, the musician Asal Choi (“Honey Tea”) is stirring up controversy …

The award-winning Uzbek writer Mamadali Makhmudov has finally been released after over 14 years in prison, reported PEN International on 23 April 2013. In the late evening of 19 April 2013, Mamadali Makhmudov walked out of prison and met his five grand-children for the first time. His wife told Radio …

Uzbekistani writer Mamadali Makhmudov will not be released from prison on completion of his 14-year jail term, reported Amnesty International. On 5 March 2013, Makhmudov was told that a new criminal case had been filed against him for allegedly violating prison rules. Makhmudov is one of the longest serving writers …