I WANTED IT THAT OR NO, BUT SINGER OF SEVARA NAZARKHAN HAS REVOLVED A REVOLUTION IN CONSCIOUSNESS OF MILLION LISTENERS, THAT WITH SUCH VOICE IT IS NECESSARY TO SING IN STADIOS. SEVAR TOLD OUR MAGAZINE ABOUT THEIR CONCERT IN DUBAI ABOUT THE UNSTABLE LIFE OF THE ARTIST, THE PHILOSOPHY OF FASHION AND THE FUTURE OF ETHNIC MUSIC.
Sevara, you come from Uzbekistan - a country with an amazing history, with its own special atmosphere. Now working in Russia and the UK, performing with concerts in America, Europe and the Middle East. What mentality is closer to you?
Sevara: Each country is interesting in its own way, and every country I want to study. I am quite comfortable living and working in Russia. At the same time, I feel good in England too - I love rains, so London is suitable for me in this regard. Behind Misty Albion are other beautiful cities hiding - with hills and rivers, forests and lakes. I love nature, but I also appreciate lively human communication. I will not hide - people from villages and small towns attract me.
Now, as part of the "Letters, Words, Phrases ..." tour, you have a new concert almost every day.
Sevara: I regard concerts and tours as a gift, because these are events that cannot happen all the time. The singer’s life is absolutely unstable and very different from the life of, say, a banker. In music, a period of devastation sets in, and then I have to retreat at least for a while in order to recover. That's because on stage I surrender to music one hundred percent. In my repertoire, not all songs are bright and sunny - there are compositions that make you think, because life is not always easy. And we also have one piece where the guys play, and I just sit and listen to them.
Do you have any favorite viewer of yours?
Sevara: It so happened that local residents almost always come to my concerts: in England - the British, in America - the Americans. And if there are Uzbeks among the public, you think: great! I used to listen to every person, to a representative of every nationality, I was interested in what he thinks, his mentality is interesting. Today, I perceive all people as one. I stopped dividing the audience, and after that the barrier between them and me disappeared.
You sing in English, Russian and Uzbek in the genres of soul and jazz, rock and drumpop. And recently they also released a collection of Uzbek folk songs Tortadur at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London. How do you see the future of ethnic music?
Sevara: I think that it is folk music that will live a very, very long time. Maybe it will not be massive success, because it is simply impossible to replicate it to the state of pop music. This music requires deep perception, which, in my opinion, cannot be required from a modern listener. Today it’s not easy for people to live, so they expect lightness and joy from the artist. And in folklore you need to “dig in”, be able to think deeply, listen with your heart. But it is this music that will be heard through the centuries.
You were already a famous world-famous singer and yet decided to take part in the show of the First channel "Voice". What prompted you to take this step?
Sevara: Frankly, I just can't figure out what a celebrity is. Celebrities are different. Of course, the work done by each artist exalts him in his own eyes. But participation in television projects, including in the Voice, HSE and Just Like It, is a kind of school. There was everything - enormous stress, and unbearable pain (especially on the "HSE" show), and overcoming our own fears. Anyway, the stress of artists in Russia is much stronger than in the West. If you place a Western artist in Russia, he will “howl”. Not because he is moody or spoiled by fans - it's just that the working conditions are harsher.
The problem is that Russian artists are often concurrently also their administrators and producers. Due to the fact that a lot has to be done on their own, someone goes crazy, begins to make unrealistic demands on riders. I also noticed that in today's young artists there is little soul, but they can behave professionally: they are organized, they control every word spoken in an interview. But as for the supply of musical material, it sometimes becomes sad here.
It's no secret that you plan to prove yourself in other areas that are not related to music, for example, in fashion.
Sevara: I have a great interest in clothing for believers. Now they produce a lot of bag-shaped clothes for Muslim women, while it can be made much more sophisticated. The cut and structure of the fabric is very important, and most importantly, there should be no synthetics - the skin must breathe. By the way, I would love to make some conceptual and comfortable collection for the representatives of the Emirates. As for fashion itself, I believe that clothes always look better on people if they do not focus on it, but know how to combine things correctly. This is a kind of art, but it "works" as long as a person can afford to be free - not enslave fashion and not depend on labels.
If you had the opportunity to live one day in the life of another person, who would you choose?
Sevara: Probably, it would be the day of the first woman on Earth - Eve. It is interesting to see how she lived, how she walked in the Garden of Eden. Agree, because to know all the beauty of that being is incredible! He and Adam were the only people on the planet and lived according to their inner state, they felt, saw and knew God within themselves. Can anything be more beautiful?
DOSSIERSevara Nazarhan is an Uzbek pop and rock singer and composer, as well as a performer of traditional Uzbek music.
The singer is closely connected immediately with two giants of world music - the Englishman Peter Gabriel and the Frenchman Hector Zazou. Gabriel opened Sevara to the world in the early 2000s, inviting her, then a student at the Tashkent Conservatory, to his WOMAD festival and Real World studio, and then to his "Growing Up" world tour. Zazu was produced by Sevara's western debut "Yol Bolsin" (Bon Voyage), which was recorded in 2003 in the same Real World.
Sevara is the winner of the prestigious BBC World Music Awards in the "Best Asian Artist" category.
