Oleg Fesov is a musician from Tajikistan who composes and arranges his songs in addition to performing. Despite living as an immigrant, Fesov still feels strongly connected to his home country and his ancestors from the Pamir Mountains. His people are Badakhshani, an ethnic group of some 35 people who are divided by the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border.
Fesov had to leave his home country because of an ethnic war that had been raging there for several years. His studio and equipment were looted and Fesov had to flee to Moscow where he continues the job of preserving his country’s rich musical tradition.
The album Lalaiki Pamir presents the musical traditions and ideas of Badakhshan (Tajikistan) and the Pamir Mountains. The traditional eastern string and percussion instruments such as sitar, rubab, ud dombra, various drums and tablas play an important role in the music of Oleg Fesov combined with his intensive and emotion-loaded voice. All lyrics are in Tajik or Shugnan languages.
Oleg Fesov was discovered at the huge “Voice of Asia” festival in Alma Ata, Kazakhstan. His international exposure came when German label Blue Flame released a series of recordings with the top performers that participated in that festival. American audiences found out about Oleg Fesov in 1995 when one of his songs, “Marav,” was included in the three-CD world fusion boxed set titled Planet Soup (Ellipsis Arts CD 345) released by Ellipsis Arts and produced by world music producer and journalist Angel Romero.
Discography:
Lalaika Pamir (Blue Flame, 1993)
Lakatum (Manas Records, 1997)
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