The Sound State of Uzbekistan: Popular Music and Politics in the Karimov Era is an impeccably researched and well-narrated account of estrada (popular music) in Uzbekistan. While focused on the project to develop and maintain national popular music during the presidency of Islom Karimov, this book provides a rich history and a broad account of Uzbek popular music. Based on fifteen years of research, The Sound State of Uzbekistan represents a laudable combination of ethnographic and archival data, much of which is notoriously challenging to access. Klenke brings these data in conversation with relevant literature in ethnomusicology, anthropology, sociology, and area studies, drawing on an impressive multidisciplinary bibliography. She deftly synthesises multiple data streams with interdisciplinary perspectives on Central Asia and its music in order to clearly explain the nuanced processes of estrada production, performance, and politics in independent Uzbekistan.

The ethnography in the book combines autoethnographic vignettes with interviews and other insights born of the author’s long-standing engagement with the sphere of Uzbek popular music. Accounts that illustrate Klenke’s deep investment in the people and institutions producing national estrada in Uzbekistan enrich each chapter. The author’s participant observation focuses most on observation/listening, participation as a spectator, and relational knowledge of her interlocutors and bureaucratic institutions. The result is that a reader could desire more sonic detail and a more granular account of the musical craft of creating these pop songs, which might have come out of deeper musical engagement. However, this in no way detracts from the significant work the volume accomplishes. Within its scope—analysing the creation of popular music within a national framework and its dissemination through governmental organisations and media—this book is exemplary.

The book begins by defining estrada and the scope of the book and moves on to a prelude chapter that narrates the history of Uzbek estrada from the Soviet era to the present. This prelude is the first concise history of Soviet and post-Soviet Uzbek pop in the English language that I am aware of. It would be a useful primer for anyone interested in the topic. Chapter One focuses on the institutions and policies governing popular music in the Karimov era, especially O’zbeknavo, which was involved in the creation of large state-sponsored spectacles and the licensing process for estrada performers at all levels. The following chapter unpacks research methods and approaches, addresses critiques the author encountered when engaging in this research, and successfully deconstructs ethnomusicologists and other scholars’ “subversion bias” or focus on resistance and opposition where normalcy and affirmation are more easily found. Chapters Three and Four focus on bringing estrada to the stage for concerts, competitions, and media. The following chapter addresses the concept of national estrada and the strategies that institutions and individuals engage to create and present it in contexts, ranging from large televised concerts to restaurant and café performances, and weddings. Chapter Six focuses on the licensing process for estrada and how negotiations around it impact performers of different levels of prestige. The penultimate chapter engages with broader theories of nations and national projects to consider the work estrada accomplishes in this vein. The book then transitions to a brief concluding chapter reflecting on the era after Karimov and its changing institutional, rhetorical, and relational landscape.

This monograph would be of interest to scholars of music and politics across the arts, humanities, and social sciences, and would be of special interest to musicologists of various stripes and those in Central Asian area studies. Although it asks readers to learn a few relevant Uzbek and Russian terms, it is devoid of jargon and requires no specialist musical knowledge. Thus those unfamiliar with music or with Uzbekistan should still find it easily understandable and enjoyable to read. The Sound State of Uzbekistan is one of my top recommendations to graduate students who seek examples of academic work that productively integrates ethnographic and archival data, especially those dealing with topics sensitive enough that they address anonymous and named sources. As the first English-language monograph on Uzbek popular music, The Sound State of Uzbekistan is an invaluable resource, one that will engage specialists and generalists alike.