Gaziz Salikhovich Almukhametov

Gaziz Salikhovich Almukhametov – a Bashkir and Tatar singer and composer, a musical and public figure. He was born on October 29, 1895, in the village of Muraptalovo in the Ufa Governorate (now Bashkortostan). In 1908 Almukhametov moved to Tashkent in search of work. In Central Asia he worked in vineyards in the summers and studied at a madrasa in the winters, practicing singing. From 1914 he began touring among Bashkir and Tatar populations of the Volga region, Siberia, and Kazakhstan. He studied at the Tashkent People's Conservatory and consulted with specialists from the Moscow Conservatory.

From 1921 Almukhametov combined concert activity with collecting folk songs and composing. From 1922 to 1929 he lived in Kazan, where he performed, wrote songs, and worked on operas. Since 1929 Almukhametov's life and work have been linked to Ufa. He participated in the creation of the Bashkir studio at the Moscow Conservatory and in the opening of the Bashkir Philharmonic. In 1929 he wrote the ceremonial march 'Bashkortostan' for the republic's anniversary and received the title of People's Artist of the Bashkir ASSR. Almukhametov worked at the Ufa Music School and the Bashkir Institute of Language and Literature. He was repressed in 1937 and executed in 1938; he was rehabilitated posthumously.