The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-03-09

of progressive journal, in which
he branded the parasitical life Of
the Amir of Bekhara, his courtiers
and the Mohammedan clergy. Dur
ing the Civil War, Bekh-Budi was
caught by detachment of the Amir
and was murdered with several OF
his comrades. At the present time
the town of Karish, where Bekh-
Budi was murdered, is named after
him.
However, even before Bekh-Budi,
there existed a play in the Uzbek
language called "The Associates
written by a Tartar from Simbirsk,
the teacher Abdurauff Shakhidi.
This play presented the life of the
"Ishani" the spiritual leaders of the
supplemented folk, This life was
painted in such a realistic way that
the play was dubbed Photographic"
and was not allowed to be produced
on the stage, but on the other hand
it had a very wide circulation in
manuscript.
At the beginning of the present
century, there were very few edu-
Gated Uzbeks who could at all I'M
derstand the problems Of national
theatre.
In 1928 amateur actors produced
the first play by Bekh-Budi called
the "Parricide."
Advocates Modern School.
In this play the Uzbek intellectual
for the first time appeals to the
fathers not to send their sons to
the old Mohammedan school and
advocates the Russian or the Turk
ish school which is run on more pro-
gressive lines. This play by Bekh-
Budi had a very considerable sue
cess and was staged by amateurs in
all the cities of Turkestan. 1t was
regarded as a revolutionary play as
it attacked the rich merchants and
the old government view it with sus-
picion and even prosecuted the
amateur actors as dangerous revo-
lutionaries.
A short time afterwards we wit
ness the plays by Shukrulaev, which
described life in its comic features.
In the play entitled "The Oppressed
Woman" translated into Russian by
Prof. Viatkin, campaign is raised
against the seclusion Of women who
had always to be covered with veil
and were deprived Of any initiative
in their private or social life. This
play deals with the disintegration Of
the family caused by the Uzbek who
introduced the second wife into his
household.
The other plays by the same au-
thor, namely Marriage" "A Les.
son in the Old School," "Opium
Smokers" etc., are comedies, and
deride the old customs of the W.
beks. AT the present time Shukru-
laev has completed his play "Bekh-
Budi," the hero of which is the
famous Uzbek public man of that
name.
Fitrat Popular Dramatist.
A popular playwright of the pres
ent-day Uzbek theatre is Abdurauf
Fitrat, professor of the High Peda-
gogical Institute in Samarcand, the
author of the history of Uzbek mu-
sic and other works. Fitrat wrote
the following plays: "The Lion,"
"True Love" and 1.-THE Indian Revo-
lutionaries." The latter play repre-
sents the struggle of Indian reyolu-
tionAries for the independence OF
India. The author has travelled
widely in the Near East and lived
in India and his plays are therefore
especially valuable as coming from
one ,who is intimately acquainted
with the life of the new awakening
East Being we'll versed in Persian
literature and language, Fitrat has
recently written in the Tadjik Ian
guage "a dialect of the Persian Ian
guage) the drama "The Revolt Of
vossei," which describes the strug.
gle Of Vessel, the national hero of
the Uzbeks. Although the Tadjiks
for several centuries past have been
living among the Uzbeks they were
unable to evolve any art literature
Of their own. Therefore the plays
by Fitrat written in the style Of
high-flown tragedy, is especially
valuable to the Tadjik nation. The
other plays by Fitrat written in the
Uzbek language can also be de-
scribed as heroic tragedies.
From the artistic standpoint
however, the plays are somewhat
unsatisfactory, as the author is q
better journalist than a playwright
Uzbek Musical Dramas.
There is another popular play ir
musical drama entitled "Khalima,'
which is especially popular among
the amateurs in the various cities Of
the Uzbekistan. Gulyam Zakhari
the author, has made use exclusive.
~ Of national Uzbek melodies
Among the latest plays, those by
Chalian, lyric poet, deserve oui
attention. He has written the
drama, entitled "Yarkin-Oi,Y dealing
with the popular legend of a gar.
dener of q captain Of the Kahn's
army, who revolted against the gov.
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