Enver İzmaylov

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Enver İzmaylov (b. 1955 in Fergana, Uzbekistan) is a prominent Ukrainian folk and jazz musician (guitarist). Born into a Crimean Tatar family previously deported from Crimea (Ukraine), İzmaylov returned in 1989.

İzmaylov does not pluck the strings, but uses jazz tapping - an original technique of electric guitar playing when a musician plays with both hands on the neck by tapping on the strings with his finger-tips, as if it were a keyboard. He developed this technique to a climax simultaneously with, but not knowing of Stanley Jordan.

Enver İzmaylov graduated from the Fergana music school in 1973 majoring on bassoon, and had started playing the guitar at age 15 (about 1970).

İzmaylov's music is an original blend of mainstream jazz, Crimean Tatar, Turkish, Uzbek and Balkan folk music and classical music. Many of his pieces are composed in time signatures which are not standard in the Western music, but are common in the Balkan music and Central Asian music, such as 5/8, 7/8, 9/8, 11/8, 11/16 and 13/16.

İzmaylov has toured extensively in Russia, Ukraine and Europe and has participated in several cross-cultural projects in Eastern Europe. He was the first-prize winner of the First European International Guitarist Competition. Enver İzmaylov was voted for the Musician Of The Year 1995 by the Ukrainian music critics.

Enver's daughter Leniye İzmaylova is a popular singer among Crimean Tatars. She combines jazz, folk and pop musiс in her repertoir.