ABSTRACT
Save for Ramadan, in Tashkent, not a week goes by without some kind of music competition taking place. Many of these are organised by government institutions around patriotic themes; some, such as “Uzbekistan – My Homeland” are extraordinarily extensive in scope as well as time. Keeping an immense number of people busy with musical patriotism puts the government in the comfortable position of monitoring musical scenes in the widest sense. However, due to the involvement of state officials up to the highest ranks in these events, the government also monitors itself. Criticism of these competitions may abound, but it rarely targets these initiatives as such. Rather, competitions and similar activities are widely seen as something that should exist – and should be dealt with “at the state level”, often leading to a kind of empty activism. This chapter scrutinises the significance of this widespread phrase “at the state level” and it reflects on the meaning of government control vs. government attention. Comparing reality to an imagined ideal, it links up with the issue of transition – and it looks at the temporary establishment of something like a “twin” state level in the years 2003–2013 by Gulnora Karimova, president Islom Karimov’s eldest daughter.
