Inside Uzbek electronic festival uncovering the sound of its homeland

Inside the ancient walls of Khiva, a remote Silk Road stop in north-western Uzbekistan, electronic music duo Doppi Twins stand in front of a pair of CDJs. A 2,500-year-old stone tower looms behind them. One plucks the traditional Uzbek dutar (a two-stringed fretted lute), its reverb-drenched melodies evoking the expanse of the desert surrounding them, while the other runs dance tracks on the controllers, muted, synthesised kicks arriving like footsteps through the sand. In real time, a dialogue begins to emerge between the past and present of Uzbek music.

This moment arrived as part of Uzbek electronic music festival-turned-cultural movement Sublimation’s Yurt on Tour series, which held events across the country, from the Borsakelmes salt flats of the Aral Sea (translating to ‘land of no return’) to a traditional ikat (Uzbek textile) factory in the eastern city of Margilan. Their mission: To find the sound of their homeland.

It all started when childhood friends Madina, public policy expert, and Sabine, techno DJ, reunited by chance in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent in 2021. Both grew up in the industrial city of Chirchik just north of the capital, throwing events together as teenagers and maintaining a keen interest in music, but a stark lack of creative opportunities drove the pair into the wider world to pursue their dreams, and they eventually lost touch.

Madina ran an art gallery in Spain platforming young visual artists and musicians, while Sabine found herself launching a DJ career in Riga, developing an extensive network of promoters across Europe. It wasn’t until they ran into each other as adults that they realised that their experiences were perfectly poised to make a difference in their homeland.

“We grew up in a small city and didn’t have access to radio or opportunities to attend music workshops, I never heard about techno or house until I went to Europe,” Sabine tells Dazed. “I grew up in a super traditional family where getting married and having a baby is your mission in life. Since childhood, music always seemed so unrealistic to me, but, after my kids started to grow up and I started to have more time for myself, I thought maybe I can actually be a DJ.”

“Then, when I came back to Uzbekistan, I saw the young generation had access to all these YouTube videos and podcasts that we didn’t have – they already knew a lot about music,” she continues. “So, when I met with Madina and she’d had similar experiences, we decided to put all our attention into giving young people the opportunities that we didn’t have, especially young women. It’s so important to me that…” Sabine trails off in Russian, overcome with passion for the project. “That you are seen,” Madina translates. “That you are heard.”

A particular focus of Sublimation, then, was to find a distinct Uzbek voice in the electronic music landscape. Only gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Uzbekistan has historically lacked the infrastructure and industry that helped propel dance music in places like England and Germany. It’s for this reason that Sublimation embarked on their Yurt on Tour series, and also leads them to emphasise booking underground Uzbek artists alongside bigger international DJs on their lineups – because “that’s where the new ideas emerge,” says Madina.

These parallel dialogues, both between Uzbekistan’s past and present and local and global acts, strike to the heart of Sublimation’s mission. They invited Detroit techno icon DJ Stingray 313 to perform in Tashkent and demonstrate the mixing techniques that he himself pioneered, while their first festival, held in September 2024, juxtaposed local traditions with contemporary mediums – the Uzbek National Symphony Orchestra followed by dynamic Icelandic techno DJ Bjarki, and AI art intermingled with Central Asian folklore.

These endeavours are already starting to bear fruit. “Many of the people we worked with are starting their own communities and platforms to release electronic music, it’s been a chain reaction,” says Madina. But, for Sabine, it is the small successes that stick out in her mind. “I remember [on Yurt on Tour] when a young woman came up and started to play on the decks,” Sabine recalls. “I was giving her advice when a man came up to me and told me, ‘Please tell this woman to sit, it’s not good in our region [for women to make music]’. I went up to her and said ‘Play!’”

Still, while these changes might seem radical, both co-founders are committed to viewing their movement as an evolution, not a revolution, for Uzbek culture. “A lot of literature in Europe has this idea that you have to fight with your fathers to become yourself, but that is not what happens in Uzbekistan,” explains Madina. “Well, maybe a little bit in the beginning…” laughs Sabine.

Madina continues: “We focus on getting the blessing. Respect for your culture and respect for your parents is something that’s inherent in us, and that’s why our music is different as well.” After all, it’s Uzbekistan’s voice that Sublimation is searching for, and no one else’s.

Sublimation’s second edition takes place in Tashkent next week (12-13 September). Grab tickets here.