Enver Izmailov

Enver ?zmaylov (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), ?zmaylov returned in 1989. ?zmaylov 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.

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

?zmaylov'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.

?zmaylov 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 ?zmaylov was voted for the Musician Of The Year 1995 by the Ukrainian music critics.