Aziza, revived from the ashes: How the singer managed to resist after the tragic departure of Igor Talkov

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Aziza Mukhamedova triumphantly burst onto the all-Union stage in the late 1980s. A bright oriental beauty with an extraordinary manner of performance literally bewitched the audience. On October 6, 1991, the famous musician Igor Talkov was shot dead in the Yubileiny concert hall. Aziza was accused of what happened, her friends turned away from her, life turned into a real hell. A helping hand was then extended to her by only a few people, from whom she least expected it.

Changing the dream

She dreamed of going to medical school and treating people. However, Aziza's father Abdurakhim Mukhamedov died suddenly when the girl was 15 years old. They had some kind of special bond. Of the three daughters, he especially singled out the youngest. They talked for a long time on various topics, he told her about the war and about the music he wrote, shared memories and gave advice. She ran to the hospital as soon as she learned that an ambulance had taken him. There, for a moment, dad opened his eyes and squeezed his daughter's hand tightly, as if transferring his last strength to her. That very night he was gone.

Aziza decided not to think about going to medical school, but to help her mother. Seeing an advertisement for the recruitment of girls to the Tashkent Philharmonic, she passed the competition and was admitted to the Sado ensemble. Until she was 16 years old, Aziza rehearsed, and then the girl was officially hired. The ensemble toured a lot, the group often went on foreign tours.

The first love

For the first time, the young singer fell in love during a trip to Afghanistan in 1983, where the Sado ensemble performed in front of Soviet soldiers in hospitals. Several escorts were assigned to the Sado, one of whom was a senior lieutenant named Sergei. He was tall, handsome and courageous.

The girl's feelings turned out to be mutual, and later Sergey arrived in Tashkent. He asked Aziza's hand from her mother. But the singer herself refused to her lover. She could not leave her job, which brings tangible income, but, most importantly, she could not leave her mother. At that time, my sister had a son, and it was necessary to help her too, since the older sister managed to part with her husband.

Broken dreams

In 1988, Aziza Mukhamedova from the Philharmonic was sent to the competition of young performers in Jurmala. She then won third place, but she felt like a winner, because the first two were given to young men. After the competition, fame came to the performer. They began to invite her to participate in combined concerts, gradually the girl moved to Moscow.

And in 1991, during a Mediterranean cruise on the Aziza motor ship, she performed in front of kickboxers. And there, during the concert, I saw Igor Malakhov for the first time, who sat with his eyes closed all the time. The second time they met on the Odessa-Moscow train. Aziza and Igor collided in the vestibule and talked for two whole hours.

Later, Igor found her in Moscow, began to invite her to concerts and to the cinema, they talked a lot. Mutual feelings gradually arose. Igor was very gentle and romantic, charming and very smart. In the fall, the singer realized that she was expecting a child. Igor Malakhov immediately transported his beloved to him, touchingly took care. They made plans and dreamed of the future. Then they did not know yet: their dreams were not destined to come true.

Aziza was successful and in demand, her songs sounded from everywhere. Everything was crossed out in an instant, on October 6, 1991, when that fatal shot was fired at Igor Talkov. Igor Malakhov had the gun, but Aziza did not see what happened. She shouldn't have been at Jubilee that evening at all. The girl performed the day before in the same "Jubilee", and after the concert a woman came to her dressing room and asked to speak at the tomorrow's event. Despite the toxicosis and feeling unwell, Aziza agreed. Igor Malakhov then also tried to dissuade the performer from performing.

On October 6, the organizers did not send the promised car for the singer, as a result, the singer was very late, and even got wet while Malakhov was catching a taxi. All she wanted then was to move her performance a little further in order to have time to fully prepare. Later, Aziza got the impression that someone had turned against Igor Talkov. After all, before that they had a normal relationship, they even performed together.

She was quietly drinking tea in the artistic dining room when she heard the sounds of a struggle. Everyone rushed to the sound, Aziza saw how they beat Malakhov and rushed to his aid. Then everything was like a fog. Only half an hour later, everyone learned that Igor Talkov had been wounded. His death became known even later.

That night she lost everything at once: a loved one, an unborn child and all her dreams. Everything she had achieved up to this point was ruined.

Phoenix

After that, everyone turned away from her. Friends disappeared, as if they did not exist, she was not invited to concerts. The first who extended a helping hand to her was Joseph Kobzon. He offered the singer to leave for America and work there. But after a couple of months, Aziza returned to her homeland. She was looking for at least some occupation that would help her to stop constantly replaying in her head the events of that terrible day when, it seems, she herself died. Aziza personally embroidered concert costumes, did not stop making music, began working on the release of the second disc (the first was released before all the sad events).

Alla Pugacheva and Irina Ponarovskaya always stood up for the disgraced singer, and Ilya Reznik, together with his wife, literally pulled the singer out of depression. It was these people who did not let Aziza break down. And the memory of her father kept her afloat. And taking care of my mother, who at some point became almost a child for her.

Another person who supported her a little later was the son of Igor Talkov. When the boy grew up, he began to study music, like his father. And he made friends with the woman whom everyone accused of involvement in the murder of his father.

Igor Talkov Jr. today openly says that Aziza could not have had anything to do with what happened in 1991. And he asked her to become a godmother to his son.

Aziza, a few years after the tragedy, found the strength to return to the stage. Of course, her popularity today cannot be compared to the one she had before October 6, 1991. But the singer is not used to giving up.

If she could change her life, she would definitely enter a medical institute, operate on people, get married, give birth to three children and be happy in her hometown of Tashkent.

Talkov's murder became one of the most notorious crimes of the early 1990s, and some moments of his life are considered by many to be signs warning of imminent death. Mystical omens accompanied Talkov all his life. Death could have overtaken him much earlier.