Shepherds have plucked the Uzbek doutar, a two-stringed lute, for centuries while backing nomadic singers. Today, in the hands of Sevara Nazarkhan, the instrument's implications have been updated for Western ears, yet she has never strayed too far from her Central Asian roots, drawing much of her material from centuries-old maqam. There was no need for a revival because this ancient Persian-rooted style sits alongside Western pop in modern Uzbek life. In a sense then, Nazarkhan's blend of ancient tradition and contemporary grooves is as natural as sounds cranked from dueling cassette vendors on Tashkent streets. It's Nazarkhan's voice, however, that has made her the first Uzbek pop star to find an audience as far west as the U.S. She combines the airy tones of Central Asia with a Western sultriness

Nazarkhan's father, a classically trained vocalist, headed the traditional-music department in Tashkent radio while her mother taught string-instrument lessons. Between 1998 and 2003, Nazarkhan also rigorously studied Uzbek folk music for five years at Tashkent State Conservatoire. In the late '90s she was part of an all female doutar quartet before becoming a member of the café band Taxi Blues whose repertoire would shift from Gershwin to Antonio Carlos Jobim. The group even jazzed-up a few of Nazarkhan's own tunes. Meanwhile, she was already becoming a local sensation. Nazarkhan's songs blasted from urban Uzbek radio and her music could be found on cheap cassettes. Yet it wasn't until Peter Gabriel heard her at 2000's WOMAD festival and subsequently signed her to his Real World label that global stardom beckoned.

Her 2003 international debut, Yol Bolsin, owes much of its blend of funk, hip-hop and pop to French producer Hector Zazou. Some of the material, however, had roots going back centuries. The results are sparse and contemplative, unhurried and evocative. The track "Yor-Yor," for example, drops doutar melodies over the kind of slick, hip-hopesque groove that is immediately familiar. The title track was similar, too, adding James Brown scratch guitar as a backdrop to oud and saz. Nazarkhan's voice is mixed low enough to be more suggestive than forceful. In this way, her music finds common ground with '90s trip-hop heavyweights Massive Attack.

The success of Yol Bolsin allowed her guest work on labelmates Afro Celt Sound System's Volume 5: Anatomic CD. She then went on to make 2004's Bahtimdan for the Calabash label, and album sprinkled heavily with tambour and oud playing. In 2005, she debuted as producer on the Calabash-released, BBC3-award-winning Gozal Dema. Long gone are the instantly familiar Western elements Zazou brought to the table; in their place is an acoustic album of traditional Uzbek so maqam-influenced it initially sounds Middle Eastern. —Bruce Miller