Avrom Tolmasov Marks 70 as Bukharian Music’s “Nightingale of the East”

This report was translated from Russian by Bukharian Jewish Post from coverage by The Bukharian Times.

On Oct. 15, 2026, The Bukharian Times published a cluster of jubilee greetings for Avrom (Abram) Gavrilovich Tolmasov, the Samarkand-born singer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist long nicknamed the “Nightingale of the East” among Bukharian Jewish audiences in Israel, Queens, and beyond.

The board of the Samarkand Charitable Fund congratulated Tolmasov on his 70th birthday, calling him a patriot of Samarkand and Israel whose visits to New York remain “the most welcome and joyous events” for fellow Samarkandis who hear his tambur, sitar, guitar, and gijak. Signatories listed by the paper included Roman Khanimov, Oleg Fuzailov, Rafael Nektalov, and other Queens-area Samarkand friends.

Separate family tributes from the Toksur/Mosheev/Yusupov circle and from Marik Moshiakh Kalontarov framed Tolmasov’s voice as the soundtrack of Samarkand weddings and of a childhood spent with parents who played his recordings on Crimean trips. One greeting noted roughly 60 years of performing for successive generations of Bukharian listeners.

Tolmasov’s repertoire—classical Shashmaqam and Bukharian song—has long bridged synagogue and stage. The birthday notes emphasize health, continued touring, and the living link his concerts still provide between Central Asian memory and diaspora family simchas.

Sources: Samarkand Fund jubilee tribute; Toksur family greeting; Kalontarov greeting (The Bukharian Times, Russian).