P rominent t ajik f igures of the

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Iranian, and Azerbaijani dances. He is also credited with contributing to

the establishment of the Aini Theater for Opera and Ballet, as well as
the Tajik Philharmonic Orchestra.
Valamatzoda won the Soviet Union State Prize in 1949, the Rudaki
State Prize in 1975, and became a People's Artist of the Soviet Union in
1976. He garnered the Order of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner
of Labor, and other medals.
Valijon, Samad
Tajik intellectual Samad Valijon was born in 1936 in the Vorukh
village of Isfara in northern Tajikistan.
Valijon graduated from the Konibodom Pedagogical Institute in
1956, and from the Khujand Pedagogical Institute with a degree in Per-
sian language & literature in 1961. Until 1976, when he received his
doctorate degree, he taught at that institute. His research centered on an
understanding of the relationship among Tajikistan and the other Soviet
republics and was carried out at the Rudaki Research Institute of the
Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan. His contributions include "Paivand-
hoi Adabi Chun 'Omilhoi Muhimmi Inkishofi Adabiyyot" ("Literary
Connection an Important Means of Discovering Literature," 1975);
"Masoili Ravobiti Adabii Khalqhoi Tojik va Ozari dar Sadai Nuzda"
("Problems of Literary Connections Between the Tajiks and the Azeris
in the 19
th
Century," 1975); "Tushai Hamdili" ("The Benefits of Being
Sympathetic," 1989); "Az Qa'ri Khazar to Avji Zuhal" ("From the
Depths of the Caspian to the Heights of Saturn," 1992); and "Firdowsi
dar Qafqoz" ("Firdowsi in the Caucasus," 1994).
Valizoda, Saidali
Tajik poet and singer Saidali Valizoda was born on October 10,
1900, in the village of Chughurak in the Vose' district. Little is known
about his early life other than that he spent a great deal of his life as a
farmer and that he studied at the traditional schools of his native
Khavaling.
He published his first poem under the penname of Dihqoni Faqir
(Poor Farmer). His fame as a singer brought him in contact with some
of the great authors of his time, including Lahuti, Mirsaid Mirshakar,
Dihoti, and Tursunzoda. One of his early poems, which he also sang, is
"Dihqononi Jabrdida" ("Oppressed Peasants"). His most famous poem,

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