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Zulya Kamalova
Zulya Kamalova
	Kamalova in 1999
Background information
Born	8 August 1969; Sarapul, Udmurt ASSR,; Russian SFSR, USSR
Died	18 September 2024 (aged 55)
Genres	World; Russian; Tatar;
Occupation	Singer
Years active	1992–2024
Labels	Unstable Ape
Formerly of	Children of the Underground
Website	zulya.com

Zulya Nazipovna Kamalova (Russian: Зуля (Зульфия) Назиповна Камалова; Tatar: Зөлфия Нәсип кызы Камалова; 8 August 1969 – 18 September 2024) was a Russian-born Australian singer. She resided in Australia though toured Europe frequently.^[1]

Life and career

Zulfia (Zulya) Kamalova^[2] was born in Sarapul but grew up in Tatarstan and began performing and writing music at age of 9.^[3] She was of Volga Tatar background.^[4]^[5] She left home at the age of 17 and eventually moved to the City of Perm to work in a factory and study English and French at the Perm Pedagogical Institute.^[2] In 1990, she was selected to travel to California as part of a Perestroika-era whitewater-rafting youth exchange − where she met John Weir, an Australian adventure guide. They married, and moved to Australia in August 1991 (the exact time the USSR dissolved), settling in Hobart, Tasmania.^[2] They separated less than 12 months later.

In 1992, Zulya met Martin Tucker, a Hobart musician, who became her collaborator and partner.^[2]

While in Hobart, she studied at the Conservatorium, worked as a translator for CCAMLR (Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources), and started to play her own music and record albums (limited-run cassettes and a full-length album Journey of Voice) with the support of like-minded people, particularly Martin Tucker.^[2]

In 2001 in Hobart, she met her the love of her life, Andrew Tanner, who became her companion, collaborator and father of their daughter Zifa. From 2002–2003, they moved to Moscow, allowing her to explore Russian and Tartar audiences and her connection with her homeland and family.^[2]

They subsequently moved to Melbourne, Australia and formed the band The Children of the Underground. In 2004 she signed to Melbourne-based independent record label Unstable Ape Records.^[6] Zulya and Andrew settled in Coburg in 2005, where their daughter, Zifa was born in 2006.^[2] They remained in Melbourne apart from brief stints in Berlin and Kazan, Tartarstan in 2010 and 2014.^[2]

Zulya was a recipient of many awards, including an ARIA Award in 2007 for Best World Music album for her second album with her Melbourne Band, the Children of the Underground, as well as being decorated with a prestigious title of an 'Honored Artist of the Republic of Tartarstan', presented to her in 2012 by Rustam Minnikhanoff, the president of Tartarstan.^[2]

During many years of creating and producing music, Zulya's achievements included^[2]:

recording 10 albums,
writing and performing a one-woman musical play,
composing an opera with Opera Queensland, and
other projects which earned her wide audience acclaim in Australia and Europe, particularly in Russia and her homeland Tartarstan.

In 2020, Zulya earned a Masters of Creative Industries in 2020. In 2022, took on the role of director of The Boite World Music Cafe.^[2]

In February 2024, she was diagnosed with stage four cancer. Kamalova died on 18 September 2024, at the age of 55, of cancer^[7], two days before her sister Alfia arrived from Russia to see her.^[2]

Musical style

Kamalova is known for her interpretations of Tatar and Russian music, often playing with a backing band Children of the Underground.^[3]^[8] Instrumentation typically includes accordion,^[9] double bass, percussion, guitar,^[10] brass and string arrangements and occasionally jaw harp.^[11] She often combined Tatar with jazz or other folk music, which was novel for Tatar performers, and, at the same time, made the music easily accessible for international audience.^[12]

Discography

Albums

List of albums
Title	Album details
Journey of Voice	Released: 1997 Label: Unstable Ape Records (UARR 005) Formats: CD
Elusive	Released: 2002 Label: Unstable Ape Records (UAR 022) Formats: CD
The Waltz of Emptiness (And Other Songs On Russian Themes) (with The Children of the Underground)	Released: 2005 Label: Unstable Ape Records (UAR 040) Formats: CD
3 Nights (with The Children of the Underground)	Released: 2007 Label: Unstable Ape Records (UAR 056) Formats: CD
Tales of Subliming	Released: 2010 Label: Unstable Ape Records (UAR 064) Formats: CD
6 Days Loving	Released: 2019 Label: Zulya Music (ZM2019) Formats: CD, digital

Awards and nominations

Kamalova is an Honored Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan.^[13]

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987.