Abduvali Abdurashidov (Абдували Абдурашидов, born in 1959) is a leading performer and scholar of Shashmaqom and has been at the forefront of the current revival of the genre in Tajikistan. Abdurashidov studied sato-tanbur with the great Uzbek master Turgun Alimatov (1922–2008). In 1981 he graduated in the class of maqom performance at the department of oriental music, Tashkent State Conservatory. In 1991 he acquired a PhD in Art History and since 2004 he is assistant professor of performing traditional Tajik music at the National Conservatory. In 1993 he was the director of the Tajik traditional music ensemble Navoi. He is currently the artistic director of The Academy Of Maqâm in Dushanbe, which he founded in 2003 with support from the Aga Khan Music Initiative. Working with a small group of graduate students in the Academy of Maqâm, Abdurashidov recreated a historically informed performance version of the six Shashmaqom suites that he is presently in the process of recording, transcribing, and publishing. A preliminary version of his work with Shashmaqom is presented on the album Music of Central Asia, Vol. 2: Invisible Face of the Beloved: Classical Music of the Tajiks and Uzbeks. In 2001 he was named People's Artist of the Republic of Tajikistan. In 2006 he was shortlisted for a Grammy Award. He was awarded Commandeur in the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and the Order of "Friendship" (Tajikistan).