realgoogoosha, via Instagram A screenshot from the Instagram account of Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of Uzbekistan's president, showing her in a recording studio last month with the actor Gérard Depardieu.Just days after receiving a Russian passport from his friend Vladimir V. Putin, the French tax exile Gérard Depardieu has done a favor for the president of another former Soviet state, with an appearance in a music video with the daughter of Uzbekistan's authoritarian leader, Islam Karimov.
The Uzbek first daughter, Gulnara Karimova - described as “something of a robber baron†and “the single most hated person in the country,†in a 2005 American diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks - is engaged in an elaborate effort to make herself into an international pop star, under the stage name Googoosha.
Over the weekend, Ms. Karimova took a break from arguing with a BBC correspondent on Twitter about forced sterilizations in Uzbekistan to post a message in her alter ego's name announcing the release of her latest music video, which features a Gainsbourgian spoken-word cameo by Mr. Depardieu.
Just finished. Nebo Molchit…(Ðебо Молчит…) video w/ Gerard Depardieu. check it out at http://t.co/4PikULkr …Enjoy xoxo
In a Twitter message to a fan of the video, Ms. Karimova wrote that the duet was Mr. Depardieu's idea, and he was reading from a book of her poems.
@tvmario actually it was idea of Gerard Depardieu…he heard the song and asked about words then took my poem's book and tried a few times..
Having tried her hand at poetry, fashion and jewelry design before music, Ms. Karimova recently scripted a film about the ancient Silk Route and recruited Mr. Depardieu to play a leading role in the production.
Acc ording to Natalia Antelava, a BBC journalist who wrote about her recent Twitter conversations with Ms. Karimova for The New Yorker last week, in Uzbekistan, “Gulnara, who is forty, is feared no less than her father, who has run the Central Asian nation since it was a Soviet Republic and he was Party Secretary. But unlike her father, whose public appearances are rare and carefully orchestrated, Gulnara finds it difficult to keep out of the public eye.â€
She added: “For journalists like me, Gulnara's love of extravaganzas offers a way to approach an impenetrable country. She is a hook on which we like to hang more serious issues like torture, forced labor, and Uzbekistan's profound isolation. Unlike her father, Gulnara is easy to write, and often laugh about - unless , that is, you are from Uzbekistan.â€
