Yalla

"Yalla," the leading popular music group in the former Soviet central Asian republics, is from Tashkent -- the capital of Uzbekistan, one of the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union. The group, whose name is an Uzbek word for a song accompanied by dancing, has become a popular icon in Uzbekistan, frequently serving as cultural ambassadors to international festivals or meetings abroad. The members of Yalla are graduates of the Ostrovsky Theatrical Art Institute and the Ashrafi State Conservatory in Tashkent.