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{{ Infobox musical artist
| name =Liza Umarova <br />{{lang|ru|Лиза Умарова}}
| image =
| caption =
| image_size = 200
| background =solo_singer
| birth_name =Liza Umarova
| alias =
| birth_date ={{Birth date and age|1965|3|12}}
| origin =[[Almaty]], [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic]], [[Soviet Union]]
| instrument =[[Singing|Vocals]] | genre =[[Music of Chechnya]], [[Pop music]], [[Torch songs|Torch song]]
| occupation =[[Singer]], [[Actress]]
| years_active =1982-present
| label =
| associated_acts =
| website = | current_members =
| past_members =
| notable_instruments =
}}

'''Liza Sulimovna Umarova''' ({{lang-ce| '''Iумарийн ЙоI Лиза'''}}) (born March 12, 1965 in [[Almaty]], [[Kazakhstan]]) is a [[Chechen people|Chechen]] [[singer]] and [[actress]].

==Early life==
Liza spent her childhood in [[Almaty]], [[Kazakhstan]]. Her parents had been removed from their native village of [[Katyr-Yurt]], [[Chechnya]] in February 1944 as a result of the [[Population transfer in the Soviet Union|forced deportations of most Chechens to Central Asia]]. In 1982, her father decided to move the family back to Chechnya, and they settled in [[Grozny]] that year.

==Career==
Liza attended the [[Yaroslavl Drama Institute]], where she developed a solid reputation for her emotive singing, yet declined a musical career upon graduation to get married, and shortly afterwards became the mother of three children. In 1994 the family moved to [[Moscow]] after their house was bombed during the [[First Chechen War]]. In Moscow she opened up a small business called 'Vaynaham', which sold [[Chechen language|Chechen]] and [[Ingush language|Ingush]] literature and audio recordings. During this time, Liza separated from her husband and struggled to raise their children by herself.

In 1998 Liza made her first recording with the song "Motherland", which set words about Chechnya to the tune of "Liberta", a 1980s hit by [[Italian people|Italian]] pop duo [[Al Bano]] and [[Romina Power]]. "I think it cost $50 [to make the recording]," she said. "I was sewing, earning money to feed the children at that time. I sewed sets of linen swaddling for newborn babies. And I had a lot of cloth, rolls of cotton. I sold all those rolls at the market, on the cheap, and made back the $50." <ref name="themoscowtimes1">http://context.themoscowtimes.com/print.php?aid=138917 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060219043959/http://context.themoscowtimes.com/print.php?aid=138917 |date=February 19, 2006 }}</ref>

Liza then continued to make recordings of the [[First Chechen War|First]] and [[Second Chechen War]]s, with hit songs such as "Rise Up, Russia!", "Grozny, Hero City", and "Our Time Has Not Yet Come". In particular, the single "Grozny, Hero City" has been described as an anthem of Chechnya.<ref>[http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/10/27/news/singer.php The songs of Grozny, the sounds of war - The New York Times]</ref> She notes that when a melody comes to her, she sings it into her mobile telephone because she cannot read music and does not own a tape recorder.

Nevertheless, Liza says she sings because, "Music has always affected me emotionally, has always calmed me and has given me hope. People came up to me after a concert, when I performed in Chechnya, in Grozny, and said that these songs heal. Although they are tragic, in the end there is always something positive - hope for a good life." <ref>[http://www.abc.net.au/correspondents/content/2005/s1517331.htm Correspondents Report - Art continues in troubled Chechnya]</ref>

==2005 racially motivated assault==
On September 6, 2005, Liza and her then-15-year-old son Murad were beaten in Moscow on their way to the metro by four drunken men, aged between 25 and 30. Umarova and her son sustained numerous contusions in the attack but initially decided against reporting the incident to the police.<ref>[http://halldor2.blogspot.com/2005/09/violence-continues.html A Step At A Time: The Violence Continues]</ref>

"You will not live in this country," one of the attackers told Umarova, she said in an interview with [[Gazeta.ru]] newspaper. She said the attacker gave her "the word of an officer." <ref>[http://www.hrvc.net/news2005/14-9-05.html hrvc.net] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070208155249/http://www.hrvc.net/news2005/14-9-05.html |date=February 8, 2007 }}</ref>

Umarova is not a Chechen nationalist and said she was ashamed for her country, [[Russia]], over this kind of bigotry and over the continuing brutal war. When she sings the line, "You will be free, Chechnya," in "Motherland," she has in mind "free from war, from violence, from barbarism," rather than a call for independence, she said.<ref name="themoscowtimes1"/>

In an article published on April 4, 2006, [[The Moscow News]] reported that three of the attackers had been given guilty verdicts by a Moscow court. The sentences ranged from a one-year suspended sentence to three years at a prison settlement.<ref>http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/04/04/chechenattackers.shtml {{dead link|date=April 2011}}</ref> After the defendants contested the decision, the case was sent for retrial, but the Moscow City Court upheld the previous verdict.<ref>[http://www.en.rian.ru/russia/20060830/53324554-print.html Court upholds verdict in attack on Chechen singer | Russia | RIA Novosti]</ref>

==External links and sources==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110706145415/http://mradio.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=156&Itemid=36 Liza Umarova Music Video]
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/22/arts/music/22chec.html?ex=1290315600&en=59aca6cc2e621277&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss New York Times Article on Liza Umarova]
* [http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/10/27/news/singer.php International Herald Tribune Article on Liza Umarova]
* [http://www.abc.net.au/correspondents/content/2005/s1517331.htm Correspondents Report Interview with Liza Umarova]
* [http://halldor2.blogspot.com/2005/09/violence-continues.html Segment of The Moscow Times article of assault on Umarova]
* [http://www.chechnyafree.ru/index.php?lng=rus&section=musicrus&row=58 Chechnya Free.ru Article on Liza Umarova]
* [http://ex-soviet.blogspot.com/2005/02/liza-umarova.html ex-Soviet Union Music Blogspot Article]
* [http://politkovskaya.novayagazeta.ru/pub/2005/2005-088.shtml Interview with Umarova by Anna Politkovskaya (in Russian)]

== References ==
<references />

{{DEFAULTSORT:Umarova, Liza}}
[[Category:1965 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Chechen female singers]]
[[Category:Chechen pop singers]]
[[Category:Russian female singers]]
[[Category:Russian pop singers]]
[[Category:Russian people of Chechen descent]]
[[Category:People from Almaty]]

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