My report is based on Uzbek and Tajik materials with an excursus to the other former Soviet Central Asian republics. For the most part, I use previously unknown archival material not published in scholarly works, Communist Party documents, private correspondence, and several post-Medieval manuscripts on music from Bukhara. I want to call your attention to the following points. First, the creation of the key factors and mechanisms of culture policy in the 1920s and 1930s. Second, the struggle to create a national musical legacy during the early years of the Soviet national republics. These issues will be considered in relation to the current standing of regional musical cultures in Central Asia.