| Azerbaijan music |
 |
 |
 |
|
Music in Azerbaijan varies from the region to region. Alongside with the folk music, jazz, rock and pop music have been developed and aquired national characteristics. It is particularly in Karabakh the Azerbaijani music rested in craddle. There was lots of music there, more than in any other region of Azerbaijan; it was possible to hear folk performers playing different national musical instruments, such as: tar (a stringed musical instrument played by plucking), kamancha (a string musical instrument played with a bow), balaban (a woodwind instrument), def (a percussion instrument), saz (a string instrument played by plucking with a plectrum) and other types. At the end of the 18th century the accumulation of a tradition of professional musical performance created the conditions for the appearance of a new musical-poetic tradition. Thus, traditional forms of musical genre and creative art acquire features, which later become the foundation of the concert, theatrical and vocal styles of the 20th century. It was Shusha, the rich artistic life of which is marked by many bright events and talents that stimulated the rapid growth of twentieth century Azeri music. At the close of the eighteenth and at the beginning of the nineteenth centuries, famous Shusha singers Shakhsanam oglu Yusif, Mirza Husryn Gasanja, Mirza Ismail widely popularized classic mugams - a genre of professional Azerbaijan folk music, the distinctive feature of which is the improvisation of melodic patterns; and laid the foundation of the Khanende - singer's art, when the singer performs mugams with perfect mastery. There are 7 classical forms of mugam. These are: Rast, Shur, Seygah, Chaargah, Bayati - Shiraz, Shushter, Humayun. At the same time, each of these mugams has a fixed number of parts. And only singers, who could perform all parts of all of the mugams correctly, deserved the name Khanende. Later musicians, who had previously sung solo, began to organize the so-called "Medjlis", something like the "musical salons" of today. The organizer of the first literary - musical mejlis in the eighteen - seventies was Kharrat Gulu Mohammed ogli Yusifi. A religious man, Kharrat Gulu was nonetheless the most honored music expert of his time. He had a wonderful voice, knew classic eastern poetry very well and had an uncommonly subtle feel for mugams, their philosophic depth and contains. Kharrat Gulu Mejlis had much in common with "music schools" because their essence lay in the principle of teaching religious ceremonies and learning the Koran with the use of improvised mugams. For his school he selected musically gifted boys with developed voice. Such distinguished Azerbaijan musicians as Haji Gusi, Meshedi Isi, Kechachi oglu Mohammed, Jabbar Garyagdy, Mirza Sadykh Asad oglu and Bul - Bul graduated from his school. Pupils and followers of Kharrat Gulu's school contributed to the development of the oral tradition in professional Azerbaijani national folk music. Among these a special place is given the musician and innovator Mirza Sadykh Asad oglu, who refined a musical instrument, the tar, which is widely used in Transcaucasian republics, Middle Asia and Dagestan. In the beginning of the 19th century two prominent Azerbaijani composers U.Hadjibeyli and M.Magomayev (both were natives of Shusha) gave an impetus to the development of the opera and ballet in Azerbaijan. In 1908, U.Hadjibeyli staged first opera in the Moslem East - "Leyli and Madjnun". City of Baku always played a role of a reliable granite bridge serving for interrelation between the states of Europe and Asia. Absheron peninsula in general plays an irreplaceable role in development and distribution of the Azerbaijan music genres based on the oral tradition. Capital of Azerbaijan - Baku, was a large industrial center, located on the Great Silk Road. In XIX century in connection with detection of oil on Absheron the city infrastructure started to be developed more and more; many creative people from all ends of Azerbaijan begun to flow down to Baku. Namely for this reason the Baku Mugam Mejlisses have appeared and grew while earlier two other Azerbaijanian towns - Shusha and Shamakhi - were regulating development of the mugam singing art. Another oral singing genre of the Azerbaijani musical culture is Meykhana (from translator: Meykhana is a traditional oriental version of the modern rap-music). Going deep back into the Dervish art, Meykhana has found a wide development in the end of XIX - beginning of XX centuries. Meykhanas by Aliaga Vahid - famous poet of the XX century, and his followers can be heard till nowadays. The adherence to Meyhana especially is inherent among the music fans of Baku and Absheron. Today we can name many representatives of Baku and Absheron region among those who has glorified the Independent Azerbaijan's culture and arts. They are: Gara Garaev, Tofig Guliyev, Jahangir Jahangirov, Arif Malikov, Hayyam Mirzazadeh, Tofig Bakikhanov, Azar Rzayev - composers; Sattar Bahluzadeh, Vajiha Samadova, Tahir Salahov, Farhad Khalilov - artists, Nariman Aliyev, who had paid especially irreplaceable contribution to formation of the Mugam singing art; Ahsan Dadashev, Mammadaga Muradov, Firuz Aliyev, Aga Salim Abdullayev, Mohlat Muslimov - tar players, Shafiga Eivazova, Fakhraddin Dadashev - kemancha players; doctors of the art: Zemfira Safarova, Ramiz Zohrabov, Elhan Bavaev, Rafiga Imrani, who have contributed to founding of the scientific bases of the national tunes and the history of the national music; and many others. Uzeyir Hajibeyov Uzeyir Hajibeyov (1885-1948) is remembered and loved as the Founder of Composed Music in Azerbaijan. During the tumultuous years at the beginning of the 20th century, this musical genius refused to turn his back on the music of his youth and his heritage. Amidst fierce opposition and pressure, he paved the way to introduce Eastern musical elements (folk melodies, modal scales and traditional instruments such as tar, kamancha, zurna) into Western musical styles and forms (chorus, opera, and symphonic music). These four works presented here rank among Hajibeyov's finest dramatic pieces and exemplify his unique synthesis of East and West. The original recordings (mostly from the 1970s and 1980s) reflect a time when vinyl LP records were popular. Unfortunately, since technology has changed, contemporary music lovers were deprived of some of the earlier superb performances of Hajibeyov's works, including several which were conducted by the Maestro Niyazi (1912-1984). |