Azeri music

The Azeri music is the music practiced in Azerbaîdjan, but also in the regions close which share this culture, thus Azerbaïdjan like area of the Iran and the area to Kars in Turkey. Reciprocally, the Azeris have a cultural heritage made up of elements Turkish, Iranian and Caucasians. There exist two specific forms of the traditional music: that of the ashik or troubadours, who perhaps goes back to the influences turkmene or Kazakh, and that of the mugham , the erudite music derived from the Iranian modal system, the Dastgâh, subjected to the Turkish influence of the Maqâm S. If the border between these two forms is well defined, it is especially by the instrumentation, the style of song, and the context.

The ashiks

Tradition musical Azeri goes up at the time of bards called ashıks (Arab word of origin which means literally “in love” in Turkish), one which vocation remains still nowadays. The ashık play of the Saz (a type of lute) and sing dastans (epopees). Their repertory is composed of şarkı (songs) and comprises also sometimes türküs (anonymous songs traditional, in opposition to the şarkı which have an author and a type-setter). However good ashık must be also able to improvise at the same time words and music, which gives place to meetings where two artists or more answer themselves by commenting on a timeless topic (the love, the family).

The mugham

The erudite Music Azeri, called Mugham, often consists of an emotional sung performance, accompanied by the târ (a lute), the kamânche (a hurdy-gurdy) and the qaval (a percussion).

Alim Qasimov is a recognized interpreter.

Other kinds

The type-setters Uzeyir Hajibeyov, Parked Garayev and Fikret Amirov created a hybrid style which combines the classical music and the mugham. Other Azeris, in particular Vagif Mustafa Zadeh and Aziza Mustafa Zadeh, mixed the jazz and the mugham. Certain Azeri musicians received warm welcome of international criticism, as Rashid Behbudov (which could sing in eight languages) and Muslim Magomayev (a pop star of the Soviet era).

Source

  • Jean During, traditional music of Azerbaïdjan and the science of the muqams , Baden Baden and Bouxwiller, Editions Valentine Koerner, 1988.

Random links:Gardner Dozois | Lotfi Zadeh | Stefan Meller | Play of communication | Centeotl | Cathedral Saint-Alexandre-Nevski | L'Armée_de_l'Air_roumaine