Southern Azerbaijan: Independence Day Concert Showcases Azeri Music
Photo courtesy of Laman Ismayilova for Azernews.
A celebratory concert took place for the 25th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan and included performers from Southern Azerbaijan, an area under Iranian rule. Azeris have been calling for greater cultural and linguistic rights and an end to human rights violations in the region.
The article below was published in Azernews:
A marvelous concert devoted to the 25th anniversary of Azerbaijan's independence took place at the Philharmonic Hall.
Azerbaijanis celebrate October 18 as a glorious day in their history, their Independence Day. 25 years ago, the people of Azerbaijan raised the banner of independence for the second time and this became a brilliant victory in the political history of the nation in the 20th century.
The concert titled "Flowers and homeland" was jointly organized by the Culture and Tourism Ministry and the Ashig' s Union, Day, Az reported.
Minister Abulfaz Garayev, who addressed the event, highlighted the significant of ashig art, included in the UNESCO`s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009.
President of Ashig' s Union Magerram Gasimli, in turn, thanked the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Ministry for the support in the development of ashig art.
The stunning event featured the performances of Ali Tapdigoglu, Kamala Gubadli, Nabi Nagiyev, Nazim Guliyev, Ehliman Rahimov, Tural Bagirov as well as the folk ensembles such as "Misri", "Lachin" and much more.
The concert ended with the choir of ashigs, who performed the song "Azeri".
Ashig art began to form in Azerbaijan since ancient times. Ashiq art is a music form of oral art formed in folk environment and in terms of impact strength, popularity and uniqueness of maturity it is an expression having no analogue.
The sources of ashiq art include the art of Turkic ozans who created the prominent literary monument “Book of Dede Gorgud” 1300 years ago, as well as ecstatic acts of early Sufi dervishes who were called “haqq ashiqi” (lovers of Truth) in the Turkic world.
Classical heritage of Azerbaijani ashiqs consist of more than 200 songs, 150 dastans (large literary-musical compositions), 1500-2000 poems in different traditional poetic forms (goshma, garayli, tajnis, divani, mukhammas etc.).
Schools of Azerbaijan ashiq art include large regional art milieus such as Shirvan (eastern), Ganjabasar and Borchaly (western) milieus, and also a number of schools and milieus of Iranian (Southern) Azerbaijan – in Tabriz, Qaradag, Urmiya etc.
