Azerbaijan - The North

Next we are heading into Azerbaijan.  They gained independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991 and have become rich due to large oil reserves.  It recently tried to greenwash its image by hosting the COP climate conference.  Culturally it has a rich history, particular its music, which is related to the music of neighbouring Iran.  There are 3 main styles of music prevalent: 1) Meykhana, which is sometimes referred to as Azeri Rap or Wedding Rap, 2) the Ashiq tradition of travelling bards singing semi-improvised ballads accompanied by the saz, or simply solo instrumentals on the saz, which he have already become acquainted with in our last post in Georgia, and finally and most importantly 3) Mugham, combining classical poetry with musical improvisations often accompanied on the tar, another middle eastern lute.  

Crossing from Georgia into the northwest of the country, our first stop is in the Kazakh District (Qazax rayonu), where Ashiq bard Edalat Nazibov was born in 1939.  He died in 2017 and I don't know much else about him.  Here is a song from his 2003 album Azerbaidjan - The Art of Saz called Gerayli:

Next we are heading into the Shamakhi district and the village of Nabur.  This is where one of the most famous Mugham singers Alim Qasimov was born in 1957. Growing up on a Soviet farm cooperative he had the calling to become a musician early on and his parents supported him through his studies.  He is now compared to the famous Qawali singer Nusrat Ali Khan, has collaborated with the likes of Jeff Buckley and Yoyo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble.  Icelandic singer Bjork lists him as her favourite singer.  Alim's daughter Farghana Qasimova (born in 1979) is also an accomplished Mugham singer and has accompanied her father on tour since she was 16 years old and recorded some music together with him. Here they are singing as a duo at the Osnabruck Morgenland Festival. More of their music can be heard on their joint 2007 album Music of Central Asia Vol. 6 - Spiritual Music of Azerbaijan.

Next we're heading for to the city of Sumgait near the Caspian Sea, which is where folk musician Alihan Samidov was born in 1964. He specialises is wind instruments, specifically the balaban, oboe, clarinet, zurna and saxophone.  Here is the opening track from his 2021 album Batman konseri-2 called Sen Gelmez oldrun:

We'll leave it at that for today, next stop is the capital Baku.  Meanwhile you follow my virtual journey on my Tripline Map.