Azerbaijani mugham was performed in Paris
A concert of mugham, the pearl of Azerbaijani art, took place at the Cultural Centre of Azerbaijan in Paris, with support from the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, our country’s Embassy in France and the International Mugham Centre, February 11.
Opening the concert, which was attended by the French capital’s members of public, employees of accredited diplomatic corps, our Diaspora’s representatives and mugham lovers, Ambassador Elchin Amirbayov noted that this was the first time our nation’s traditional mugham concert was performed at the Centre inaugurated in September last year, the concert was organized within the framework of the Third International Mugham Festival to be held in March in Baku and that the festival was organized by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the International Mugham Centre.
Mentioning that mugham, which has for centuries been performed by Azerbaijani singers with special proficiency, was entered on UNESCO’s List of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage as a masterpiece, the diplomat brought to attention that the International Mugham Centre started functioning in 2005 based on the President’s decree in order to immortalize and develop the art of mugham, noted that the International Mugham Festival is held since 2009, and this year this festival will be held for the third time.
The Ambassador mentioned that mugham is performed in various regions of our country, in particular in the cities of Baku, Ganja and Nakhchyvan, and Garabagh, which has always been an Azerbaijani territory, was kind of a historical homeland of mugham, and a mugham school famous all over Azerbaijan was functioning in Shusha.
Young singers (khanende) Nigar Shabanova and Elnur Zeynalov performed mughams and tasnifs. They were accompanied by Rovshan Gourbanov in tar, Jeyhun Muradov in kamancha, Kamran Karimov in naghara, Chinara Mutallibova in canon and Joshgun Sadygov in balaban.
The performances of masters of art were applauded by French music lovers.
Onlooker Françoise Dagona expressed her impressions of the concert with these words: “I have known mugham for a long time. French Ambassador to Azerbaijan Ginuit regularly organized concerts by Azerbaijani masters of art. I have almost attended all these concerts. Then I learned how rich and colourful the Azerbaijani art historically was and loved the music of mugham. In the past, I did not know the music instruments accompanying mugham. Now I know the names of all these instruments. Each year I bring tens of Azerbaijani children to France and acquaint them with our country. One little boy among these children had performed mugham very proficiently. Unfortunately, very soon he lost his voice.
Performance of singers (khanende) before the French this evening was perfect.”.
