Nasimi Festival

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Over the course of the period from September 27-30, 2018, the Nasimi – Poetry, Art and Morality Festival took place, with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Culture Ministry.

 

Aiming to immortalise poetry and art, the festival was held under the slogans “From Personality to Heavens”, reflecting philosophical views of Nasimi, one of the great poets and thinkers of the Orient, and “I am a Grain, I am the Sun...”, taken from his own verses.

 

On the first day of the Festival, participants paid a visit to the Shakhandan cemetery, where Nasimi’s brother Shakhandan and eminent poet Seyid Azim Shrivani are buried, then the Juma Mosque, one of the oldest mosques of the Caucasus, built in 743, the Pir Omar Temple in Avakhly village, and the Shamakhy History and Ethnography Museum were visited.

 

Inauguration of the International Ethical Design Station also took place in Meysari village of Shamakhy, under the name of “Delicate Fashion”. Works by Azerbaijani and foreign designers were displayed here. Dress styles that had been used in Azerbaijan for hundreds of years, various colours being in fashion in different periods, as well as garments decorated with national ornaments were demonstrated at the exhibition.

 

Thereafter, an evening of acoustic and electronic music, called “Before stars”, took place at the Shamakhy Astrophysics Observatory of ANAS named after Nasreddin Tusi.

 

 On September 28, renowned German scholar, Michael Hess, who has been studying Nasimi’s creativity, gave a lecture at the Heydar Aliyev Centre on the theme “Understanding Nasimi in the Contemporary Context”.

 

On the same day, 3 exhibitions - “Live Life”, “Hurufism: Art and Identity” and “77 Million Paintings” of Brian Eno took place at the Heydar Aliyev Centre.

 

The event’s official opening ceremony took place at the Heydar Aliyev Centre. At the concert programme, poems of Nasimi were presented, and pieces of mugham, new arrangements of songs of 8-9th century eminent Azerbaijani musician Abdulgadir Maraghai by young and middle-age composers for the ancient music instrument ensemble “Sounds of centuries” under the Azerbaijan National Conservatoire, the work “An Epos about Nasimi” by great composer Fikret Amirov, and the song “Dua” composed by Honoured Artist of Azerbaijan Tunzala Aghayeva to Nasimi’s poem were performed. Renowned British singer of Azerbaijani descent Sami Yusif too performed at the concert.

 

The same day of the Festival ended by a presentation of the music project “Cycle” by honoured artists of Azerbaijan Rain Sultanov and Isfar Sarabski, glorifying moral and literary values in the Chamber and Organ Music Hall. In this project, Isfar Sarabski performed jazz music on organ, along with pianoforte.

 

On September 29, renowned master of yoga Nandan Guatam held “Artistic yoga session” at the Heydar Aliyev Centre.

 

On September 29, the work “Aus den sieben Tagen” (From the seven days) by German composer Karl Heinz Stockhausen was performed by an ensemble comprised of international musicians, as a joint improvisation.

 

On September 29, a video lecture called “Empathic civilization and distribution economy” by world-renowned American economist Jeremy Rifkin also took place at the Stone Annals Museum, followed by a Q&A session.

 

A music project called “Bahariyye”, made by inspiration from immortal Nasimi was presented at the Stone Annals Museum.

 

On the same day, performance of a group, which dances using the inclusive method “DanceAbility”, took place in the Seaside National Park.

 

On September 30, presentation of the public art project called “Opening Wall” took place in the abandoned industrial warehouse in Gala settlement of Baku. Up to 10 local and foreign-national “urban art” artists took part in the project, creating their works on the building’s walls.

 

On the same day, familiarisation took place with the exhibition “From Waste to Art” and with the works created in the framework of the project “Sound in Stone” at the Gala Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum Complex.

 

During the festival days, exhibitions, installations and video projections were shown in Icherisheher, and samples of poetry and music pieces performed and theatrical shows presented.

 

At the end of the festival, the winners of the poetry contest dedicated to Imadeddin Nasimi’s memory in the framework of the Culture Ministry’s literary project “Word” were rewarded at the Baku Media Centre. 


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