search the site:
Monday, August 23, 2004 - 6:00 to 11:00 AM
AZERBAIJAN is a country that most people don't generally associate with classical music; however,
the country has a classical music tradition dating back nearly a century to the early 1900s when
Baku, its capital, produced more than 50 percent of the world's oil supply.
Music & Vision-classical music daily from around the world
Located on the Caspian Sea, south of Russia and east of Turkey, north of Iran, Azerbaijan sits at the crossroads of East and West. And its music is the synthesis of these two great traditions.
Often the melodic line and instrumentation are Eastern while genre and orchestration are Western. An unforgettable blend.
In late 1991, Azerbaijan gained its independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Today, gradually, their great music is becoming known throughout the world as it justly deserves to be.
Music schools flourished during the Soviet period and composers created and today are still creating music in numerous styles including those from the West.
The first opera of the Muslim world was composed in Azerbaijan almost a hundred years ago by the Azerbaijani composer, Uzeyir Hajibeyov.
He is known as the Father of Composed Music because he insisted that music could be written down and orchestrated, rather than just improvised.
The first piece - Koroghlu - Son of Blind Man , was performed in 1938 in Moscow in the presence
of Stalin who awarded it the highest accolades of the nation. Some suggest that the piece may have even saved Hajibeyov's life because he had been involved with the movement
for independence before the Bolsheviks took over the country in 1920. And those years - especially the late 1930s were so infamous for Stalin's repression.
Today's program introduces some of the finest examples of Azerbaijani music and the contribution their composers have made to world cultural heritage.
by Betty Blair
New Music Box- Monthly Web Music Magazine
6:00am - 7:00am
Links for CD information:
(A*04)...Azerbaijan International STORE - contact to buy most of the music that is featured on today's show (AZER.com)
(Q*01)...Qualiton Imports LTD
(V*01)...Vienna Modern Masters
Links to interesting websites:
About AZER.com - World's Largest Web site about Azerbaijan.
Explore Web sites created by Azerbaijan International: Archives of the English magazine - Azerbaijan International - Established in 1993 - 12 and half years ago
- You'll find more than 1700 articles and 4500 photos, 165 sound samples (REAL AUDIO)
Azerbaijani composers
AZERI.org - Language and Literature - 50 Azerbaijani writers in Azeri and in English translation
AZgallery.org - "Discover the Little-Known World of Azerbaijani Art" - more than 3,000 samples of Azerbaijani art from 165 artists are on display
HAJIBEYOV.com - "Celebrating the Legacy of Azerbaijan's Great Composer - Uzeyir Hajibeyov". You'll find 35 samples of MUSIC. The Librettos to 7 of Hajibeyov's operas and Music Comedies in English and Azeri Latin.
And numerous entries of oral histories related to people who know the great composer personally.
Rosen featured in Azerbaijan International Magazine:
Making Waves: Princeton University Radio Program Features Azerbaijani Music,
Spring 2002 (10.1) by Marvin Rosen
A Brief History of Azerbaijani Music
Classical Music of Azerbaijan - Opera review by Rob Barnett
Classical Music of Azerbaijan - review by Rob Barnet
THE LIVING COMPOSERS PROJECT
Twentieth Century Music Links
Center for the Promotion Contemporary Composers
Internet CD's Stores:
Amazon.com
CD Baby - online record store that sells CDs by independent musicians.
CDNOW
Tower Records
If you have any comments, questions or need help in finding some
of the recordings feel free to e-mail me at:
marvinrosen@classicaldiscoveries.org
Please take note that the broken links on older playlists will be not repaired.
Please Visit My Guestbook
|