Caucasus & Central Asia on Music Theory Print

Armenian folk music

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The Importance of Armenian Folk Music For The Armenian Nation And Musical Culture#

The original Armenian folk music forms the basis of national self-awareness and defines the socio-cultural identity of the Armenian people, along with other attributable components of the socio-cultural life of the Armenian ethnicity. Being one of the oldest, having vividly expressed originality, melodic richness and compositional nobility, Armenian folk music has had a significant impact on the development of musical culture worldwide.

Armenian rock

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Soviet Era#

Rock was greatly restricted for most of the period Armenia was under Soviet rule, being viewed by the CPSU as a Western anti-socialist influence. Yet, by the early 1970s, there were a range of popular bands in the capital city of Yerevan strong enough to compete with their Soviet counterparts - Arthur Meschian’s “Arakyalner”, “1+2”, “Kaleidoscope” and “Bliki”. By the eighties, combining Armenian folk music with rock, the Armenian folk-rock groups were founded with notable, and popular even in 2000’s, representatives - Bambir, founded 1978 in Leninakan and Vostan Hayots, founded in 1986 in Yerevan. In 1982 Bambir won the “Folk Music Award” at the International Festival in Lida, Belarus. Other more obscure groups were also founded in the same time period like Zartong, a short-lived Armenian progressive folk group from France. As the Soviet rock scene grew larger in the late 1980s, bands like Asparez and Ayas attracted international audiences due to the new popularity of oriental rock these two bands were among original contributors, that was described first time in Melodie und Rhythmus magazine. Ayas was formed in 1986 by a conservatory graduate Artur Mitinyan, and a year later won Best Song of the Year award at Yerevan’s “Rock, Rock, Rock Festival”. Later they won the “Sisian Rock Festival” award as well. Elips was another important band of the era formed in 1986. In summer 1986 “Elips” went on tour to Latvia, where they played together with a Riga-based group “Pilligrim”. Simultaneously with the fame, the group gained the hatred of the Soviet Communist party nomenclature and was prohibited as an anti-Soviet group. Their most popular song - “Patkeratsrek” (Imagine) remains as one of the hymns of Armenian rock.

Ashiqs of Azerbaijan

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Etymology#

In today’s encyclopedic dictionaries the word Ashiq, which means “one who is in love”, is derived from the Arabic and Persian. Some encyclopedias define Ashiq as a folk singer-poet of Caucasus and neighboring nations. In addition to songs of his own, in repertory, Ashiq includes epic tales and folk songs.

Early origins#

The earliest traces of Turkic-speaking ashiqs in general can be found in the 14th century book named Book of Dede Korkut, which contains the most famous epic stories of the Oghuz Turks. From the 16th century onward, Azerbaijani-speaking ashiqs appeared and they have been the bearers and guardians of the languages they spoke, and the music performed in weddings, parties and folk festivals. During the 20th century, ashiq performances on concert stages, the radio and television became common.

Azerbaijani classical music

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Azerbaijan Democratic Republic era#

The professional classical music in Azerbaijan is associated with name of composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov.

Soviet era#

In 1920, Azerbaijani classical music had undergone a renaissance and Baku Academy of Music was founded to give classical musicians the same support as folk musicians. After World War II, Fikret Amirov introduced a new genre called symphonic mugam. Amirov’s symphonic mugams were based on classical folk pieces and were performed by many renowned symphony orchestras throughout the world, such as the Houston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski.

Azerbaijani folk music

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History#

Most songs recount stories of real-life events and Azerbaijani folklore, or have developed through song contests between troubadour poets. Corresponding to their origins, folk songs are usually played at weddings, funerals, and special festivals. Regional folk music generally accompanies folk dances, which vary significantly across regions. The regional mood also affects the subject of the folk songs, e.g. folk songs from the Caspian Sea are lively in general and express the customs of the region. Songs about betrayal have an air of defiance about them instead of sadness, whereas the further south traveled in Azerbaijan the more the melodies resemble a lament.

Azerbaijani hip-hop

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History#

The first Azerbaijani hip-hop song “Dünənki keçdi” (Yesterday is Past) was created in 1983 by Chingiz Mustafayev, who would later become Azerbaijan’s national hero for unrelated reasons. The pioneer of Azerbaijani rap often associated with name of Anar Nagilbaz in 1992, which also included elements of disco but the popularity of the rap genre came with the rise of Dayirman, which included primarily patriotic elements. In 2000s, despite mass emergence of independent rappers like Elşad Xose and Huseyn Derya and popularity of hip-hop shows like “Mən də varam” on Space TV, only a few Azerbaijani rap artists have achieved commercial success. During the late 2000s, rap group H.O.S.T. became primarily popular among hip hop fans. On 29 December 2011, the first Azerbaijani national musical, a hip-hop version of the classic love story Leyli and Majnun, has been performed in Baku. Despite the commercial dominance of hip-hop and Azerbaijani pop music during this period, rapper Miri Yusif found success with his reggae and soul fusion album “Karma”, peaked at number 1 in the Azerbaijani Albums Chart in 2010.

Azerbaijani jazz

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20th century#

Jazz first appeared in Azerbaijan at the beginning of the 20th century. The Eastern Jazz Band, whose performances in Moscow were advertised in 1926, included Huseyngulu Sarabski as a soloist. In the 1930s, Niyazi and Tofig Guliyev created the first local jazz band. However, jazz in the Soviet Union faced prohibition and censorship from 1920 through 1953. By the 1950s, jazz musicians from many Soviet cities, looking for a safe harbour, gradually gathered in Baku. In the late 1960s, the Azerbaijani jazz music was boosted by such composers as Gara Garayev and Rauf Hajiyev. In 1969, the first jazz festival was held in Baku.

Azerbaijani pop music

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1960s#

The early 1960s were probably the era when Azerbaijani pop music was most dependent on the group format, with pop acts, like rock bands, playing guitars and drums, with the occasional addition of keyboards or orchestration. Classical pop-folk music enjoyed mainstream popularity during this era, with artists such as Anatollu Ganiyev, Muslim Magomayev and Shahlar Guliyev.

1970s#

The Azerbaijani pop music experienced during the late 1970s a golden age of productivity characterized by the rise of a new generation of musicians. The classical pop artists such as Rashid Behbudov, Mirza Babayev, Flora Karimova, Shovkat Alakbarova, Ogtay Aghayev, and Gulagha Mammadov experienced their greatest success at the start of the decade and maintained their popularity throughout the entire music history.

Azerbaijani rock

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Soviet Era#

Rock was greatly restricted for most of the period Azerbaijan was under Soviet rule, being viewed by the CPSU as a Western anti-socialist influence. Among the most recognized groups of the Soviet era were Coldünya, Yuxu, Eksulap and Khurramids.

1960s–1970s#

1960s was the period when Azerbaijani rock was formed. Leading bands of this period were namely Eskulap (1966), Khurramids (1969), Express-118, Pazavang and Uvet which were mainly playing soft rock and blues. Khurramids performed live in festival dedicated to 51st establishment of Azerbaijan State University with a cover version of “I can’t get no” by Rolling Stones in 1970. Following first decade of Azerbaijani rock, 70s gave rise to jazz rock with ethnic elements. Cürbəcür was founded by Jahangir Garayev, elder brother of Abulfas Garayev in 1970. Other notable bands were Məşəl (Torch), Brevis (1971) and Üç Alov (Three Flames). However, main driving force were considered Experiment-OK (1967) and Ashiqlar (1973). Jazz fusion era ended with “ASU Physics faculty band” (1972) according to Hikmat Hajizadeh (former ambassador of Azerbaijan to Russia) who played solo guitars back then. Meanwhile, in Sumgayit, Miraj and Rovesnik bands were active.

Circassian music

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Instruments#

Circassian music is characterized by certain instruments, including: * Pshine (), a type of Circassian accordion (related to the Georgian accordion) and its associated playing style. * Pkhachich (), 2 sets of “wood blocks”, each set containing about six pieces of wood held by hand, struck together to rhythmically accompany a song. * Bereban, a drum known as ‘Dhol’; in Adyghe it is called “Shontrip”. It is struck by hand or with two short batons. Drummers’ hands bleed when they train, or overplay. * Pkhetaw, (‘Wood-strike’) a small wooden table-like instrument, hit with sticks for keeping tempo. * Apa-pshine (), a three string lute. * Qamil (), the Circassian flute. * Shik’epshine (Adyghe: ШыкIэпшынэ), a Circassian stringed instrument also known as a horse-tail violin.

Iavnana

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Kanto (music)

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Terminology#

Italian opera and theater had a profound effect on Turkish culture during the early 20th century. The terminology of music and theater derived from Italian. In the argot of the improvisational theater of Istanbul the stage was called sahano, backstage was referred to as koyuntu, backdrops depicting countryside as bosko, the applause as furi, and the songs sung as solos or duets between the acts and plays were called kanto. As was the case with their Italian counterparts, the Turkish troupe members played songs and music before the show and between the acts to pique people’s interest and draw in customers. Kanto were based on traditional eastern makam but performed with Western instruments.

Kui (music)

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Kui in Kazakh culture performed with dombyra#

In Kazakh culture kuis were learned by heart and passed from generation to generation without written fixation. For example, Kazakh folk Kui “aqsaq qulan” (lame onager) is dated to the 13th century. Authors of many Kazakh kuis lived in the Middle Ages. But the pick of the culture is from the 19th and 20th centuries. Kui tradition included also verbal part that explained in detail the story for its compositions, personalities, reasons and legends. Before performing the kui, the performer used to give a story about the composition to play, so the auditory could get proper feelings. But by the time the verbal tradition for kuis was finally separated from instrumental performances and only few kuishi (performer of kui) still keep this part of the tradition.

Meykhana

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Etymology#

The name of this genre comes from the traditional Persian meykhane (tavern, pub), which itself originated from the Persian word mey (wine) and khane (house). The professional performers of meykhana are known as the Söz Ustadı (Word Masters) in Azerbaijani, also called as the meykhana masters.

Soviet pressure (1940–1991)#

Meykhana was performed among the youth of Baku settlements in the pre-Revolutionary time. Although during the Soviet period meykhana was banned, the poetry of Aliagha Vahid was often rhymed as a contemporary meykhana. This could be related to the meykhana’s popularity among the residents of Baku and Absheron regions.

Mugham

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History#

The Uighurs in Xinjiang (新疆) call this musical development muqam, the Uzbeks and Tajiks call it maqom (or shasmaqom), while Arabs call it maqam and Persians dastgah. The meta-ethnicity and intricate complexity of this music also becomes apparent in the fact that terms such as mugham, maqam, or dastgah, omnipresent in oriental music, can mean one thing in the Turkish tradition, while the same term in the music of Uzbekistan takes on quite another meaning, and yet another in the classical Arabic tradition. So, in one culture mugham may be related to a strictly fixed melodic type, while in another it is only the cadences, the melody endings that are associated with it. In a third culture it may only correspond to a specific type of tone scales. Uzeyir Hajibeyov asserted that the mugham tradition disintegrated around the end of the fourteenth century during the Mongol rule. Afterward, each ethnic group in the area reconstructed its own system from the remnants. In the 16–17th centuries the art of mugham was passing through the development process as a professional music of the palace. In this period a dastgah form starts to develop in the structure and forms of mugham. New colors and shades as well as tasnifs developed in mugham performance. The music events were held in most regions of today’s Azerbaijan in the 19th century and mugham was performed at these events. In the 19th century famous French writer Alexandre Dumas who attended the ceremony in Shamakhy, wrote in his works about his trip saying he was greatly impressed by mugham that sounded there. In the early decades of the 20th century, a member of native intelligentsia, Uzeyir Hajibeyov, the author of the first national opera Leyli and Majnun, also formulated the theoretical basis of Azerbaijani mugham in his work The Principles of Azerbaijan Folk Music. Famous Azerbaijani composer Gara Garayev and Fikrat Amirov also made a great contribution to the development of the art of mugham through creating the mugham symphony. Hajibaba Huseynov was credited as a key figure in the popularization of mugham, and developing talented mugham khanandas such as Alim Qasimov, Aghakhan Abdullayev and Gadir Rustamov. As of 1985, Agdam Mugham School functions in Azerbaijan, which produced the “Karabakh Nightingales” mugham ensemble. Azerbaijan also has a great tradition of composers and musicians of western classical music. Uzeyir Hajibeyov with his Leyli and Majnun created the genre of mugham-opera. Fikret Amirov (1922–1984) was the first composer of symphonic mughams, namely Shur, Kurd Ovshari, and Gulistan Bayati Shiraz. Azerbaijani composers created a plethora of compositions that fused mugham and traditional European genres. Among those, for example, Vasif Adigozal’s mugham oratorio Karabakh Shikastasi. Such works are obviously very different from traditional mugham formations but in fact incorporate many mugham idioms. On the level of musicians, there remains a strict separation between classical and “traditional” music in terms of training. Even if the musicians are educated at the same conservatorium they stick to one camp. In 2005, International Center of Mugham created under the decree of Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev. In August of same year, on the territory of the Baku Boulevard, Ilham Aliyev with his spouse, the Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO Mehriban Aliyeva and UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura, laid the first stone at the base of the complex. Opening of the complex took place on December 27, 2008. The total area of center is 7500 meters squared, which also includes concert saloon of 350 people, recording studio, rooms for rehearsals. In the foyer, visitors can find busts of famous mugham performers, also a rich collection of musical instruments.

Music of Ossetia

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Folk music#

Ossetian folk music began to be collected in the late 19th and early 20th century. Boris Galaev made substantial contribution to the collection and documentation. Ossetian folk songs were divided into categories: * Historic songs * Revolution songs * Heroic songs * Worker’s songs * Wedding songs * Drinking songs * Humorous songs * Dance songs * Love songs * Lyrical songs Traditional Ossetian musical instruments include: *Kisyn fandyr (хъисын фæндыр or хъисын фандыр), a vertical fiddle with 2 or 3 strings *Duadastanon (дуадастанон, sometimes spelled дыуадастанон or дыууадæстæнон), an angular harp

Music of Xinjiang

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Muqam#

The best-known musical form of the Uyghur people is the , a complex suite of 12 sections related to Uzbek and Tajik forms. These complex symphonies vary wildly between suites in the same muqam, and are built on a 7-note scale. Instruments typically include the dap (a frame drum), hammered dulcimers, fiddles, and lutes; performers have some space for personal embellishments, especially in the percussion. However, there is much variation on the number and kind of instruments used in the performance of a muqam. In November 2005 the Art of Uyghur Muqam was named a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

Opera in Azerbaijan

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19th and early 20th centuries. Russian Empire#

The emergence of opera and ballet in Azerbaijan is associated with the Imperial Russian period of history when the inhabitants populating what is now the Republic of Azerbaijan became exposed to European music traditions first-hand. The very first documented performance of an opera in Baku took place in May 1889 when Alexey Verstovsky’s opera Askold’s grave was staged at a circus arena in Baku (on the site of the current Azerbaijan Carpet Museum building), accompanied by the folk choir of Dmitry Agrenev-Slavyanski. In the early 1900s, opera troupes toured Baku on a yearly basis (except 1901 and 1913), featuring prominent singers of the time such as Natalia Ermolenko-Yuzhina and Antonina Nezhdanova. The Opera Theater in Baku was built in 1911 on the request of the Armenian Mailov brothers and by Armenian architect Nikolai Bayev.

Q-pop

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Background#

Kazakhstan experienced the Korean Wave when South Korean dramas and movies started entering the country in the mid 2000s. This phenomenon, assisted by the increasing accessibility of the internet, sparked more interest in South Korean pop culture among Kazakhstanis, which helped the popularization of the K-pop music genre in Kazakhstan. K-pop is regarded as an attractive, less-restrictive and unique genre. The high popularity of K-pop in Kazakhstan spurred the creation of the first Q-pop project in 2014, when JUZ Entertainment formed Ninety One. After the group debuted in 2015, it became instantly popular among youth, due to its high quality music and the use of Kazakh in its songs.

Rabiz

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Etymology#

Despite the term’s widespread use, the etymology or definition of the word “rabiz” is not clearly understood. According to some sources it stems from the Russian phrase “работники искусства” (rabotniki iskusstva) used during Soviet times, meaning “Art Workers”, in reference to unions which specialized in new music composition. Others believe that the word has Arabic roots, since the word rab () means creator or god, while the Arabic name aziz (; ), which is used by many Armenians as meaning “darling” could perhaps be considered another root, thus referring to the genre performers as dear creators.

Shashmaqam

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History#

In the first half of the 20th century in Uzbekistan, Abdul Rauf Fitrad, member of the Jadid, was particularly interested in shashmaqam, the traditional music of the Court. In 1927, he wrote a book called Ozbek klasik Muzikasi va uning Tarikhi (Uzbek classical music and its history), in which he presented shashmaqam as a grand musical tradition of the Uzbek people. In the 1930s, during the Soviet regime of Joseph Stalin, Uzbek shashmaqom was seen as an echo of the feudal ruling class and as a kind of music that impinged cultural progress toward adoption of European-style harmony. Finally, in 1951, a decree from the president of the Uzbekistan Union of Composers, reaffirmed by the committee of Uzbekistan, suppressed the maqom and the development of the musical practice. During the mid-50s, the maqam began an ideological rehabilitation. In Tajikistan, the local leadership decided that shashmaqom should form a part of the national traditional heritage. Tension between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan led to the differentiation between the Tajik shashmaqom as developed in Dushanbe, and the Uzbek shashmaqam as developed in Tashkent. Tajik books made no mention of Uzbek shashmaqam and vice versa. During the 1980s, this artificial division began to change. Uzbekistan began to learn about the Tajik shashmaqam, and Tajikistan learnt of the Uzbek shashmaqom. This has survived to the present, but a surge of nationalism in Uzbekistan may change that: singers on the radio in Bukhara, a city perfectly bilingual in Uzbek and Tajik, are using only the Uzbek texts in their shashmaqom music broadcasts. This style of music was brought to the Western world, particularly to the United States, by the Bukharian Jews of Central Asia. Many of them were successful performers of Shasmaqom and brought it to the West.