Music · Azerbaijan

• Musical workLeyli and Majnun (opera)Uzeyir Hajibeyli's opera staged in Baku in 1908 — the first opera of the Muslim East.Read more →
• Musical workKoroghlu (opera)Uzeyir Hajibeyli's 1937 opera about the folk hero Koroghlu — one of the summits of Azerbaijani classical music.Read more →
• Musical workArshin Mal AlanUzeyir Hajibeyli's 1913 musical comedy, staged in dozens of countries; its 1945 film became a classic.Read more →
• Musical workThe Seven Beauties (ballet)Gara Garayev's ballet after Nizami Ganjavi's poem Haft Paykar, the most famous Azerbaijani ballet since 1952.Read more →
• Musical workNational Anthem of AzerbaijanThe "March of Azerbaijan": music by Uzeyir Hajibeyli, words by Ahmad Javad. Written in 1919, it has been the state anthem since 1992.Read more →
• Musical workSari GelinOne of Azerbaijan's best-loved folk songs — a plaintive song of two young people whose love cannot be fulfilled.Read more →
• Musical workRunning Scared: Eurovision winner (2011)The song by Eldar Gasimov and Nigar Jamal that won Eurovision for Azerbaijan in 2011, bringing the contest to Baku the following year.Read more →

• InstrumentTarThe string instrument regarded as the symbol of Azerbaijani music. Its craftsmanship and performance have been on UNESCO's intangible heritage list since 2012.Read more →
• InstrumentKamanchaA bowed string instrument and member of the mugham trio. The art of making and playing it became UNESCO heritage in 2017 through a joint Azerbaijani–Iranian nomination.Read more →
• InstrumentSazThe long-necked lute of the ashiqs. Seen as the heir of the ancient qopuz, the saz is found across the Turkic world.Read more →
• InstrumentBalabanA soft, plaintive double-reed wind instrument. The art of making and playing it became UNESCO heritage in 2023 through a joint Azerbaijani–Turkish nomination.Read more →
• InstrumentGavalThe frame drum held by the mugham singer, who keeps the rhythm himself in the trio.Read more →
• InstrumentNagharaThe heartbeat of Azerbaijani weddings and dances — a double-headed drum that forms the liveliest ensemble together with the zurna.Read more →
• InstrumentZurnaA loud double-reed wind instrument, inseparable from open-air weddings and festivals together with the naghara.Read more →
• InstrumentQanunA trapezoid zither played on the lap with picks worn on the fingers.Read more →

• Musical genreAzerbaijani mughamThe main genre of Azerbaijani classical music — an art of improvisation passed from master to pupil rather than written down. On UNESCO's intangible heritage list since 2008.Read more →
• Musical genreArt of the Azerbaijani ashiqA folk art combining poetry, music, dance and epic storytelling, on UNESCO's intangible heritage list since 2009.Read more →
• Musical genreMeykhanaAbsheron's improvised rhythmic verse contest, in which performers duel with quick-witted rhymed lines over a beat.Read more →
• Musical genreJazz mughamA genre fusing mugham with jazz, created in the 1960s by the pianist Vagif Mustafazade.Read more →

• PersonUzeyir HajibeyliFounder of Azerbaijani professional music (1885–1948), composer of the first opera of the Muslim East and of Azerbaijan's national anthem.Read more →
• PersonGara GarayevComposer (1918–1982) of the ballets The Seven Beauties and The Path of Thunder, one of the masters of Azerbaijani symphonic music.Read more →
• PersonFikrat AmirovComposer (1922–1984) who created the symphonic mugham, author of Shur, Kurd Ovshari and the ballet One Thousand and One Nights.Read more →
• PersonBulbulSinger and founder of the Azerbaijani vocal school (1897–1961), the first to sing the title role in Koroghlu.Read more →
• PersonRashid BehbudovSinger and actor (1915–1989) who won world fame as Asgar in the film Arshin Mal Alan and founded the Azerbaijan State Song Theatre.Read more →
• PersonMuslim MagomayevBaritone, pop and opera singer (1942–2008), one of the best-loved voices of the former Soviet Union.Read more →
• PersonVagif MustafazadePianist and composer (1940–1979), creator of jazz mugham.Read more →
• PersonKhan ShushinskiOne of the greatest mugham singers of the 20th century (1901–1979), a master of the Karabakh school.Read more →

Did you know?

• His birthday, 18 September, is Azerbaijan's National Music Day.

  Uzeyir Hajibeyli →

• Uzeyir Hajibeyli was only 23 when he wrote the opera.

  Leyli and Majnun (opera) →

• The tar's soundboard is a thin membrane from an ox's pericardium.

  Tar →