6 July 2008 · 2 min
Alim QasimovAlim Qasimov is Azerbaijan’s best known and most beloved singer, a virtuoso who is equally at home in the two musical domains central to Azeri musical culture: mugham, the classical art music that has flourished for centuries in the sophisticated cities of North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia; and ashiq, the rural bardic tradition that is found in Turkey, Azerbaijan and the Azeri region of Iran. In 1999, Qasimov was awarded the prestigious international award, IMC/UNESCO Music Prize, and the Folk Roots Magazine hailed him “one of the greatest singers of the 20TH century.” Alim Qasimov has also participated in Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project. Fargana Qasimova, Alim’s daughter, has absorbed her father’s musical gift, and is well on the way to becoming a great singer in her own right. Sensitively accompanied by Rauf Islamov, Rafael Asgarov, Natig Shirinov and Ali Asgar Mammadov, all members of distinguished musical lineages, the Qasimovs present the art of mugham and the tradition of the bardic ashiq at their zenith. In the southeast of Tajikistan, where the majestic Pamir Mountains reach heights only slightly lower than those of the Himalayas, local traditions of devotional song, mystical music, and dance have flourished among mountain-dwelling Pamiri peoples. Together with Badakhshan’s rugged geography, these practices have nourished the preservation of many aspects of traditional culture. The members of his Badakhshan Ensemble live in and around Khorog – the regional capital and the country’s largest city, with a population of around 40,000 – where they earn their livelihood as professional musicians. Their repertory includes maddah – devotional songs that can embody the spiritual power known as baraka, laments with spare instrumental accompaniment called falak, and traditional popular songs, called khalqi. For Badakhshanis, music and dance are intimately linked, and Soheba, an outstanding dancer as well as one of Badakhshan’s finest female vocalists, illustrates the rich symbolism of Pamiri dance. Female entertainers have played a key role in the social life of Central Asia women and continue to do so today. The artists assembled under the name Bardic Divas feature two singers from Kazakhstan and two from Qaraqalpakstan, and together represent diverse performance traditions centered around the solo voice. Ulzhan Baibussynova is a jyrau – an epic singer and one of the first women of her young generation to master this traditionally male Kazakh art form. Her voice is reflected in the raspy, guttural recitative in which she recites Kazakh oral poetry. Joining her is Ardak Issataeva, from the Jambul region of Kazakhstan, who currently teaches lyrical song at the Conservatory of Almaty. Likewise, Ziyada Sheripova and Injegul Saburova were the first women to perform a traditional male bardic repertory from Qaraqalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan that borders the Aral Sea. For tour dates, please see the 2007 tour itinerary. Presenters: