Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

An event “Mugham in Azerbaijan: New trends and classical traditions” will be hosted by the SOAS Music Department and the Vostok Society in London, UK.

The event will feature discussions on history of Azerbaijan’s mugham art together with mugham singer Gochag Askarov and French jazz singer Pierre de Tregoman, Azertac reported.

The Azerbaijani mugham is a traditional musical form, characterized by a large degree of improvisation. The mugham, though a classical and academic art, draws upon popular bard melodies, rhythms and performance techniques and is performed in many venues throughout the country.

This modal genre features a male or female singer accompanied by musicians playing traditional instruments, such as the tar (a long-neck lute), the kamancha (a four-string spiked fiddle) and the daf (a type of large tambourine). Since mugham cannot be transcribed in a fixed form, multiple versions are transmitted by masters who train students in the fine art of interpretation to ensure the variety of this artistic expression.

Pierre de Trégomain played with his Quartet in festivals and jazz clubs throughout France and Europe and gained a solid reputation for his stage performances and improvisation.

Previously, Pierre had visited Baku to take mugham lessons from khananda Gochag Askarov.

With the help of Gochag Askarov, Pierre learned such main mughams as with "Rast", "Bayati-Shiraz".

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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