Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

A symposium entitled "From Dede Gorgud to modern ashiq traditions" has been held at Baku State University.

The event was organized by Baku Yunus Emre Institute and the University of Bayburt (Turkey) with the support of BSU, and Kazakh National University of Arts, Trend Life reported.

The symposium brought together more than fifty researchers and performers from Azerbaijan, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, who presented scientific presentations and cultural programs.

Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Erkan Ozoral, MP Hikmat Babaoglu, rector of Kyrgyz-Turkish University "Manas" Sebahattin Balchi, head of Turkic language organization Mustafa Kachalin, assistant to the rector of the Bayburt University Suleyman Jedem, head of Kazakhstan's Korkut Ata University Shirinbek Kulibaev, head of ANAS Folklore Institute Mukhtar Imanov and head of Yunus Emre Institute Emre Ibrahim Yildirim attended the event.

A cooperation agreement was signed between Belarusian State University (BSU) and Turkish University of Bayburt within symposium.

Further, guests enjoyed cultural program featuring folk music of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.

Media partners of the event were Trend.az, Day.az, Milli.az Azernews.az

‘Dede Gorgud’ is an antique epos that describes ethnography, historical geography, language, mindset, outlook, socio-political and moral views, showing us good morals and culture of the Turkic people.

The first manuscript of The Book of Dede Gorgud, consisting of 12 stories (songs), was found in a Dresden library by German orientalist Heinrich Friedrich von Diez, who published in 1815 a translation of the “Tapagoz” (cyclops), which is a part of the epos.

Azerbaijan and UNESCO celebrated, the 1,300th anniversary of the epic Azerbaijani legend “Kitabi Dede Gorgud" in 2000.

Ashiq art, which began to form in Azerbaijan since ancient times, is a music form of oral art formed in folk environment and in terms of impact strength, popularity and uniqueness of maturity, and represents a unique way of expression.

Classical heritage of Azerbaijani ashiqs consist of more than 200 songs, 150 dastans (large literary-musical compositions), 1500-2000 poems in different traditional poetic forms (goshma, garayli, tajnis, divani, mukhammas etc.).

Despite the regional differences ashiqs are united by a common national language, musical repertoire and the saz, an invariable attribute of the Azerbaijani ashiqs, which may be accompanied with such musical instruments as balaban, nagara, gosha nagara and gaval. Saz is one of the symbols of the Turkic world.

The instrument got its final shape in the 16th century. It is sounded mainly with plectrum made of cork of cherry tree. In most cases, the arm and sides body of Saz are adorned with pearls. The stringed musical instrument, Saz is played solo and in ensembles.

The art of Azerbaijani Ashiqs was included in the UNESCO`s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009, as a symbol of national cultural identity that embodies various artistic spheres practiced by poets, composers, singers or actor-narrators, thus uniting in one artistic expression the communities of the entire country.

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

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