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Laman Ismayilova

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Ganja State Philharmonic Hall has hosted a literary and artistic evening dedicated to the 230th anniversary of the outstanding Azerbaijani poet and thinker Mirza Shafi Vazeh.

The event was organized as part of the project "Ganja and the people of Ganja" (Gəncə və gəncəlilər), initiated by the director of the Philharmonic, Honored Artist Ramil Gasimov, Azernews reports.

In the foyer of the Philharmonic, the guests got acquainted with an exhibition dedicated to the life and work of Mirza Shafi Vazeh.

The evening also featured poetic works, including Mirza Shafi Vazeh's ghazals, mugham-choreographic composition, which were warmly received by the audience.

Mirza Shafi Vazeh - Muhammad Shafi Karbalai Sadig oglu was born in 1792 in Ganja into the family of an architect.

The family belonged to one of the noble aristocratic and pious families of the city. His father served as the chief architect-mason at the court of his childhood friend, the legendary ruler of Ganja Javadkhan Ziyad Khan Oglu Qajar. He wrote under the pseudonym Vazeh, which means "expressive, clear.".

Mirza Shafi Vazeh taught Persian and Arabic languages, oriental poetry and the theory of versification, calligraphy in city madrasahs, and later in Tiflis Azerbaijani and Persian languages. Together with the Russian teacher Ivan Grigoriev, he wrote the first anthology of Azerbaijani poetry and the Tatar-Russian Dictionary for the Tiflis gymnasium.

Mirza Shafi wrote ghazals, mukhammas, rubais, masnavi, etc. The main genres and themes of his works were satire, lyrics, glorification of romantic love, and in some poems he denounced the vices of feudal society.

The German poet Friedrich Bodenstedt, who took lessons in Eastern languages from Vazeh in Tiflis, published translations of Vazeh's poems in his book "A Thousand and One Days in the East" (1850), and later "Songs of Mirza Shafi" (1851).

The books were an unprecedented success, translated into many European languages and brought the author worldwide fame. Mirza Shafi Vazeh died in 1852 in Tiflis.

Media partners of the event are Azernews.Az, Trend.Az, Day.Az, Milli.Az.

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

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