Azernews.Az

The Ganja State Philharmonic Hall has hosted a conference dedicated to People's Artist of the USSR Gara Garaye within "Cultural Heritage of the Nation" (Xalqın mədəni sərvəti).

Initiated by the Honoured Artist Ramil Gasimov, the project aims to promote classical examples of Azerbaijan in the regions and convey national and spiritual values and folk music to modern youth, Azernews reports.

The head of the sector for work with cultural centres of the Ganja-Dashkesan District Department of Culture, Nureddin Babazade, stressed the importance of the project in the cultural life of the country's regions.

During the conference, reports were heard on the topics of opera, ballet, and symphonic genres in the works of Gar Garayev, and an exchange of opinions took place.

Having synthesised Eastern and Western musical traditions, Gusev, Garayev's music covers essentially all genres. At the age of eight, Garayev first entered the junior music school at the Azerbaijan State Conservatoire.

Thanks to his exceptional musical talents, the composer studied simultaneously in two faculties at the conservatoire. His music teachers were Georgi Sharoyev, Leonid Rudolf, and the prominent Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Hajibayli.

In 1952, under the direction of the choreographer P. A. Gusev, Garayev's "Seven Beauties" ballet was staged at the Azerbaijani Theatre of Opera and Ballet. Based on Nizami Ganjavi's famous poem, "Seven Beauties", it became the first Azerbaijani ballet and opened a new chapter in the history of classical music of Azerbaijan.

His ballet, "Path of Thunder", staged in 1958, was dedicated to racial conflicts in South Africa. In the same year, he wrote the score for the documentary film" A Story About the Oil Workers of the Caspian Sea", directed by Roman Karmen and set at the Oil Rocks.

Through his life, Garayev wrote nearly 110 musical pieces, including ballets, operas, symphonic and chamber pieces, solos for piano, cantatas, songs, and marches, and rose to prominence not only in Azerbaijan but also worldwide. He brilliantly juxtaposed features of mugham with jazz, blues, African music, European counterpoint styles, and developments related to 20th-century Western music, such as the 12-tone technique. Gara Garayev's masterpieces are performed all over the world.

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

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