Mugham singer thrills audience in New York
By Laman Ismayilova
Famous mugham singer Gochag Askarov has thrilled the audience at Totem Heart and Mind Festival in New York.
Before the performance, the host of the festival stressed the mugham singer's unique voice and his ability to express a wide range of emotions through music. He noted that Gochag Asgarov is from Azerbaijan's mountainous Karabakh region, famous for its incredible talents, Azertag reported.
As a result of the Armenian occupation, Gochag Askarov was forced to leave his homeland. The host of the festival emphasized that the singer's voice can be considered Azerbaijan`s national treasure.
Furthmore, Gochag Askarov and his enseble performed Azerbaijan's folk songs and mughams. He was accompanied by talented musicians Ibrahim Babayev (tar), Elnur Mikayilov (kamancha), Honored Artist Kamran Karimov (drums), Vasif Huseynzade (piano), Yusif Azizov (drums) and Rafael Askarov (balaban).
The virtual concert was enjoyed by more than 10,000 people.
Gochag Askarov performed at dozens of international music festivals in Europe, Asia, and Middle East. After his successful performance at Shanghai World Music Festival-2014, he was named "Prince of classical Azerbaijani mugham".
His music albums released in 2011 and 2013 were reviewed by Songline, The Wire (UK), Trad, Les Inrocks (France), and All About Jazz (Italy), and many other renowned European magazines.
In 2017, mugham singer released a joint album with French jazzman Pierre de Tregoman.
The two musician have been actively collaborated since 2016.
The album "Mugham Souls" features synthesis of jazz and mugham. Gochag Askarov and Pierre de Tregoman brilliantly united mugham with western melodies.
With centuries-old history, Azerbaijani mugham continues to amaze the music lovers.
This unique kind of music is based on the rich philosophical and literary ground.
One of the most valuable monuments of the material and spiritual culture of the nation contains seven main modes - Rast, Shur, Segah (are especially common), Shushtar, Bayaty-Shiraz, Chahargah, Humayun and three collateral kinds - shahnaz, sarendj, chargah in some other form.
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