"The Cloth Peddler" premiered in Bulgaria [PHOTO/VIDEO]

13 January 2021 13:01 (UTC+04:00)

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By Laman Ismayilova

Musical comedy "The Cloth Peddler" has been premiered in the historical and rich cultural city of Bulgaria - Kirdjali.

The four-act performance composed by Azerbaijan's prominent composer Uzeyir Hajibeyli was staged at the famous Musical Theater "Kadriye Latifova" to mark the composer's 135th birth anniversary. The staging of the play was also timed to the 60th anniversary of the Kirdjali Theater.

The premiere of the musical comedy was co-organized by the International Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation, the Azerbaijan Culture Ministry and the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Bulgaria.

"The Cloth Peddler" tells the love story of young Askar, who wants to get married. He is a rich, successful businessman and has everything he could wish for except for one thing - a wife. Traditions do not allow him to choose his own bride.

But Askar has a modern mentality and wants to choose his bride himself. Askar's friend Suleyman suggests that Askar disguises himself as a cloth peddler, gain entrance into the courtyard of private homes where all the women will gather around him to purchase his goods.

Askar wanders from house to house as a poor peddler selling fabric. Eventually, he meets Gulchohra, the beautiful daughter of Sultan bey, a wealthy merchant. Askar decides Gulchohra is the one he wants to marry. She, too, falls in love with him, although she knows him only as a peddler.

The story ends happily, four couples celebrate their marriages together. Askar marries Gulchohra. Suleyman marries Gulchohra's cousin, Asiya. Askar's servant, Valli, falls in love with Sultan bey's servant, Telli. The widower, Sultan bey, falls in love with Suleyman's widowed aunt.

The director of the play is the head director of the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater Hafiz Guliyev, stage designer - Tomiana Tomova Nacheva, choreographer-Ginka Kircheva.

The roles were performed by the actress of the Izmir State Theater Masura Tair (Gulchohra), as well as artists Yagub Yagub (Asker), Dinko Kovachev (Sultanbek), Nursan Abdurrahman (Jahan khala), Orhan Tahir (Suleyman), Karima Ismail (Asya), Aisun Ahmad (Telli), Mustafa Ismayil (Veli).

The International Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation carries out activities in the direction of preserving, studying and popularizing the history and culture of the Turkic world, participates in the celebration of the anniversaries of outstanding personalities, composers, poets and writers of the Turkic-speaking peoples, in promoting their heritage in the international arena.

Over the past years, a number of projects have been implemented between Bulgaria and the Foundation, including in March 2019, with the joint organization of the International Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation and the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Bulgaria, celebrations dedicated to the Novruz holiday were held in Bulgaria, in Sofia and Kirjali.