“Arshin Mal Alan” operetta conquers Ankara
By Sabina Idayatova
The premiere of the musical comedy Arshin Mal Alan (The Cloth
Peddler) was held at the Ankara State Opera and Ballet Theatre on
its 100th anniversary on October 27.
The operetta, written by great Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir
Hajibeyli, was played to a full house on the stage of the Ankara
State Museum of Paintings and Sculptures.
Ankara State Museum is an art center where the most
outstanding works of the artists who played an important role in
the development of Turkish Painting and Sculpture Arts are
displayed.
The premiere which was prepared and staged by the honored
Azerbaijani artist Hafiz Guliyev brought together the
representatives of the Turkish society, Azerbaijani diplomats, and
Azerbaijanis living in Ankara.
Azerbaijani ambassador to Turkey Faig Bagirov also
attended the event.
Azerbaijani national dances prepared by the famous Turkish
choreographer Deniz Chig have been met with great interest from the
audience.
For about two hours, the audience thoroughly enjoyed
the operetta's comic and romantic story of love which was full of
songs and humor, and the performance received a standing
ovation.
"Arshin Mal Alan" is the third and last operetta of Uzeyir
Hajibeyli, the author of the first Oriental opera, and was composed
and staged in 1913 in Baku.
The operetta which is close to the comic opera genre and has an amusing love story is one of the most well-known and dearly-loved stories among Azerbaijanis.
It is also attracting a broad audience worldwide, being successfully performed in over 60 countries of the world, including Austria, France, China, Greece, India, Russia, and Turkey.
On September 7, it won the hearts of about 3,000 Los Angeles theater lovers at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The American opera singers sang in original Azerbaijani with projected English translations, and spoke in English.
It was also successfully staged in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, having been translated into the Uzbek language.
The plot is centered on a young man named Asker who wants to see and choose his bride himself before marriage. But doing so was difficult at that time, because women were traditionally kept at home and were heavily covered in hijabs when they went outside.
Asker's friend Suleyman suggests that he dress up as a fabric peddler and go around the houses selling fabrics and meeting women.
Asker falls in love with Gulchohra and asks Gulchohra's father, the wealthy Sultan bey, for her hand in marriage. Sultan bey agrees, but Gulchohra objects, because she is in love with the peddler. Eventually, she realizes that the rich businessman Asker is actually her beloved peddler and they get married.