Azerbaijan in the Map of Global History of Art: Discourse Through Boundaries of Music and Dance

Abstract

The question of Azerbaijan’s place in the global history of art was publicly raised in 1919 after Uzeyir Hajibeyli (1885–1948) published an article on the music of Azerbaijani Turks (Azərbaycan türkləri) as a multi-ethnic nation (millət) united by the Turkic language (türk dili). Hajibeyli pointed out the lack of direct connection between music and language and highlighted the contrasting musical traditions of the southern (Azerbaijanis, Ottomans) and northern (Volga region and Siberia) Turks. Developing the concept of Hajibeyli, the author suggests considering recontextualization as a method of ethnomusicology by which the traditional heritage of Azerbaijan can be presented simultaneously in super-ethnical, regional, and national options. The focus is on the phenomenon of responsorial singing of unmetric melodies that permeate all layers of traditional Azerbaijani music from the funeral rite to mugham art. This phenomenon crystallized from 3000 BC together with a complex of expressive means in the music-poetic genres (laments) of polytechnic Mesopotamian civilizations. Special attention is paid to the problem of conceptualizing the traditional heritage of Azerbaijan on the example of the “Illustrated History of Music” by Agalar Aliverdibekov (1880–1953), which was written on the basis of Emil Nauman’s “World History of Music”. Aliverdibekov expanded the German historicism adding the chapter of “Azerbaijan” and presented the music of native Karabakh and Shusha with dozens of names and biographies.