Azerbaijani music
Azerbaijani music is the result of centuries of a historical process of creating and developing distinctive, deeply realistic traditions of the Azerbaijani nation. These traditions had, until the early 20th century, mainly oral character; on the one hand they were rooted in the everyday folk creation, on the other hand they were gaining features of professional art, evident especially in mugham and works of ashigs.
The Azerbaijani folk music is part of musical art of the people of the Middle East, but Azerbaijani folk music will cause a stir in originality, a bright national originality.
Folk music of Azerbaijan is characterised by a variety of genres - these are mugham, songs, ashigs music, dances, meykhana.
Azerbaijani musical instruments are varied, there are around 60 Wind instruments - tutek, balaban, zurna are widespread; string — tar, saz, ud, canon, kamancha; percussions - qaval, naqara, a gosha-naghara and ets.
In the early XX century in Baku there were several private music schools: Yermolaev's, Shefferling's, Semenov's, Rozin's schools. However in them taught only playing the European musical instruments and on the European technology of execution. The Azerbaijani folk music developed only in an individual order by the principle the teacher - the pupil. The famous musicologist of an era Uzeyir Bey Hajibeyli considered that not writing of work in the European genres, technology of execution, but creation of such conditions in which the listeners ready to accept new music and at the same time the sectors of society representing everything will be brought up has to be the purpose.
For the first time Uzeyir Bey Hajibeyli has laid the foundation of the Azerbaijani classical music, having united traditions of folk Azerbaijani music with the European. At the beginning of the XX century in the conditions of social and political and cultural rise he also synthesized composer activity with the folk art having oral traditions.
