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WonderImprovised music heritage fact

Mugham, the classical music of Azerbaijan, is largely improvised. Instead of a fixed score, the singer and players follow a mode, a set of notes with its own melodic paths and mood, and shape each performance anew.

Mugham

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The story behind the card

A classic mugham trio has a singer, called a khanende, who often keeps time on a frame drum (the gaval or daf), accompanied by the tar, a long-necked lute, and the kamancha, a bowed fiddle. The performers move through a series of sections within the mode, rising gradually in pitch towards a climax, and the singer usually chooses classical poetry by poets such as Fuzuli. The tradition shares roots with Persian and Turkish makam music. UNESCO proclaimed Azerbaijani mugham a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2003, and the International Mugham Centre opened in Baku in 2008.

Türkçe oku
Azerbaycan'ın klasik müziği muğam, büyük ölçüde doğaçlamaya dayanır. Hanende ve çalgıcılar sabit bir notayı değil, kendine özgü ezgi yolları ve havası olan bir makamı izler; her icra bu çerçevede yeniden kurulur.

Klasik bir muğam üçlüsünde hanende çoğu zaman elindeki defle (Azerbaycan'da gaval) tempo tutar; ona uzun saplı bir telli çalgı olan tar ile yayla çalınan kamança eşlik eder. İcracılar makamın bölümleri arasında ilerler, ses giderek tizleşir ve doruğa ulaşır. Hanende genellikle Fuzûlî gibi klasik şairlerin gazellerini okur. Gelenek, İran ve Türk makam müziğiyle aynı köklerden beslenir. UNESCO, Azerbaycan muğamını 2003'te İnsanlığın Sözlü ve Somut Olmayan Mirasının Başyapıtlarından biri ilan etti; Bakü'deki Uluslararası Muğam Merkezi de 2008'de açıldı.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Mugham
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