Vienna commemorates Tofig Guliyev

/By AzerNews/

By Laman Sadigova

A memorial evening dedicated to the outstanding Azerbaijani composer, Tofig Guliyev, was held at the Azerbaijani Cultural Center in Vienna.

The project entitled “Rapprochement with the phenomenon of Tofig Guliyev (Tofig Guliyev: Annäherung an ein Phänomen) was jointly realized by the Culture Meeting Point together with the Azerbaijan Cultural Center, with the assistance of the Azerbaijani embassy in Austria and the Azerbaijani Culture and Tourism Ministry.

Director of Azerbaijan Cultural Center in Vienna Leyla Gasimova and Head of Culture Meeting Point Farah Tairova have addressed the event, and informed the guests about works of Tofig Guliyev, who has made a significant contribution to the development of Azerbaijani music.

The speakers noted that the phenomenon of Tofig Guliyev is that he managed to conquer the hearts of millions of music lovers through his beautiful and emotional music.

Such legendary musicians like Bulbul, Rashid Behbudov, Fidan and Khuraman Gasimova, Muslim Magomayev, Vagif Mustafazadeh, Chingiz Sadikhov, the famous jazz orchestra of Eddie Rosner are among unique interpreters of the composer's works. His magic songs have turned into masterpieces.

The event also featured a documentary film about the life and work of famous composer.

Later, the guests were able to enjoy a concert program with the participation of people's Artist of the USSR Fidan Gasimova and People's Artist Khuraman Gasimova, who performed Tofig Guliyev’s masterpieces. The performance got terrific applause from the audience.

Born in 1917 and raised in Baku’s Icherisheher (Old City), Tofig Guliyev was one of the most appreciated Azerbaijani classical composers of the twentieth century.

Guliyev had the perfect ear for music and a phenomenal musical memory. This talented musician was often referred to as the dean of Azerbaijani composers.

Guliyev greatly contributed to the national music industry. He is one of the first composers who transferred Azerbaijani Mugam, a unique musical and poetic phenomenon, into musical notes.

He is a founder of the “composer music” genre in 20th century Azerbaijan. His splendid songs are still young, modern, and will never go out of style.

He has had invaluable contribution to Azerbaijani national culture, and from 1930 the outstanding composer began to collect, record, and publish national folklore in his music. The song and dance materials that he gathered from visits to the country’s regions were further included in a collection. The “Azerbaijani national dances” collection published in 1951 involved many dance melodies, and in 1955 he published another collection called “15 Azerbaijani national dances.”