Vagif Mustafazadeh

Vaqif Mustafazadə ( alternative spelling Azerbaijani Vaqif Mustafazadä; " Vagif " is an Arabic word meaning especially as, in Azerbaijani Vaqif; born March 16, 1940 in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, † December 16, 1979 in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR ) was a Azerbaijani composer and pianist.

Developed by Mustafazadə musical style is a blend of jazz, elements of classical piano music and traditional Azerbaijani mugham music improvisation, a musical modal system, the intervals, melody and rhythm determined.

Life

As a child Vaqif Mustafazadə lived with his mother, a piano teacher Ziver Khanum, in Baku; in the period between the end of the Second World War (1945 ) and the death of Joseph Stalin (1953 ), jazz was banned in Azerbaijan; even playing saxophone was not allowed; by the radio station BBC and later by some movies the boy with jazz music comes in contact, he noted, the melodies and played it after. In addition, he received a classical pianist training. In 1957, he should give a concert at the music school, which also contained some short jazz compositions; the concert was, in spite of the gradual opening up to the West after the death of Stalin prohibited.

Vaqif Mustafazadə still played jazz in clubs and at home; the influences are fueled by " classical " music (" Neither Bach nor Jazz" ), the classic jazz, blues, bebop and dance music; He also processed Foxtrot, Charleston and the one-step in their own land; but particularly influenced him the improvisational music.

From about the 1950s developed in Azerbaijan a new jazz movement, which became known under the names Jazz Mugam or Mugam Jazz; Vaqif Mustafazadə became one of the leading musicians of this movement. This Mugam Jazz is based on the modal scales of traditional Mugammusik, but did not follow a metrical rhythm. Both the rhythm and the scales are open to improvisation.

1964 succeeded his friends Rafig Guliyev and Zohrab Adigozalzade to give him a permanent job; he left Azerbaijan and taught in Georgia musicians such as Tomaz Kurashvili and organized the group Orera. In Georgia, he also met his future wife Elsa know (born Eliza Khanom on 17 December); little later, her daughter was born Əzizə.

In the 1960s gained Mustafazadə international recognition; he played in 1966 in different European countries and at the jazz festival in Tallinn, Estonia. BB King is quoted as saying after a performance to him:

" Mustafazadə, I am called ' King of the Blues ', but I would love to play the blues as good as you can. "

Dizzy Gillespie reported to have said of him:

" Vagif 's music is from another planet! It's the music of the future! "

" He was a genius, but I think he was born before his time. "

1978 Mustafazadə won the first place at the 8th International Jazz Festival in Monaco for the song "Waiting for Aziza ".

Vaqif Mustafazadə died unexpectedly on 16 December 1979 at the age of 39 during a stage appearance in Tashkent (Uzbekistan ) of a heart attack shortly before the tenth birthday of his daughter.

Eight years after his death, March 1, 1988, the Vagif Mustafazade Home Museum was opened. It is located in the apartment in which he had spent his youth.

His daughter, Əzizə Mustafazadə is following in the footsteps of her father; it is now under the name Aziza Mustafa Zadeh, a famous jazz singer and pianist -.

Discography

(Extract music from Vaqif Mustafazadə is hard to get):

• Aspiration ( LP, East Wind Records 1978)
• Statement ( LP, Melodiya 1980)
• Jazz Compositions (LP, Melodiya CD, Mel 2010)
• Variety Music (LP, Melodiya )
• One Day in Kiev. October 7, 1978 ( Taras Bulba 2003)
• Caz nağili - Jazz Tales (CD, Baki Raks, Azarbaycan )
• Dushunce

Music examples

• Http://vagif.jazz.az/index.html?path=en - 19 music examples of Vaqif Mustafazadə under "music" ( all tracks as mp3, some of them files without extension)

• Http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/music/AudioPages/Mustafazade/mustafazade.html - three examples of music ( RealAudio format )