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INSTRUMENTAL PERFORMANCE OF MUGHAMS 
IN THE CONTEXT OF THE SUCCESSION  
OF TRADITIONS 
The traditions of the instrumental performance of the Azerbaijani mughams 
have a centuries-old history. Originally, the mughams were performed by 
voice and then, in a vocally instrumental accompaniment and instrumental 
accompaniment [12,13,31,39,75,84].
The archaeological findings and poetic strophes of the great Azerbaijani 
poets indicate their deep origins.
As it is noted, they found ceramic tableware, which shows the singer 
(khanende) in the ancient city Jigamysh, located in the south-eastern part of 
the Akbatan-Hamadan region. The names of stringed, wind and membranous 
musical instruments confirming the existence of various instrumental groups 

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are mentioned in the poetry. A great deal of such hemistiches can be found in 
the poetry of such medieval classics of Azerbaijan literature as Gatran Tabrizi, 
Khagani, Nizami, Nasimi, Shah Ismayil Khatai, Fuzuli and others. The poem 
“Khosrov and Shirin” by the great Azerbaijani poet Nizami Gandjevi serves 
a perfect example. The performance of mughams is described in this poem 
as backuped up by the barbet and chang singers and musicians Barbad and 
Nekisa, which were not legendary but real historical figures.
The most reliable sources are the examples of miniature painting of such 
medieval Azerbaijani paintings as Sultan Muhammad, Mir Seyid Ali, Muzaffar 
Ali and others, where the scenes of feasts and entertainments accompanied by 
oud, cheng, barbet, kamancha, ganun, tanbour, rubab, sheshtar, musigar, ney, 
def and daira are depicted [49]. As it is seen from the miniatures, two or three 
instruments were mainly sounded in the group.
Judging by the miniatures, the mughams, songs and dances were performed 
in the ensembles in Azerbaijan at that time where oud, chang, ganun were 
dominated among the stringed-fingered instruments, kamancha among bow 
ones, ney among wind ones, and def among membranous ones.
According to the written sources [1,42,75], the groups of sazanda were 
gradually created in the towns of Azerbaijan from the 17
th
 century on. 
There were a singer-khananda holding the gaval but not def in his hand, and 
instrumentalists who played the tar and the kamancha in these groups.
In the first half of the 19
th
 century, the name of Sattar khanende was in the 
tongue of the people living at the Caucasus [81]. They also admired Alasgar’s 
way of playing the tar. At that time, ensembles with the balaban and gosha-
naghara existed there. During the pause, the balaban played an active role 
in the vocal part or giving way to the tar and kamancha , produced bourdon 
sounds. The gosha-naghara which created a pleasant rhythmic accompaniment 
together with the gaval was the most suitable instrument indoors among 
the membranous ones. The latter repeated the rhythms of khanende – gaval 
performer and created the timbre overtone by that.
Sometimes, khananda only performed at the accompaniment of the 
kamancha. But in any way, the most popular groups were sazanda. Beginning 
with the mid of the 19
th
 century, they became a leading instrumental 
composition accompanying the khananda. It was related with the fact that the 
tar was reconstructed by the distinguished tar performer-innovator Mirza Sadig 
Asadoglu. He increased the number of strings, and lessened the weight of the 
instrument that made it possible to hold it on his breast improving the ability 
of the hand by that. After that the instrument became the most popular one 

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which provided all the details of the mugham melody in full and completely. 
The kamancha to which the fourth string was added and which contributed 
to the expansion of the technical feasibilities of the instrument, successfully 
completed the musical phrases performed by a tar player with its melodious 
and continuous sounding. Holding the gaval in his hands, the singer beat 
appropriate rhythms.
It should be noted that the technical and artistic opportunities of the 
Azerbaijani folk instruments were discovered in the most complete manner 
during the performance of the instrumental mughams where rangs and tasnifs 
were not present and mugham gained a form of continuous musical development 
– improvisation. And it was the gaval that played an important role in the 
instrumental accompaniment of zarbi-mughams i.e. rhythmic mughams.
In the second half of the 19
th
 and the first half of the 20
th
 centuries, a 
whole generation of khanendes as well as the tar and kamancha performers, 
accompanying them was brought up. They were known not only in Azerbaijan, 
but also beyond its limits.
There were ensembles with an expanded composition at that time. Thus, 
particularly, an ensemble where tar, kamancha, balaban, ney and gosha-
naghara sounded, was created by Mirza Sadig in Shusha [81].
The sazanda ensembles of Haji Husu, Mashadi Isi, Abdulaqi Zulalov  
(Bulbuljan), Mirza Mahammadhasan, Jabbar Garyaghdioghlu, Kechachioghlu 
Mammad, Shekili Alasgar (Alasgar Abdullayev), Mashadi Mammad 
Farzaliyev, Zabul Gasym (Gasym Abdullayev), Majid Behbudov, Segah Islam  
(Islam Abdullayev), Seyid Shushinsky Zulfi Adygozalov, Khan Shushinski 
and others enjoyed a great popularity. They were accompanied by the famous 
tar-players – Mirza Sadig, Mashadi Zeynal Hagverdiev, Mirza Faraj Rzayev, 
Mashadi Jamil Amirov, Malibeyli Hamid, Gurban Pirimov, Mirza Mansur 
Mansurov. Shirin Akhundov and others. The performance of mughams in a 
form of dastgah was a distinctive peculiarity of that time. There were about 
100 sazanda ensembles at that time. 
That time is rightly considered to be the period of prosperity of the mugham 
art in Azerbaijan. It should be noted that the development of mughams caused 
the creation of the first mugham opera “Leyli and Majnun” by Uzeyir Hajibayli 
in the East in 1908.
The further development of the mugham art in the 20
th
 century was 
undoubtedly related to the name of this distinguished composer, musicologist 
and public figure who clearly singled out the kinds of the Azerbaijani mughams 
and determined their tonal basis [39]. 

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If they learnt the mughams at the mugham schools established by Kharrat 
Gulu, Kor Khalifa and Molla Ibrahim or mastered that profession in the musical 
majlises held in the towns of Shusha, Shamakhy, Baku, Ganja, Ordubad and 
Lankaran in the 20
th
 century, Uzeyir Hajibayli included the teaching of the 
mughams, tar and kamancha in the academic curriculum of the conservatoire. 
The orchestra of the folk musical instruments organized by Uzeyir Hajibayli 
let the national musical instruments widespread. 
And “Eastern concerts” held in Baku in the early of the 20
th
 century, were 
substituted by the performances of the leading khanendes and instrumentalists 
at the scenes of palaces, philharmonic societies and concert halls.
The ensembles of the folk musical instruments directed by Ahmad 
Bakikhanov, Ahsan Dadashov, Baba Salahov and others were very popular at that 
time. During their performances, a great attention was paid to the performances 
of the component parts of mughams that is tasnifs, rangs and daramads as 
well as to the creative approach in the transfer of all technical peculiarities of 
instruments: their timbres, registers, traits and performance techniques.
The tar, kamancha, saz, oud, ganun among string instruments, balaban, 
tutek, zourna, ney among wind ones, naghara, gosha-naghara, gaval among 
membranous ones and shakh-shakh among self-sounding ones were used in 
the orchestras and ensembles whose repertoires also include mughams.
Mughams began to sound in solo performance not only by using the tar 
and kamancha as well as the oud, ganun, balaban, ney, tutek and zourna which 
even distinguishes for its strong sounding, garmon, clarinet, oboe, and guitar.
The contest on “Eastern musical instruments” was held by the initiative of 
the Azerbaijan State Conservatoire in 1984. 
The State Mugham Theatre has started to function in Baku since 1988 
(the Director – Arif Gaziyev, the Honored Art Worker). The dramatized 
performances of the mughams like Shur, Segah, Bayati-Shiraz and Mahur-
Hindi as well as the composition of “Seven Mughams - Seven Flowers” were 
played at the same theatre.
A special disc of “Musical atlas” series consisted of the records of 10 
mughams performed by the distinguished famous tar performer Bahram 
Mansurov, was produced by the support of UNESCO.
A pleiad of the distinguished singers-mugham performers, tar-players, 
kamancha-players, balaban-players, and gaval-players provided the succession 
of musical traditions to young generation.
The beginning of the new 21
st
 century was marked by the development 
and unprecedented popularity of the mugham art. It was facilitated with the 

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publication of the album “Karabakh khanendes” in 2005 in five languages 
(Azerbaijani, Russian, English, French and German) by the Azerbaijani 
Culture Friends Foundation and “Musigi Dunyasi” (“World of Music”) 
Magazine within the framework of the Azerbaijani Mughams Project that 
includes phono- and photo-materials of 24 didstinguished mugham performers 
and their creative portraits. 
The author of the Project is Mrs. Mehriban Aliyeva, the First Lady of the 
Republic of Azerbaijan, Good Will Ambassador of UNESCO and ISESCO, 
President of Heydar Aliyev Foundation, head of the Azerbaijani Culture Friends 
Foundation and the deputy of Milli Majlis. Heydar Aliyev Foundation further 
carried out such projects as “Mugham – Irs (Heritage)”, “World of Mugham”, 
“Encyclopedia of Mugham” “Mugham – Internet”, “Mugham – Destgah”, 
“Mugham – Anthology” and “Mugham Centre”.
The Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of 
Azerbaijan, the Union of Composers and the National Academy of Sciences of 
Azerbaijan host the international mugham festivals and scientific symposiums 
- “The World of Mugham” involving the representatives of foreign countries 
every two years since 2009. Interestingly, the festival in 2011, coincided 
with the VII International Symposium of the research group “Maqam” at the 
UNSECO’s International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM) held in Baku.
The topical issues regarding mugham were considered in the reports heard 
in the symposiums. At the same time, the international contests of young 
performers, ethno-jazz concert “Two worlds”, concerts called “Tar, Kamancha, 
String…”, “From Zarbi-Mughams to Songs”, “Mugham and Vanguard”, 
“Mugham-Latinos”, “Friends of Azerbaijani Music”, “Sari Gelin” concerts 
were held; such mugham operas as “Leyli and Majnun”, “Ashig Qarib”, “Asli 
and Karam” and “Shah Ismayil” were demonstrated. All of this allowed the 
participants to familiarize themselves with the folk and classical music of 
Azerbaijan, as well as the modern mugham-oriented compositions. 
The magazine “Mugham”, systems of interactive-audiovisual “Azerbaijani 
Mugham” and the 2005 wall calendar called “Azerbaijani khanendes” were 
published in the Azerbaijani, English and Russian languages. Also, the unique 
building of International Mugham Centre that reminds of the elements of the 
tar and where mugham events are held, has been built.  
The television competitions “Mugham-2005”, “Mugham-2007”, 
“Mugham-2011” and “Mugham-2015”, the International “World of Mugham” 
competition under the motto of “Baku is a capital of Islamic Culture” (2009) 
were held.

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Gabala city of Azerbaijan, hosts International Music Festival, the theme 
of which includes the topics of mugham at the initiative of the Heydar Aliyev 
Foundation, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan Republic every 
summer science 2009.
The music festival “Silk Way” held annually since 2010 by the Composers’ 
Union under the direction of the Chairman, the People’s Artist and professor 
Firangiz Alizadeh, got a wide response. The program of this festival includes 
the performances of the mugham trio and demonstration of mugham operas.
The mugham became worldwide popular thanks to the audio-records, 
performances of khanendes and performers-virtuosos in the foreign countries.
The synthesis of mugham art with jazz and music of foreign countries 
made a great impression. Thus, such international projects as “Azerbaijani-
Norwegian vocal music” (2001) and “Salam Hola” (2002) were carried out by 
the People’s Artist and professor Sayavush Karimi with the participation of the 
Azerbaijani and South American musicians. 
Niyazi’s symphonic mugham “Rast” and dastgah of the same name formed 
a basis of “Avazy khosh ulu mugham” (Pleasant sounds of ancient mugham) 
concert Project (2007, authors Sayavush Karimi and Yalchin Adygozalov). The 
performances of such khanendes as Mansum Ibrahimov, Tayyar Bayramov, 
Bayimkhanim Mirzayeva, the tar-player Elchin Hashimov and the kamancha-
player Elnur Ahmadov formed a single unity with the sound of the symphony 
orchestra.
The “Musical Instruments of Turkic Peoples” International Symposium was 
held by Ministry of Culture and Tourism, International organization of Turkic 
culture TURKSOY and the State Museum of Musical Culture of Azerbaijan  
(Director – Alla Bayramova, the Honored Worker of Culture of Azerbaijan 
Republic) with the participation of the scientists and instrumentalists from 
Europe, Asia and America in 2010. The main purpose of the symposium 
was to define the general and different properties of the instruments in the 
Turkic world and to discuss the issues of new approach and the problems of 
performing of the traditional instruments.
The web-sites “Azerbaijani Discography”, “Lively Voices of History 
of Azerbaijan”, and the electronic version of “The World of Music”, 
“Encyclopaedia of Mugham” and “The Basis of Folk Music in Azerbaijan”   
(the professor Tariyel Mammadov, Doctor of Arts) were created.
The concert programs “Mugham Evening” and “Mugham Dastgahs” 
where instrumental mughams also take a leading place, were carried out by the 
Composers’ Union of Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan Culture Friends Foundation.

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Alim Gasimov, the worldwide recognized khanende and owner of 
UNESCO Musical prize, appeared with an ensemble consisting of the 
musicians from various countries in “Great Silk Way” Project of the 
distinguished violoncellist Yo-Yo Ma.
The International “Day of Azerbaijani mugham” is celebrated in Niagara 
(Canada) on August, 26, every year. The listeners from foreign countries who 
perform mughams or play the tar, kamancha and oud, have also shown a great 
interest in the art of mugham.
The pleiad of the talented young singers and performers, i.e. mougham, 
tar and kamancha performers, were brought up owing to a great attention paid 
by the government in our times. The mugham trios are still popular. And along 
with the sazanda ensemble, the performance of mughams is accompanied by 
the quartets and quintets of mugham, a part of which is sounded with the oud, 
ganun, balaban and naghara.
The development of the Azerbaijan music art can not be imagined 
without the mugham, tar, kamancha, balaban, gaval and naghara. It was these 
instruments through which the whole world became familiar with the essence 
and specificity of the Azerbaijan folk music.
The beginning of the 21
st
 century can rightly be considered to be the period 
of the renaissance of the mugham art laid in the independent Azerbaijan.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND ETHNOCULTURAL
CONNECTIONS OF PEOPLES
Due to the historical development of certain regions, including the 
countries of Southwest and Central Asia mainly populated by the Turkic 
peoples, the musical instruments were not limited to certain boundaries of the 
states. This explains the presence of similar stringed, wind, percussion and 
self-sounding instruments in a large area. The similarity of the names points to 
their common roots. However, there are a lot of examples on popularity of the 
same instrument under various names in different countries. 
Just for the same reason, it is almost impossible to identify their actual 
origin. Therefore, the statement of the Armenian origin of the balaban, 
relying only on the Latin name of the apricot tree, is quite ludicrous. In fact, 
this popular folk instrument has many different names – “duduk”, “balaban”, 

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“balaman”, “balabon” and “mey” – are widespread on the  territory stretching 
from Turkey to Central Asia. The name of “duduk” is first mentioned in the 
Oghuz heroic epos, the “Book of Dede Korkut”, which describes the life of 
the Oghuz people in the 6-7
th
 centuries and earlier periods. The statements 
that wind instrument sring (prototype of the ney), a stringed tar (the most 
popular instrument in Azerbaijan closely associated with the mugham), and 
the canon (known as the ganun in the Arab and Turkic world) originate from 
Eastern and Western Armenia, are equally absurd. All this has no scientific 
justification.
The appearance of the dgol (known as “naghara”, “doli”, “gaval”, 
“daldam”, “drum”, “kyalmas”, “dauma”, etc. in other countries) is said to be 
associated with the cult of the goddess Anahit (300-200 B.C.). It is claimed 
that the zourna is first mentioned in the epos “David Sasunskiy” the 9
th
 
century, while the Armenian highlands are the birthplace of the fiddlestick 
(See: II International Musicological Symposium, Samarkand, 7-12 Oct. 1983. 
Moscow, 1987, p. 187). One is tempted to ask  questions: if these musical 
instruments did originate in this territory, why do they have Persian, Arab or 
Turkic names, not Armenian? Why is it that there is only one type of the oud 
and ganun in Armenia, while the West European musicologists [39] know 
about 32 types of the oud and 12 of the ganun in Arab countries?
At the same time, the description of acoustical characteristics and tone 
rows of the instruments claimed to be of Armenian origin are mainly found 
in the researches of such outstanding philosophers and scholars as Abu 
Nasr al-Farabi, Abu Ali Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Safiaddin Urmavi, Abdulgadir 
Maraghai, Darvish Ali Changi, etc. Verses describing the peculiarities of their 
structure and sound are often encountered in the works of luminary poets Abu 
Abdullah Rudaki, Abulhassan Firdousi, Gatran Tabrizi, Khagani Shirvani, 
Nizami Ganjavi, Amir Khosrof Dehlevi, Imadaddin Nasimi, Alisher Nevoi, 
Muhammad Fizuli and others.
The names of those who invented and refined musical instruments are 
recorded in the written sources and embedded in the human memory: Plato, 
Abu Nasr al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, Safiaddin Urmavi, Abdulgadir Maraghai, 
Antonio Stradivari, Sébastien Érard, Theobald Boehm, Adolph Sax, Mirza 
Sadig Asad oglu, etc. 
It is worth indicating that Abu Nasr al-Farabi described the Khorasan and 
Baghdad types of the tambour, while Abdulgadir Maraghai referred to the 
Shirvan and Turkish ones. The Mogol, Afghan, Iranian and Indian tamburs 
are also known.

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The tar, reconstructed by Mirza Sadig Asadoglu, spread rapidly in Iran, 
Eastern Anatolia (Turkey), Georgia, Armenia, Dagestan, Turkmenistan, 
Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
These days, the rubabs of different design are encountered in Tajikistan, 
Uzbekistan, northwestern China (Sintsiang province), Iran (Sistan province), 
Pakistan, India (states of Jammu and Kashmir) and Afghanistan. Depending 
on the location, they are described as the Afghan, Kashgar, Dulan, Pamir 
and Shugnan rubabs [82]. For instance, the Kashgar rubab was spread in the 
medieval Azerbaijan [3].
Due to the spread of the ashig art in the Turkic world (especially in Azerbaijan), 
the saz is one of a handful of instruments known on the large territory. Under 
the influence of the ashigs, this form of art also developed in Armenia, Georgia, 
Dagestan and Adzharia (here they are referred to as the ashir). 
There are 16 ashik environments established by the Azerbaijani ashiks: 
Ganjabasar, Borchali, Geycha, Dereleyaz, Irevan, Agbaba-Chyldyr, Shirvan, 
Derbend, Karabakh, Nakhchivan, Garadagh-Tabriz, Urmiya, Zanjan, Khorasan, 
Save, Gashgay [35]. Thirteen of these still exist, while the Erevan, Goycha and 
partly the Childir environments have ceased to exist in the aftermath of the 
Armenian ethnic reprisals against the Azerbaijanis in 1905-1918, 1948-1950 
and 1987-1988. At present, Turkic saz instruments do not differ a lot from each 
other. The only difference is the manner of performance. In the provinces of 
Iran bordering on Turkmenistan, the Azerbaijanis play saz with their fingers 
like the dutar, while the plectrum - tazana, is used in the other regions.
A two-stringed dutar with a pear-shaped body looking like the saz is very 
popular and favourite instrument of the Turkmens and a permanent guide for 
the Bakhshi, folk narrators. The dutar is also widespread in Uzbekistan and 
Tajikistan. This is an important argument in drawing of the parallels between 
the musical cultures of the regional peoples.
We believe it would be more appropriate to channel the effort not into 
finding out the origin of musical instruments but into studying of their 
evolution, spreading and migration routes.
The mission of the new generation of the organologists (researchers of the 
musical instruments) is to preserve and revitalize the forgotten instruments 
created by our ancestors and to objectively research different aspects of the 
instruments. Of course, the desire of the instrument-makers and musicians to 
create new instruments must be encouraged so that the quality of sounds and 
tones could improve, enabling listeners to perceive all the nuances of different 
folk music genres.

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