AZERBAIJAN • HÂJI BÂBA HUSEYNOV

The mugham, the classical music of Azerbaijan, holds pride of place among the oriental music for its beauty, its power of expression and its extraordinary vitality. Although this music is monodic and modal, each musician, whether singer, lute (târ) or bowed lute (kemânche) player, enjoys a great freedom of interpretation which provides its special depth. The mugham offers, at one and the same time, outstanding diversity and unity: the alternance of compositions and semi-improvisations, of free and regular rhythms, of joyful and sombre moods, is balanced by the smoothness with which all these elements are linked together without interruption.
These recordings are probably the last ever made by Hâji Bâbâ Huseynov, one year before his death in Baku in 1992 at the age of 73. Hâji Bâbâ Huseynov used his resonant, warm voice, devoid of any superfluous effect, in the service of the text, seeking to render its most profound expression through the slightest inflection. His art, which was vigorous and refined, expansive and sensitive, in all its subtlety, displayed outstanding imagination.

- Mugham Humâyun
- Mugham Khârej Segâh