Documentary about mugham wins award in California film festival

The documentary was shot by Montana State University Professor, author of “Azerbaijan Diary” Thomas Goltz.

‘The Mystical Music of Mugham Comes to Montana’ detailed the exhausting cross-cultural musical road trip of the group Qadim Sharq (‘Ancient East’) across the Treasure State, with performances at Rocky Mountain College in Billings in the east, the music department of Montana State University in Bozeman in south-central Montana, the Livingston library on the Yellowstone River, and finally at the University of Montana at Missoula in the west, where the group was joined by famed American mugham specialist Jeffery Werbock for a final concert/jam session.

Along the way, the group opened the ears of hundreds of locals to the magic of the mystical, non-rhythmic, modal music of Azerbaijan--mugham.

“It is a delight to be explaining Azerbaijani art and culture as opposed to war and political collapse,” Thomas Goltz.

‘The Mystical Music of Mugham’ was shot by Livingston cameraperson Randy Jacobs with extra footage shot by Missoula-based Ian Clark, edited by Katy Magruder of the Montana Sprout Group, and produced by Chairman of the Azerbaijani-European Union Society Taleh Heydarov.

Special assistance was provided by Vahid Alakbarov, a refugee from Armenian-occupied Karabakh, who is now a resident in Billings, and Elin Suleymanov, Consul General of the Azerbaijan Republic in Los Angeles and the thirteen western US states, including Montana.

/APA/