By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

The art of mugham is a symbol of Azerbaijan's traditional culture that has deep roots in cultural traditions and history of Azerbaijani people.

There are numerous projects in the country aimed at the promotion of mugham and protection of national and spiritual values.

The concert programs, launched in July as part of the "Journey to the World of Mugham" project, present wonderful traditional mugham music.

The wonderful journey to world of mugham will continue at Surakhani Culture House on September 13. Fascinating folk music and mugham will sound at the concert timed to National Music Day.

National Music Day in Azerbaijan is celebrated on September 18 each year. The date is the birthday of Uzeyir Hajibeyli, the famous Azerbaijani composer. He is known as the author of the Azerbaijani anthem and he became the first composer of an opera in the Islamic world.

A series of concerts, organized at the initiative of the International Mugham Center in Baku and with the support of the Baku City Main Cultural Department, will last until the end of this year.

Azerbaijani mugham, one of the most valuable treasures of the spiritual culture of the nation, contains seven main modes - Rast, Shur, Segah (especially common), Shushtar, Bayaty-Shiraz, Chahargah, Humayun and three collateral kinds - shahnaz, sarendj, chargah in some other form.

On November 7, 2003, UNESCO recognized Azerbaijani mugham as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. In 2008, mugham was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. 

Vagif Mustafazade is the founder of Azerbaijani jazz-mugham movement that emerged in the late 1960s and 1970s in Baku, as a result of the mixture of these two styles.