The Azerbaijani mugham ensemble Simurq has been awarded the Grand Prix of the XIII Melodies of the East International Music Festival held in Samarkand, Azernews reports.

This year, more than 300 representatives from about 80 countries took part in the festival, which was held in partnership with the Ministry of Culture of Uzbekistan, UNESCO, ICESCO and TURKSOY.

The Simurq ensemble included Miralam Miralamov (khanende), Zyaki Valiyev (tar), Elnur Mikayilov (kamancha), Honored Artist Kamran Karimov (naghara), Idris Huseynov (oud) and Anar Valizade (balaban). This became the third main prize for Azerbaijan in the history of the "Melodies of the East" competition.

The main prize, a festival statuette and a certificate, was presented by the Minister of Culture of Uzbekistan Ozodbek Nazarbekov and the chairman of the jury, director of the International Mugham Center, Honored Artist of Azerbaijan Sahib Pazashade.

It should be noted that for the first time in the 27-year history of the festival, a representative of Azerbaijan chaired the international jury. The amount of the grand prize is 10,000 US dollars.

Recall that the festival "Melodies of the East", founded in 1997, is held every two years. Simara Imanova (khanende), who represented Azerbaijan, was awarded the grand prize at the first festival, and Sahib Pazashade (tar) in 2017.

In different years, several Azerbaijani musicians also became laureates of the festival.