“They Took the Heart of Mugham!” Azerbaijani Musicians Finding Authenticity in Iranian Traditions

by Polina Dessiatnitchenko 

The performance is remarkable for many reasons. On the centerstage of the Mugham Center in Baku, Azerbaijan, singer Fergana Gasimova is sitting cross-legged, and as she sings, her body sways sideways, her eyes close in ecstasy, her arms thrust upward, and her head moves poignantly to the well-defined poetical meters. Instead of the usual Azerbaijani instruments, she is escorted by instruments beyond Azerbaijan’s borders such as the ney. The choice of repertoire is unusual too—nava mugham. This mugham’s destiny in the ruthless aims of Soviet reforms remains a mystery, though knowledgeable masters attest that it was banned. Its spiritual character, melancholic melodies, and musical proximity to classical music in Iran, they say, made it into a target. Only in the early 1990s, nava was reintroduced to the official curriculum, based on the fragmentary parts that were retained underground in some tar lineages. The sung version, however, has never been found. This performance by Fergana in 2015 is the latest attempt to rediscover vocal nava (Fergana Gasimova’s solo concert “Nava Mugham” performed in October 2015). The singer, who follows a Sufisized style of performance after her father Alim Gasimov, seems to be the perfect fit for this mugham, which is described as the most philosophical of all the Azerbaijani mugham cycles. While she sings poetry in Azerbaijani, most of the music is based on Iranian nava and there is paucity of the preserved instrumental nava. 

“Why did the Soviets take this mugham from us? Because it is so spiritual [irfan]. It is as if they took our hearts! They took the heart of mugham!” Gasimova exclaims in 2025, ten years after her performance. She explains that she spent years learning this nava by listening to a cassette of Iranian singer Mahmoud Karimi that her father gave her. She kindly invited Saeid Kordmafi and myself to her house in order to show us her new projects in which she is continuing to restore lost Azerbaijani mugham repertoire.  Seated across from her is Mehman Mikayilov, a tar player who is part of the same mission, tirelessly working to assemble new versions of shur and bayati kurd cycles. 

As part of our MAQAM project, Saied and I are interested in how Azerbaijani musicians like Gasimova and Mikayilov imagine the past and pursue connections south across the border in their attempt to de-Sovietize mugham. In fact, there are many musicians who add microtones to their performances of mugham, change their instruments, and insert new sections. While their “true” versions may differ, all agree that authentic mugham is much more affective, that is, it moves in an unexplainable but intense way. Just this feeling is enough to fervently defend their corrected repertoire. “We have created these cycles and Fergana will perform them, then all the young musicians will run to her because this is part of our genetic code!” Mikayilov cries out.

The ongoing collective project of restoration by Azerbaijani musicians follows an interesting trajectory, with neither a clear beginning nor ending. While it is obvious that there were reforms and changes in the 1930s, certain styles were maintained underground. Already in the 1960s, starting with singers who graduated from the class of the great singer Seyyid Shushinsky, Azerbaijani musicians openly imitated and reintroduced elements of Iranian music into Azerbaijani mugham. Hence, the links have been continuous. Despite what seems to be like an increasing momentum in the present, these projects and their products remain without any official approval. Talking about nava, Gasimova admits, “I expected a different reaction. We restored this mugham. We did a beautiful job. But we did not get any reward.” And the creative projects of restoration are stuck in a flux that does not settle, only leading to further debates and questions. In the end, it seems that what matters most are the associations of this new repertoire—spirituality, philosophy, Eastern sounds and sensibilities—because these become crucial affective pivots for constructing the self among musicians in Azerbaijan today.

 

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