National folk instruments presented to French museum

AThe presentation was realized within the framework of the Festival of Traditional Music organized by the Embassy of Azerbaijan in France and the French-Azerbaijani Dialogue Association (ADFA).

Addressing the event, Alain Torrent, mayor of the city of Céret informed the guests about Azerbaijan.

First Secretary of Political Affairs of the Azerbaijani Ambassador to France Vagif Agayev spoke about the importance of music in the life of Azerbaijani people and the richness of musical instruments.

Agayev underlined the successful implementation of the protection of cultural heritage and promotion of the international heritage as a result of a series of events implemented with the initiative and support of the First Vice-President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Mehriban Aliyeva. Thanks to these initiatives, mugham art, as well as kamancha and balaban, was included in the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

He also spoke about the projects implemented by Heydar Aliyev Foundation aimed at protection of national moral values and worldwide propaganda. In his speech, Agayev stressed a special significance of International Mugham Center in the implementation of these projects.

ADFA Vice-President Ayten Muradova spoke about the creation of the musical instruments presented to the museum.

Then, Vagif Aghayev and Director of the Museum of Ceret Music Instruments Paul Macee signed a memorandum on the national musical instruments to be donated to the museum.

Further, the guests enjoyed songs performed by Azerbaijani singer Jeyhun Eyvazov.

Azerbaijan enjoys a rich, varied musical tradition. Most of the instruments were appeared in ancient times, while most of them were improved and reached our time. Let’s see some of them.

Kamancha is bowed string instrument, which is widespread amongst Eastern and Central Asian peoples under a variety of names.

The folk instrument is described in the works of medieval classical poets. Mir Seyid Ali, representative of the 16th-century school of painting, depicted the barbat (lute), daf (frame drum) and kamancheh in his work called "A Musical Gathering".

Naghara is a folk drum that is played with the bare hands. It is one of the most popular percussion instruments of the Azerbaijani folk music.

This instrument is described in the Early Middle Age Azerbaijani literary epic, "Kitabi Dada Gorgud."

The rhythmic beat of the naghara is believed to strengthen the heart. Gosha-naghara is Azerbaijani version for small kettledrums.

Balaban is cylindrical-bore, double-reed wind instrument with seven finger holes and one thumb hole. When you play balaban you should use fingers of both hands to open and close certain holes. Balaban can be made of mulberry or other harder woods, such as walnut.