Azerbaijan in Stockholm musical celebration
A recent concert in Stockholm City Hall brought the magic of Azerbaijani music to the Swedish capital.
Azerbaijan
has had ample reason to celebrate in the past few weeks - and the
cultural ties of the republic in the South Caucasus with Sweden have
been heavily in focus.
Last week, the country’s entry won the
Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf. The song, Running Scared, was
performed by Ell and Nikki and written by a Swedish songwriting team.
In
Stockholm last week, however, a more classical strain of Azerbaijani
music was on display. The concert in Stockholm City Hall celebrated the
20th anniversary of Azerbaijan’s independence from the Soviet Union, and
gave Swedes and other guests the chance to experience a rich musical
heritage.
The concert was performed to an invited audience, including
Swedish members of government and parliament, other public figures and
Azerbaijanis living in Sweden. They enjoyed a programme of music by
prominent 19th and 20th century Azerbaijani composers.
Composers
featured in the programme included Uzeir Hajibayov, Gara Garayev and
Fikrat Amirov. The concert was performed by the Lithuanian State
Symphony Orchestra, directed by Azerbaijani conductor Azad Aliyev.
Stockholm
City Hall, best-known internationally as the scene of the annual Nobel
Prize Banquet, provided a location of suitable gravitas for the
occasion.
Prior to the concert, Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Sweden,
Rafael Ibrahimov, spoke of the huge pace of development the country had
experienced since independence, with increasing prosperity and a
diversifying economy.
Among the soloists performing during the
evening were Azer Zeynalov, an award-winning Azerbaijani singer and
pianist Farhad Badalbayli, dean of the Azerbaijani State Philharmonic
Society.