NEWS

Indonesia has issued post stamps dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the inclusion of Icherisheher in UNESCO's World Heritage List.

The post stamps were issued by the state-owned company Indonesia Post at the initiative of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Indonesia in line with the relevant order signed by President Ilham Aliyev on February 27, 2020

According to the agreement reached between the state-owned company Indonesia Post and the Azerbaijani Embassy, ​​the stamp has been put into circulation this month at the country's central and regional post offices.

Azerbaijan became member of UNESCO on June 3 1992, after restoration of its independence. In 2003, Azerbaijan and UNESCO signed the framework agreement on cooperation in the areas of culture, science, education and communication, which allowed Azerbaijan to become one of the donors of UNESCO.

Many Azerbaijan's cultural sites have been included into UNESCO's World Heritage List.

The Icherisheher (Old City), Maiden Tower and Shirvanshah's palace were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000, while since 2007 the Gobustan National Historical-Artistic reserve was also listed among these heritages.

Sheki, a significant city at the crossroads of the historic Silk Roads was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List during the 43rd session of the World Heritage Committee held in Baku.

In 2017, UNESCO recognized Azerbaijan's dolma as the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Art of crafting and playing with kamancha, presented jointly by Azerbaijan and Iran, was also inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

UNESCO also celebrated the 600th anniversary of the death of the great Azerbaijani poet and thinker Imadaddin Nasimi and the 200th anniversary of the first settlement of Germans in Azerbaijan last year.

Azerbaijani designer Gulnara Khalilova has delighted the guests of the fifth season of Aspara Fashion Week (Kazakhstan) with stunning collection of outfits created with the use of kelagayi called "Silk Treasure".

The four-day fashion show was held virtually amid coronavirus pandemic, bringing together designers from many countries

Before the show, Gulnara Khalilova addressed the event. In her speech, the Azerbaijani designer stressed that her other fashion collections were successfully presented at Fashion Weeks and international events in Turkey, Russia, China, Austria, Romania, Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and other countries. The designer plans to present her new collection on international catwalks in future. She also expressed her gratitude to the founder of the Aspara Fashion Week project, the famous designer from Kazakhstan Aidarkhan Kaliyev for the invitation. 

Notably, this fashion collection was first presented in November 2019. The project was implemented jointly with the national brand "Azerbaijan Kelagayi" with the support of the International Mugham Center. 

The event was dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the inclusion of traditional art and symbolism of  kelagayi in UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage List. 

Gulnara Khalilova, the head of the Center of National Costumes, is a frequent guest of international fashion weeks. She is the two-times winner at Eurasian International Fashion Festival "Silk Road" held in China.

Her works are also very popular among Turkish public figures, representatives of culture and art such as Ajda Pekkan, Emrah Erdogan, Beyazit Ozturk, Soner Sarikabadayi, and others.

She also designed costume for Azerbaijan's 2013 Eurovision representative Farid Mammadov and created hand panel with the official mascots of the EuroGames.

During the opening of Rio 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio, Champion of the European Games Ilham Zakiyev was in national dress, created by the designer which was a novelty in the history of the Olympic movement.

Khalilova is the author of a number of books dedicated to the traditions of clothing, including the history of Azerbaijan national clothing, the textbooks and catalogs for higher education institutions.

In 2014-2015 she worked as a teacher at the State Academy of Fine Arts. Since 2017, she is teaching at Khazar University. The designer also heads the Women's Entrepreneurship Development Association.

Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center in Uzbekistan will host International online festival "In Search of Talented Kids" on July 11.

The main goal of the online festival is to identify young talents, demonstrate their abilities and encourage them to reach new achievements. 

The contest is open for young talents from Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. 

The festival will be held in the following areas:

- Reading skills in a native language - Preparation and presentation of the trailer for a read book (in video format);

- Poem reading

- Performance of a small production ( with participation of any family member);

- Performance of an Azerbaijani or Uzbek song, national dance, performance on a national musical instrument;

- Unique skills and talents in any field (showing your skills in a short period of time, good memory, preparation of any layout for a short period of time, etc.);

- Sports and acrobatic abilities.

Those wishing to take part in the online festival should provide personal information (name and surname, information about their school and class, as well as which genre they will participate in the project).

Send all required information to the following e-mail:

culcenter.az@gmail.com

After confirming the application from the Cultural Center, the student will receive the right to participate in the festival.

Students who show their best at the festival will be awarded with honorary diplomas and gifts from the Cultural Center.

The heirs of the English writer Arthur Conan Doyle sued Netflix, accusing the company of copyright infringement while creating the tape “Enola Holmes”, according to the World Today.

As the publication writes The Independent, the film is based on a series of books by science fiction writer Nancy Springer about the younger sister of Sherlock Holmes. Since 2014, the writer’s family has ceased to receive royalties for works that were written before 1923, recognizing them as the public domain.

Doyle’s heirs believe that Springer in the books borrowed elements of the writer’s later works that do not fall under the ban of the court. Relatives of the writer also filed a lawsuit against directors, screenwriters of the film, the film company Legendary Pictures, the publisher Penguin Random House.

The premiere of the picture was scheduled for the end of this year. Enolu Holmes was played by Millie Bobby Brown, and Henry Camill became Sherlock.

The winners of the competition announced in March by the Italian-Azerbaijani Design Center (IADC) at Azerbaijan University of Architecture and Construction (AzUAC) have been selected. According to the final results, the project submitted by a student of 117r2 group Elvira Mamisheva was awarded the first place. The student of 117r2 group Narmin Iskanderova took the 2nd place and the student of 117a2 group Asmar Karimli took the 3rd place. The main criteria of the competition are aesthetics, ergonomics and practicality in production.

The project of the first place winner- park furniture, benches will be installed in the university yard after the end of the quarantine regime. The winners of the 2nd and 3rd places will be awarded with the certificates of distinction, and other students participated in the competition will be awarded with the certificates of participation. Due to the current situation in the country, these works and the presentation of certificates to students will take place after the end of the pandemic.

It should be reminded that the competition was dedicated to the design of modular parklets, including park furniture, small architectural forms, benches, tables and chairs that will be installed in the university territory.

It should be also noted that the purpose of these competitions, organized by IADC is to develop students' design and architectural skills, creative abilities, to organize their participation in real projects, to form an ecological culture in young people by landscaping. At the same time, the holding of such events during the quarantine regime is to keep students’ spirits high, not to lag behind the educational process and to be able to participate in the real projects in isolation.

The Perm Opera and Ballet Theater has streamed the International Diaghilev Festival on its official website.

The programme featured spectacular concert of Azerbaijan's living vocal treasure Alim Gasimov held as part of the festival in 2017. 

At the concert, mugham singer Alim Gasimov and his ensemble, including Farghana  Gasimova (mugham singer), Rafael Askarov (balaban), Rauf Islamov (kamancha), Javidan Nabiyev (naghara), Zyaki Valiyev (tar), performed together with Aeterna orchestra. The fascinating show left no one indifferent. 

One of the world’s truly gifted singers, Alim discovered the world of mugham as a child, when he began singing for his own enjoyment. He grew up in the town of Shamakhi, 100 km northwest of Baku. "I had no idea that I would become a singer," he recalls.

Gasimov continues to play an important role in promotion of the Azerbaijani culture, especially mugham around the world.

He was awarded the International Music Council-UNESCO Music Prize, one of the highest international accolades for music in 1999. For that achievement, he was quoted by the New York Times as simply one of the greatest singers alive, with a searing spontaneity that conjures passion and devotion, contemplation and incantation.

Also known as an artist of supreme versatility, Gasimov has collaborated and performed with some of the world’s leading musicians, including Yo-Yo Ma, Kronos Quartet and Jeff Buckley.

People's Artist of Azerbaijan Alim Gasimov was one of four Azerbaijanis among the 500 most influential Muslims in the world, chosen by competition, conducted by the Center for Strategic Studies and the famous American Georgetown University in Jordan.

The chief conductor and music director of the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater, Honored Artist Ayyub Guliyev has been invited to take part in major international music festivals. 

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra will perform at Global Soundscapes Festival (Pick n 'Pluck) in Canada under the direction of Azerbaijani conductor, Trend Life reported.

At the invitation of the festival’s artistic director Mark Armanini, Ayyub Guliyev will share the same stage with the orchestra which consists of world-famous musicians from China, Iran, Canada, USA and some European countries. Moreover, People’s Artist of Azerbaijan, tar musician Ramiz Guliyev will also take part in the festival. 

Along with the Vancouver festival, Ayyub Guliyev will join Klassz a pARton Festival (Hungary) timed to the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven in July, 2021. 

The concert will bring together Azerbaijani conductor, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra as well as Hungarian pianist Tamás Érdi, who performed in Baku last year. 

In addition, the music director of the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater will take part in a concert with participation of Slovak Chamber Orchestra "Bohdan Warchal".

Notably, the concert takes place every year with the support of the Honorary Consulate of Azerbaijan in Slovakia. 

The basis of joint projects with the orchestra was laid in 2014. At the end of each season, the orchestra performs with a large-scale programme that features classical and contemporary works by Azerbaijani composers. In 2017, the Slovak Chamber Orchestra performed with great success under the direction of  Ayyub Guliyev at the International Uzeyir Hajibayli Festival in Baku.

"The Steppe Man", a film by the Azerbaijani director Shamil Aliyev has been successfully screened at international festivals in India, Australia and Nepal.

The jury of the Old Monk International Film Festival in Nepal (February - May) awarded the film with in the nominations "Best Feature Film", "Best Director" and "Best Screenplay".

"The Steppe Man" won four prizes at Sand Dance International Film Festival in India (January - May) in the nominatuons "Best Feature Film", "Best Director", "Best Director" and "Best Music".

The film was also named best at Wonderland International Film Festival in Australia (January-June) and the Monthly Online International Film Festival in India (June). The results were announced online amid  COVID-19 pandemic.

"The Steppe Man" tells a story of a young steppe man who lives in remoteness from the city, closely tied to nature. His father teaches him the subtleties of life in the steppe.

Soon after his father's death the young man meets a girl from a city. Their meeting becomes a new page in his life, a step to a big life unfamiliar to him before.

The film was produced in 2012 at Azerbaijanfilm studio by the order of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

"The Steppe Man" has been screened at many international film festivals such as Florence Film Awards 2019 (Italy), European Screen Awards 2019 (Indonesia), White Unicorn International Film Festival 2019 (WUIFF) and others.

The film also won in such nominations as "Best Director", "Best Screenplay", "Best Female Actor", "Creative Search".

"The Steppe Man" was selected as the Azerbaijani entry for the "Best Foreign Language Film" at the 86th Academy Awards (the Oscars).

The scriptwriter of the film is Vidadi Hasanov, the director of photography is Rafig Guliyev, art directors are Rafig Nasirov and Ibrahim Halil Aminov, the composer is Rauf Aliyev, and producers are Mushvig Hatamov and Azer Guliyev.

Young talents are invited to take part in World Harmony Online International Contest of Young Performers (Georgia), organized by Development Union of Georgian Folklore and Classical Music "Harmony". 

Founded in 2017, the music contest aims to discover young talents and promote classical music and folklore. 

An online competition of young classical music performers is scheduled for July 10-15, 2020.

The music contest is open for solo performers aged between 7 and 30 years. Students of music schools and university students can take part in the competition.

The competition is organized for all music departments and categories (pianoforte, strings and wind instruments, vocals). 

The contest`s organizing committee includes the founder and organizer of the competition Tsitsino Bichikashvili (Georgia), musicians and teachers - Veronika Vitaite (Lithuania), Rustam Shaikhutdinov (Russia).

Applications are accepted until June 30, 2020.

For more information, please contact: 

E-mail:  hangebi@mail.ru.

Notably, the third World Harmony International Competition of Young Performers was successfully held in Baku on February 17-24.

The large-scale event brought together young talents from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia and Ukraine.

The music contest was co-organized by the Georgian Union of Folklore and Classical Music "Harmony" and "Gənclərə dəstək" (Youth Support) project with the support of the Culture Ministry as well as Baku Music Academy and the National Conservatory.

Azerbaijan State Art Gallery will hold a virtual exhibition titled "Day of Armed Forces of Azerbaijan Republic" on June 26 at 18:00.

The exhibition will feature a virtual collection of works by artists, working in different styles and techniques and who have made great contributions to the development of Azerbaijani art as well as the courage and bravery of Azerbaijani soldiers.

It is an opportunity to practically get acquainted with works by such artists as Alasgarov Arif, Huseynov Yusif, Mehtiyev Rafig, Aliyev Anvar, Gafar Seyfullayev, Kazimov Davud, Bagirov Fikret, Najafov Mirza, among others.

Azerbaijan State Art Gallery invites art lovers to watch the virtual exhibition taking into account the temporary closure of the exhibition halls in a special quarantine mode and social isolation.

Virtual exhibition "Day of Armed Forces of the Azerbaijan Republic" can be viewed in accounts of social networks (Facebook, Instagram) of the Azerbaijan State Art Gallery.