NEWS

It goes without saying that music is the universal language of mankind. Listening to your favorite songs can wash away all your worries and fears and lift your spirit up. In one word, no matter what, music will always be there for you.  

The power of music never fails to surprise us as it can trigger a wide range of emotions.
Numerous studies have shown that music impacts brain function and human behavior in unexpected ways. 
Let's see some of the most intriguing facts about the power of music!

Brains of jazz and classical pianists work differently

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (MPI CBS) in Leipzig have found out that brain activity of jazz pianists differs from those of classical pianists, even while playing the same music piece.  

The scientists invited 30 professional pianists to take part in the experiment. Both groups of musicians got to see a hand on a screen which played a sequence of chords on a piano scattered with mistakes in harmonies and fingering. The professional pianists had to imitate this hand and react accordingly to the irregularities while their brain signals were registered with EEG sensors on the head. 

According to the current study, the main difference between the two groups of musicians is the way in which they plan movements while playing the piano.

Classical pianists focus on how to play music pieces perfectly regarding their technique and adding personal expression. By contrast, jazz pianist focus more on harmonies and being comfortable adapting to unexpected musical changes. 

"Indeed, in the jazz pianists we found neural evidence for this flexibility in planning harmonies when playing the piano. When we asked them to play a harmonically unexpected chord within a standard chord progression, their brains started to re-plan the actions faster than classical pianists. Accordingly, they were better able to react and continue their performance. Interestingly, the classical pianists performed better than the others when it came to following unusual fingering. In these cases their brains showed stronger awareness of the fingering, and consequently they made fewer errors while imitating the chord sequence," says Roberta Bianco, first author of the study. 

Musicians read emotions better

Neuroscientists asked 30 people to watch a subtitled nature film while listening to a 250-millisecond clip of a distressed baby’s cry. Using scalp electrodes, they measured how sensitive the people were to the sound.

After experiment, the researchers concluded that the musicians were able to hone in directly to the emotional aspect of the sound, while non-musicians weren't able to compartmentalize the sound as easily.

"That [musicians'] brains respond more quickly and accurately than the brains of non-musicians is something we’d expect to translate into the perception of emotion in other settings,” said Dana Strait, a graduate student at Northwestern University and first author of a paper detailing the findings in the latest issue of the European Journal of Neuroscience.

Another research was conducted by University College London in 2018, proved that people with more musical training repeatedly demonstrate enhanced auditory perception abilities.

The study involved both musician and non-musician groups, who took part in a version of the audio-visual emotional Stroop test, using happy, neutral, and sad emotions.

During research, participants were presented with congruent and incongruent combinations of face and voice stimuli while judging the emotion of either the face or the voice.

The study proved that musicians were less susceptible to interference from visual information on auditory emotion judgments than non-musicians.

Moreover, they were also more accurate than non-musicians at identifying visual emotions when presented with concurrent auditory information.

Music has a color

Some people are able to see colors when hearing music. This rare neurological condition is known as "synesthesia" or chromesthesia.

The studies have reveled unusual connections in synesthetes' adjacent brain regions, similar to those in babies; in fact, it is believed that all babies have synesthesia until they are about four months old.

The earliest recorded case of synesthesia is attributed to the Oxford University academic and philosopher John Locke. In 1690, he made a report about a blind man who said he experienced the color scarlet when he heard the sound of a trumpet.

Music can boost your mood 

Listening to music can have the same effect on your brain as opioids and endorphins.

McGill University scientists has revealed that the chill you get from listening to your favorite track releases natural opioids such as endorphins thus blocking pain and induce feelings of pleasure. 

"Preliminary studies have shown that music listening and performing modulate levels of serotonin, epinephrine, dopamine, oxytocin, and prolactin.

Music can reliably induce feelings of pleasure, and indeed, people consistently rank music as among the top ten things in their lives that bring pleasure, above money, food, and art," McGill University scientists wrote.

Another interesting fact is that synesthesia is more prevalent in musicians, artists and writers. Vladimir Nabokov, Franz Liszt, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Vincent Van Gogh, Patrick Stumph (Fall Out Boys), Ed Sheeran, Pharrell Williams, Brendon Urie (Panic! at the Disco) are among them.

First trailer of the film "Sugra and her sons" has been released. The film is co-produced by Baku Media Center and Buta Film in partnership with "Salar Film" (Germany) and "Arizona Production" (France). 

The film tells the story of people living in a village in Azerbaijan during World War II. The film directed by Ilgar Najaf is expected to represent Azerbaijan at international film festivals.

Most of the film shooting process took place in the village of Sugovushan, Dashkesan region. The film has an intriguing storyline. Sugra, along with his two sons, lives in a mountain village. Her husband is involved in the battles of World War II. For a long time, Sugra did not receive any news from her husband. A this time, her son received a notice about conscription to the army.

Baku Media Center is a leading and innovative media company engaged in the production of audiovisual products in Azerbaijan.

Since 2013, the company develops audio and video products based on the latest technologies by request of various organizations, cooperates with well-known broadcasting companies and conducts live broadcasting of large-scale international events and sports competitions held in the country.

Film Council has been established in Azerbaijan.

The Council was initiated in accordance with Presidential Order "On measures for the development of Azerbaijani cinema" dated March 1, 2019 to organize film contests with state support.

The Film Council consists of many specialists, including heads of film studios, filmmakers, media representatives and others.There are three working groups, operating at Azerbaijan Film Council.

The First Working Group receives applications and documents and includes Fikrin Bektashi (lawyer), Orkhan Aliyev ( film investor) and secretary of the Film Council, film expert Leyla Vezirzade. 

The Second Working Group focuses on cinematography features of the films. The second group consists of film directors and screenwriters Yavar Rzayev and Mirbala Salimli, film director and producer Fariz Akhmadov, expert on cultural heritage, member of the European Cultural Parliament Jahangir Selimkhanov, screenwriter and editor Roman Orkodashvili, graduate of the International School of Film and Television in Paris, cameraman Orkhan Abbasov, animation director Mansur Shafiyev, film critic Aygun Aslanli and theater expert Aydin Talibzade. 

The Economic Assessment Working Group includes director of Azerbaijanfilm Studio Nazim Huseynov (chairman), head of Debüt Studio Rufat Hasanov, general director of İctimai TV Balakishi Gasimov, director of Baku Media Center Orman Aliyev,  founder of "Buta Film" production center Ilgar Najaf, director of Mozalan studio Ali-Sattar Guliyev, director of "Color of May" production center in Germany Elmar Imanov and PR manager of Park Cinema chain Rustam Fataliyev. 

Azerbaijan has a rich cinema history and has significantly contributed to the international film industry.

Shortly after the Lumiere brothers from France invented cinematograph, an apparatus for making motion pictures, in 1895, Russian photographer and cameraman Alexandre Michon began shooting motion pictures that depicted everyday life in Baku. 

The first short, silent film of Azerbaijani cinematography "You are caught" was shown in Baku on August 2, 1898. The audience witnessed a historical event - the birth of Azerbaijani cinematography.

Today, the Azerbaijani cinema has come to be an internationally recognized modern art enjoying a huge popularity and recognition at international film festivals, which frequently award the national films.

Over the past years, more than 300 films and 1,200 documentaries, as well as hundreds of cartoons were filmed.

Azerbaijan State Art Gallery and Azerbaijan Ministry of Culture invite you to enjoy a virtual exhibition "Global message" on May 22.

The exhibition aims at protecting people from COVID-19 through original posters by Honored Artist of Azerbaijan Zaur Kantemirov.

Over the past years, he has participated in international and republican exhibitions. He is the author of one of the first postage stamps of independent Azerbaijan. Famous for his glass art, Zaur Kantemirov earned the nickname "Glass Heart". He is a member of the Artists' Union of Azerbaijan.

The art works of Zaur Kantemirov will be presented on the gallery's Facebook and Instagram. 

Earlier, Azerbaijan State Art Gallery delighted art lovers with exhibition inspired by the female beauty within "Evdə qal, qalib gəl" (Stay at home and win) campaign.

The virtual exposition included about 40 works by such prominent artists as Togrul Narimanbayov, Gullu Mustafayev, Khalid Safarova, Talat Shikhaliyev, Altay Sadigzade, Gafar Seifullayev, Mirnadir Zeynalov, Elena Khagverdiyeva, Niyaz Najafov, Mirjavad Jada and others.

As a universal language, music has once again united Azerbaijani and Turkish opera singers.

People’s Artist of Azerbaijan, the leading soloist of the State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater Samir Jafarov and the soloist of the Izmir State Opera and Ballet Theater (Turkey) Levent Gunduz pleased their music fans with another joint performance. 

The vocalists performed Askar’s song from Uzeyir Hajibeyli`s "The Cloth Peddler" operetta.

"The Cloth Peddler" tells the love story of young Aska, who wants to get married. He is a rich, successful businessman and has everything he could wish for except for one thing - a wife. Tradition does not allow him to choose his own bride.

The vocalists were accompanied by the Honored Artist of Azerbaijan, director of the State Chamber Orchestra Nargiz Aliyeva. 

Earlier, the opera singers brilliantly performed "Duke's Song" from G. Verdi`s "Rigoletto" opera as part of the project "Bizi birləşdirən mədəniyyət " (United by Culture), co-organized by the Azerbaijan Cultural Ministry and Medeniyyet TV. 

The tune has been used in popular culture for a long time and for many occasions and purposes. 

Azerbaijan National Art Museum has opened a virtual exhibition "Unlimited".

The exhibition displays art works by students of boarding school No 5 and Baku Rehabilitation Center for visually impaired minors.

The project features art works created during master classes led by professor at Tbilisi State Academy of Arts Georgi Guramovich Guraspashvilli held at the National Art Museum as part of international seminar "Art without Borders" in 2019. 

The art works by young talents were highly appreciated by art lovers.

The virtual exhibition is available on the museum's Facebook.

Founded in 1937, the National Art Museum consists of two buildings standing next to each other.

Over 3,000 items in 60 rooms are on permanent display at the museum. Moreover, about 12,000 items are kept in storage.

Art connoisseurs have a chance to enjoy the best examples of decorative-applied arts of Western Europe.

Art works of Italian, French, German and Polish painters are displayed at the museum.

The second edifice built in 1885 houses Eastern art, represented particularly by Persian, Turkish, Chinese and Japanese art.

Russian art is represented by paintings of Karl Briullov, Alexey Venetsianov, Vasily Vereshchagin, Isaac Levitan, Vladimir Makovsky, Valentin Serov, Vladimir Borovikovsky, Vasily Tropinin, Konstantin Korovin and Ivan Shishkin. There are also restored samples of Russian avant-garde.

The works of Azerbaijani artists Mir Mohsun Navvab, Bahruz Kangarli, Tahir Salahov, Azim Azimzade, Salam Salamzade, Vidadi Narimanbeyov, Mikail Abdullayev, Togrul Narimanbeyov and sculptor Omar Eldarov are also kept in the museum halls.

Soz (Word) literature project has extended application deadline for the contest of poems, essays and photographs dedicated to nature protection.

Initially, the last filing date was set for April 30, 2020, but the organizers decided to extend the deadline until July 31, 2020.

The competition "Let's save nature with love!" is open for students receiving education in a specialty related to the ecology and nature in Azerbaijan.

Kids aged 12 and older can join another contest titled "Nature through the eyes of children".

According to the rules, all poems and essays should be in Azerbaijani, Russian and English. Those who wish to take part in the competition must provide their biography and photography.

Poems, essays, photographs and artwork for the competition should be sent to the email address: sozliterary@gmail.com The final date is April 30, 2020.

Soz (Word) literary project aims to promote works of national poets and writers and increase attention to literature.

Supported by the Cultural Ministry and the State Economic University (UNEC), the project is important from the point of view of propaganda of Azerbaijani culture. Soz project is headed is famous poetess Nigar Hasanzade.

The "Week of Museums of the Turkic World" has been successfully launched with the support of the Azerbaijan Ministry of Education.

Co-organized by the Republican Child and Youth Development Center and Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation, the project presents virtual museum tours to the museums of Turkic speaking countries as part of "Museum Week for Schoolchildren" program.

The initiative was laucnhed on May 18 vie online platform, bringing together Azerbaijan Minister of Education Jeyhun Bayramov, President of the International Foundation for Turkish Culture and Heritage Gunay Efendiyeva, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan Serzhan Abdykarimov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Turkey to Azerbaijan Erkan Ozoral, Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Azerbaijan Bakhrom Ashrafkhanov,  Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Hungary to Azerbaijan Viktor Szederkenyi, director of the Republican Child and Youth Development Center Firuza Sultanzade and director of the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum Shirin Malikova. 

The director of the Republican Child and Youth Development Center Firuza Sultanzade addressed the event. 

"We are glad that at such difficult time for everyone we were able to jointly hold for the sixth time our program "Museum Week for Schoolchildren", which for the first time acquired international status thanks to Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation. I express my sincere gratitude to all museums to our partners in the program. About thirty Azerbaijan's leading museums have previously participated in this project. And now we can say that we have added five more major museums from your countries," Sultanzade said.

She emphasized  that the project provides children with a new online platform for exploring the world's museums without leaving home during quarantine time.

In their remarks, the directors of Kazakh National Museum, Kyrgyz National Art Museum, Turkish Museum of Troy, Uzbek State Historical Museum, Hungarian National Museum ho took part in the Week of Museums of the Turkic World, stressed the positive results of cooperation.

The meeting was followed by a virtual tour to the Azerbaijan National Carpet Museums.

Notably, virtual tours will be also organized at Kazakh National Museum (May 19), Kyrgyz National Art Museum (May 20), Turkish Museum of Troy (May 21), Uzbek State Historical Museum (May 22) and Hungarian National Museum ( May 23).

Euroreading-2020 has listed the book by the Azerbaijani writer Elchin Safarli among TOP 5 of its literary voting.

The book titled "The House where the light is on" took the fourth place in the voting, held by EuroRead 2020, a book analogue of the famous music contest.

The voting was held on MyBook e-library from April 30 to May 14. The organizers decided to find out which foreign book of the last five years their readers consider the best.

"The House where the light is on" is a story of love, loss and finding of the long-awaited peace. Written in the epistolary genre, this book includes frank, happy and sad letters addressed by the grandmother to her granddaughter, with whom she is not even familiar.

The book consists of letters from the main character Anna. She writes them to her granddaughter Flora, but never sends them. In the letters, she speaks of her life, love and shares her experiences. Through his heroes, Safarli tries to uncover the very concept of love - a sense of something multifaceted and deep. He says that there is no wrong love, just as there are no ugly colors. The author dedicated the book to his Russian grandmother Anna Pavlovna. 

In 2019, Forbes Russia included this book in the list of the 12 best-selling novels of 2019.

Norwegian detective "Knife" by Jo Nesbø came in first place, the second place went to psychological novel "The Beartown" by Fredrik Backman (Sweden) while mysterious novel "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Luis Safon (Spain) ranked third. The book "My Brilliant Friend" by the Italian writer Elena Ferrante took the fifth place in the list. 

Safarli's works have gained immense popularity and their number is already quite large. The author is famous for his amazing laconic style of writing.

From the age of 12, his works were published in local youth publications. Safarli is the author of the bestsellers "Sweet salt of the Bosphorus" and "There without coming back".

The novel "Sweet salt of the Bosporus" earned the approval of the Nobel laureate for literature Orhan Pamuk. The famous Turkish writer, with whom Safarli met at the 11th Congress of the Azerbaijan Writers Union, presented the review to his first book.

"When I talk to this talented young man, I am convinced that the world literature still has a future," Pamuk said. 

Therefore, the Russian press nicknamed Safarli "the young Orhan Pamuk", and the author received the "Discovery of the Year" title in 2008.

In 2011, Safarli produced the short film "Alone with everyone".

Elchin Safarli's stories collected in his books are often part of his life, which he shares with readers.

Safarli's works have gained immense popularity and their number is already quite large. The author is famous for his amazing laconic style of writing.

Azerbaijan National Art Museum and the Kazakh State Museum of Arts have delighted art lovers with a virtual exhibition "Almaty-Baku.Spring. Eurasian Art Union" timed to International Museum Day (May 18). 

The exhibition is the first project implemented withinin a memorandum of cooperation signed in 2019.

The two largest state art museums agreed to create favorable conditions for mutually beneficial cooperation in a number of areas, including: joint development and implementation of research, cultural and educational projects; participation and implementation of joint scientific programs; etc.

The virtual exhibition displays art works by acclaimed Azerbaijani and Kazakh artists. The project arose great interest among viewers. 

The A. Kasteyev State Museum of Arts is the largest art museum and the leading research, cultural and educational center in Kazakhstan.

The museum presents the artistic culture of Kazakhstan, Europe and Asia, the masters of past ages and the present time. The museum's fund includes more than 25,000 exhibits.

The Kazakh State Museum of Arts aims to promote and popularize the museum treasures, attracting a larger number of spectators.