NEWS

A video of the 5th Booktrailer Festival has been presented. The festival's organizers also named famous poet Ramiz Rovshan as the voice of the project. 

Speaking about the project, the festival's director, film actor and producer Ruslan Sabirli expressed his gratitude to Ramiz Rovshan for supporting the project.

"This year our festival celebrates its fifth anniversary and we wanted to invite highly esteemed and professional, our beloved poet Ramiz Rovshan to be the voice of the project. I would like to express my gratitude to Ramiz Rovshan for supporting the Book Trailer Festival, which is a great gift for us! I also thank the Secretary of the Azerbaijan Writers Union Rashad Mejid for the support and the opportunity to get to know Ramiz Rovshan," he said.

Booktrailers are short videos that promote a book or an author, providing a good illustration of the book content. Book trailers are a form of advertising for a book. Produced by publishers, and sometimes authors themselves, they are tools to pique interest in the novel and raise their popularity.

The festival, which takes place under the slogan "Promote a book, get promoted with a book!" is timed to the World Book Day or World Book and Copyright Day, held annually on April 23. The festival is headed by actor and producer Ruslan Sabirli. 

Anyone can take part in the festival through registration (www.booktrailer.az). The first place will get a cash prize -1,000 ($589) manats, while the winners of the second and third places 800 manats  ($472) and 500 ($295) manats, respectively.

The winners will be also awarded in the nomination "The best mobile book-trailer". To participate in this nomination, everyone can shot a booktrailer on a mobile phone and send it to the festival. The winner in "Best Mobile Book Trailer" will receive a cash prize - 1,000 ($589) manats.

Supported by Azerbaijan's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the festival was successfully held in 2016 for the first time in the country. The main partner of the event is Azercell, a leader of the mobile communication sector in Azerbaijan. 

For more information, please visit:

 www.booktrailer.az

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/BooktrailerFest

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BooktrailerFest

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/BooktrailerFest

For all questions, please contact: festival2020@booktrailer.az

Spanish El Espanol news portal has published an article entitled “Baku, Traditions and Modernity in Azerbaijan”.

The article describes Baku as the scientific, technical and industrial center of Azerbaijan.

It provides an insight into the history of Baku and its geographical location, noting that Icherisheher with Maiden Tower and the Shirvanshahs Palace are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

El Espanol invites Spanish tourists to enjoy Baku, which it calls "an ideal city for lovers of fashion and shopping, as well as for music lovers".

Memory of jazz legend Vagif Mustafazade has been honored in Baden, Austria.

Co-organized by the Azerbaijan Cultural Center and the Baden City Municipality, the event was timed to the 80th anniversary of the outstanding jazz pianist musician, Azertag reported.

Prior to the concert, member of the Baden City Municipality Ernst Shebesta highlighted the cultural cooperation with the Azerbaijani Cultural Center. Many events have been already held as part of the cooperation.

The event was followed by a spectacular concert. Famous Isfar Sarabski Quartet performed music pieces by Vagif Mustafazade, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Johann Bach and other composers in a unique jazz style. 

Isfar Sarabski's works "Planet", " Horses of Karabakh", ethno-jazz composition as well as popurri of Vagif Mustafazade left no one indifferent. 

Vagif Mustafazade enriched the world music with new jazz style. Founder of Azerbaijani jazz mugham, wrote numerous jazz compositions, including fugues, preludes, ballads and scherzos, many of them written in the 1970s. He released a total of eight albums, all with different line-ups, mood and style.

By the beginning of 1960s, Vagif was gaining recognition far beyond Azerbaijan.

Winner of numerous jazz festivals such as "Tallinn-66", "Tallinn-67", Baku festival "Jazz 69", Donetsk 1977 festival, and "Tbilisi-78", Vagif Mustafazade always fascinated listeners with his originality and virtuosity.

Musician's death was a shock to many people. He was only 39 years old when he died on stage while performing in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) in 1979.

Jazz schools around the world have recognized Vagif Mustafazade as a phenomenal musician. His works represent a unique combination of eastern and western schools, of tradition and innovation.

The casting for Top Model Azerbaijan 2020 has been held in Baku.

Top Model Azerbaijan is held for the second year in a row. This year, the is open for little models.

Participants are selected by jury member, which include opera singer Latifa Soyuoz, Best Model of Azerbaijan 2004 Ilgar Aliyev, stylist Gusik Simon, fitness trainer Shams Javadova, Kids model Sultan Gumbatzade and others.

Notably, last year winners Nigar Mammadzadeh and Murad Sultan took part in prestigious Versace fashion show, Azerbaijan Fashion Week and Boutiques Fashion Day and other fashion events. The project is headed by Novruz İsmayil.

The weather will be changeable cloudy, occasionally gloomy, and mainly rainless in Baku and Absheron peninsula on March 10.

Report says, citing the National Hydrometeorology Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, that fog is expected in some places. Mild south-west wind will intensify.

Temperatures on the peninsula will be 4C to 7 C at night, 10C to 15C in the daytime, in Baku 5C to 7C at night, and 13C to 15C in the daytime.

Atmospheric pressure will drop from 769 mm mercury column to 775 mm mercury column. Relative humidity will make 70-80% at night and 45-55% in the daytime.

The weather will be mainly dry in Azerbaijani regions tomorrow, with fog and southwest wind will intensify in some places.

The air temperature will vary from 3C to 8C at night, 15C to +20C in the daytime, in the mountains from 0C to 5C at night, 10C to 15C in the day.

Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation has launched the new project named “Draw Your Dream”, Trend reports via the federation on March 9.

As a part of the project supported by the Heydar Aliyev Center, a photo shoot of members of the national team in gymnastic disciplines was presented.

The project participants were athletes in rhythmic gymnastics, male and female gymnasts, trampolines, acrobats and athletes in aerobic gymnastics.

The project will demonstrate how much closely gymnastics and art are connected, the federation said.

The project's slogans are: "Behind every great sporting success is a heart beat with a small dream. This dream turns into applauds heard on large sports arenas. Gymnastics is embodied in art!".

Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation expressed its gratitude to the Heydar Aliyev Center, as well as stylist Leila Mammadova, photographer Farhad Alizadeh, makeup artist Ruhangiz Aliyeva and hairstylist Zahid Baidarov.

An exhibition "Harmony" has opened its doors at State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater in Baku.

The exhibition featured more than 50  art works by artists, sculptors and photographers in various styles and techniques, as well as selected art pieces provided by the Fund of State Art Gallery.

Co-organized by Azerbaijan Ministry of Culture and the State Art Gallery, the exhibition aimed at promotion of art and raising awareness about women's role in society.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, director of the State Art Gallery Gabil Gasimov congratulated women on the International Women's Day. He provided insight into the exhibition. Gabil Gasimov expressed his confidence that project participants will leave their mark in the Azerbaijani art.

People's Artist Arif Huseynov and Chief Scientific Officer of the State Art Gallery Vagif Muganli wished success to young talents.

Then the guests  got acquainted with the exhibition. Works of young talents conquered the hearts of art lovers.

Moreover, members of Parlaq Youth Public Union will also perform as part of the event. Their performance was met with great interest.

Throughout history, women have been involved in the making of art. Many female artists have been making thrilling works of art that mesmerize art enthusiasts around the world. Azerbaijan's female artists have played a great role in developing various art styles.

Maral Rahmanzade is one of the brightest figures in the national visual arts. She was born on July 23, 1916 in the village of Mardakan, a suburb of Baku. Maral was evolved in visual arts since childhood. Her first teacher was famous artist Salam Salamzade.

After graduating from the seven-year plan, in 1930, Maral Rahmanzade enters the only at that time in Azerbaijan artistic technical school, the founder of which was the famous cartoonist Azim Azimzade.

Maral continued her education in Moscow State Academic Art Institute named after V.I. Surikov. After graduating from the institute in 1940, she got a job in a publishing house of fiction in Moscow.

The terrible event for millions of citizens - the Great Patriotic War - coincided with a terrible event in the life of Maral Rahmanzade and her entire family. In 1941, her father was repressed and declared an enemy of the people. Six months after his arrest, he died in a Tashkent prison in Uzbekistan.

Having left her job in Moscow, Maral returned to Baku and continued her work there. Since the war years and until the end of her life, Maral Rahmanzade participated in more than 50 exhibitions around the world.

A series of art works "We Are in the Caspian Sea", "Women of Azerbaijan", "My Motherland", "My Sisters", "My Contemporaries", "Sumgait - Rustavi", picturesque works inspired by the country's beautiful corners and oilmen, as well as wonderful female images created by her in the series "Girls of the Country of Lights", "Three Flowers", "My Sisters" left no one indifferent.

Maral Rahmanzade was also fond of dancing. Her beautiful dances at institute evenings in Surikovsky had always been a source of admiration.

After one of these evenings, her teacher, Aleksey Krevchenko, who paid great attention to the expressiveness of the drawing, told her: "Learn to draw as plastic as you dance." This advice Maral Rahmanzade made the motto of her work.

The paintings "Azerbaijan is a country of oil", "We are in the Caspian Sea", "Self-portrait" were considered her most famous art works.The artist worked in various etchings including etching, lithography, linocuts, and oil, tempera later. She also created illustrations to many books.

Maral Rahmanzade even posed for the statue of the famous Azerbaijani poetess Khurshidbanu Natavan. This statue now adorns one of the loggias of the National Literature Museum.

International Women's Day has been solemnly marked at the State Philharmonic Hall.

Public and cultural figures, mothers of martyrs and other guests attended the event.

People’s Artists of Azerbaijan Gulyaz Mammadova and Gulyanaq Mammadova, Honored artists  performer Gulustan Aliyeva, as well as Farida Melikova (kamancha), Nargiz Aliyeva (piano), Oya Ergyun (vocal), Natavan Hasanova (canon), Rafiga Guluzade (piano), Lala Akhmadova (piano), Sariya Nasibova (violin), Ayten Babayeva (piano), Jamil Abdinzade (piano), Ayten Rustamli (kamancha), Sura Rurat (violin), canon trio of Arts Gymnasium under Azerbaijan National Conservatory - Natavan Hajiyeva, Sevda Jabrayilova and Samida Mammadova performed at the gala concert.

The evening featured works of such eminent composers as Uzeyir Hajibeyli, Niyazi, Astor Piazzolla, George Gershwin, Frederic Chopin, Pikya Akhundova, Jahangir Jahangirov, Emin Sabitoglu and others.

The music program was received with great interest by the audience.

International Women's Day has been celebrated by the United Nations on March 8 since 1975.

It is a day when women are recognized for their achievements irrespective of national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political.

The idea of celebration was put forward for the first time by Clara Zetkin, German activist, at an International Conference of women-socialists, held in Copenhagen. Many women joined the struggle for their equality. The first countries celebrating this day were Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Denmark.

This holiday has started to be marked in Azerbaijan since 1917. The country has long been known to treat its women with the respect and dignity. Azerbaijan was the first country to have granted women the right of vote, which is the fundamental basis of a democratic society.

The 2020 International Women's Day will focus on the theme "An equal world is an enabled world". 

The theme of International Women’s Day 2020 is, I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights. The theme is aligned with UN Women’s new multigenerational campaign, Generation Equality, which marks the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.