NEWS

Azerbaijan is getting ready for the fifth edition of Booktrailer Festival. Notably, Booktrailers are short videos that promote a book or an author, providing a good illustration of the book's content.

The festival aims at promoting books, supporting and developing creative forms of reading, searching talented young people in cinematography and promoting bookrailers as a part of art and business.

Since 2016, Booktrailer Festival has been successfully held in Azerbaijan. This remarkable event is timed to coincide with World Book and Copyright Day - April 23. It’s no coincidence that over all these years, the festival, which starts on the Youth Day on February 2 and ends on April 23, has turned into a movement of creative youth, gathering around itself talented young participants.

The winners are selected annually by jury, which includes public and cultural figures.

The first place will get a cash prize in the amount of 1,000 manats ($ 589), while the winners of the second and third places 800 manats  ($ 472 ) and 500 ($ 295) manats, respectively. The winner in "Best Mobile Book Trailer" will be handed a cash prize in the amount of 1,000 ($ 589) manats.

The festival is organized with the support of the Ministry of Culture. 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

A conference dedicated to the results of first year implementation of "The State Program on socio-economic development of the regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2019-2023" is being held.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev is attending the conference.

The head of state made an opening speech at the conference.

For those looking to party, Zhara Music Festival is well worth planning a trip around. The large-scale event basically turns the entire year into one long music festival.

A day of sunshine and fascinating music awaits you in Monaco on May 7. The festival will gather some of the best Azerbaijani and Russian performers.

Moreover, Zhara Music Festival will also reach its fans in Russia and Germany.

The music festival will be held in Sochi on March 14, bringing together famous singers Grigory Leps, EMIN, Sergey Lazarev and many others. The event will be hosted by Yulia Baranovskaya and Konstantin Tarasyuk.

Being favorite among music lovers in Azerbaijan, Zhara Music Festival will also delight German audience this spring.

The event will take place at the ISS Dome Arena Dusseldorf on May 31. People's Artist of Azerbaijan Emin Agalarov (EMIN), "Rauf & Faik" duo, Elman Zeynalov (ELMAN), Jony (Jahid Huseynli),  Timati, Egor Creed, Irina Dubtsova and many others will rock the stage.

Meanwhile, the festival's fifth edition will be held in Baku from July 29 to August 2. 

Zhara offers an unforgettable experience for everyone. The festival features numerous spectacular shows and much more.

The festival is co-organized by People's Artist of Azerbaijan Emin Agalarov, Honored Artist of Russia Grigory Leps, founder of Russkoye Radio and Zolotoy Grammofon award Sergei Kozhevnikov.

More than 200 singers and bands took part in this year’s festival. The event opened with a gala concert, at which famous artists performed their hits.

Chingiz Mustafayev, Monatik, Philipp Kirkorov, A’Studio, Vera Brezhneva, Bosson, Rita Dakota, Dmitry Matatov, Mozgi, Glyuk’oza, Nikolay Baskov, Kristina Orbakaite, Burito, Emin Agalarov, Elina Chaga, Zivert, Aleksandr Panayotov, Slava, Grigory Leps, Ani Lorak, Lolita, Sergey Lazarev, Albina Janabaeva, Max Barskikh, Artik & Asti, Olga Buzova, Alessandro Safina and others were among them.

Pop stars of the 1990's rocked the stage on July 26. 

Emin Agalarov, Aleksandr Panayotov, Aleksey Chumakov, Anzhelika Varum, Ani Lorak, Anna Sedokova, Anya Shulgina, Vladimir Presnyakov, Glyuk’oza, Danil Buranov, Jasmin, Irina Dubtsova, Kristina Orbakaite, Natali, Natalya Podolskaya, Nikolay Baskov, Slava, Stas Piekha, Philipp Kirkorov, Yulianna Karaulova, Yuliya Kovalchuk and others performed at the concert. In addition, creative evenings of such singers as Grigory Leps, Stas Mikhaylov and Lyube rock band were held as well.

Best singers of the 2000s amazing music lovers the next day. 

Aleksandros Tsopozidis, Aleksey Chumakov, Ani Lorak, Band`Eros, Glyuk’oza, Grigory Leps, Geegun, Irina Dubtsova, Karina Khvoynitskaya, Kravts, Lolita, Mari Kraymbrery, Nastasya Samburskaya, Slava, Timur Rodriguez, Yulianna Karaulova, Yuliya Kovalchuk, A`Studio, Dan Balan, Elvira T, Jah Khalib, Monatik, Mozgi, Aleks Malinovski, Aleksandr Panayotov,and others performed that night. At the same time, Leningrad band gave a fascinating concert on the Caspian coast. 

Emin Agalarov, Timati, Nazima, Ternovoy, Doni, Misha Marvin, Klava Koka, Natan, Griqory Leps, Geegan, Molly, Loboda, HammAli i Navai, CYGO, Mari Kraymbreri, Rauf, Faiq, Zomb, Nyusha, Lyubov Uspenskaya, Rasa, Kosmos Girls, Elvin Grey, Ellai, Mot, Aisel, Asammuell, Babek Mammadrzayev, Samra, Fika, Isayya, Evgeniya Mayer, Velvet, Aleksandr Panayotov, Slava, Yuliya Kovalchuk, Jony, Elman, Andro, Gemini, Alessandra, Anna Sedokova, Timur Rodrigez, Tereza and Serebro  closed the festival with spectacular concert.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) may carry out a project on the reduction of food waste in Azerbaijan. The project is expected to commence this year, Kaan Basharan, Program Offices, FAO's Partnership and Liaison Office in Azerbaijan, told Report.

According to him, the project aims reevaluation of the food wasted in the tourism sector, catering facilities: 'Firstly, the initial assessment should be carried out on the implementation of the project. The project includes issues such as application of modern standard in prevention of food waste. Conversion of food wastes to biogas can be turned into a feed for animals.'

Basharan noted that there is a program for Central Asian countries and Azerbaijan within the partnership between Turkey and FAO: 'The abovementioned project is planned to be implemented within that program.'

Azerbaijani chess grandmasters Shakhriyar Mammadyarov and Teimour Radjabov are among the top ten in the world rating published by FIDE as of 1 February 2020.

With 2,770 points Mammadyarov is on the eighth place while Radjabov ranks 10th with 2765 points.

Another Azerbaijani chess player Nijat Abasov showed tangible progress. He reached his all-time-highest rating of 2,670 and was ranked as world’s 67th best chess player.

Note that Abasov was awarded the title of International Master in 2009. He gained his third and final norm required for the title of Grandmaster in the Azerbaijani Solidarity Day event in late December 2010, in which he was placed first. FIDE awarded him the title in February 2011.

In November 2015, Abasov won the Cultural Village tournament in Wijk aan Zee to qualify for the 2016 Tata Steel Challengers tournament.

Abasov played on team Azerbaijan 2 in the 42nd Chess Olympiad in Baku. In late December 2016, he won the Zurich Christmas Open on tiebreak from Viktor Láznička, Dennis Wagner, Christian Bauer and Mateusz Bartel.

In 2017, Abasov won both the Azerbaijani Chess Championship and the Baku Open tournament.

As for the women rating, the best Azerbaijani chess player is Gunay Mammadzada, who occupies 28th place with 2,455 points.

In 2009, she won the girls' U-10 World Youth Chess Championship. In 2013 won the girls' U-14 European Youth Chess Championship.  

In October 2017, she reached her peak rating as a second best chess player in the world among U-18 female players and 66th among senior female players.

One more grandmaster from Azerbaijan - Gulnar Mammadova - ranked 75th with 2,386 points.

She was Azerbaijan’s champion in 2009 and 2010.

In the 2016 Women's Chess Olympiad, Mammadova won the individual gold medal for the best performance on board 3.

For centuries, chess has been a popular game in Azerbaijan. The country could preserve chess traditions as the chess remains to be a very popular sport in Azerbaijan today as the national chess players constantly achieve successes in top-ranked tournaments.

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

Spectacular concert dedicated to traditional music instruments has been solemnly held at the State Philharmonic Hall.

The program titled "Traditional Music Instruments - Our National Wealth" was organized as part of the project "Gənclərə dəstək" (Youth Support) aimed at discovering young talents in Azerbaijan.

The author of the project is the director of the State Philharmonic Society, People's Artist Murad Adigozalzade, project coordinator - Ayla Karimova Zaharia.

The concert was truly enjoyed by the audience. Marvelous performance of Azerbaijan State Orchestra of Folk Instruments, conducted by Ilaha Huseynova left no one indifferent.

The soloists of the evening Vasif Javadov (tar), Gunel Gasimova (khanende), Orkhan Huseynov (kamancha), Amin Abdullayev (tar), Amir Nabiyev (khanende), Kamal Mammadli (kamancha), Chichyak Aliyeva (kamancha), Jalya Hasanzade, Zumrud Mammadova (khanende), Ismayil Mammadov (vocal), Haji Hasanzade (tar) and Sanur Akhadov (vocal)  absolutely thrilled the hearts of listeners.

The program "Traditional Music Instruments - Our National Wealth" was magnificent.

With such a rich musical tradition, it is obvious that traditional music instruments take a special place in Azerbaijani culture. Let's take a journey to explore some of these fantastic music instruments.

Saz is the stringed musical instrument of the lute type. The instrument has a pear-shaped body, a neck with tied sliding frets, a wooden soundboard and double or triple strings.

Kamancha is a bowed string instrument, which is widespread among 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 barbat (lute), daf ( frame drum) and kamancha in his work called "A Musical Gathering".

Tar, a long-necked plucked lute, is one of the most important musical instruments in the Caucasus and Iran. Tar is traditionally crafted and performed throughout Azerbaijan, and is depicted on the Azerbaijani national banknote of one manat.

Oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument with 11 or 13 strings grouped in 5 or 6 courses. Four strings of the musical instrument were likened to the four elements of nature: fire, water, earth, air. It was often depicted in the works of miniature painting.

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.

Naghara is a folk drum that is played with 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 "The Book of Dede Gorgud". The rhythmic beat of naghara is believed to strengthen the heart. Gosha nagara is Azerbaijani version for small kettledrums.

According to the results of monitoring conducted by the specialists of the National Monitoring Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the amount of dust in the air is higher than usual since January 31.

The ministry told Report that at present, the amount of dust exceeds sanitary norms by 2.4 times.

The reason is the dust smoke penetrating the territory of the country from Iran, Iraq, and the Arabian Peninsula with the southwestern air flows.

Dusty weather is expected to continue throughout the day.

The south-west wind will become the north-west wind in the evening, which will reduce the amount of dust to the norm.

Roscosmos published images of Baku night taken by cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko from the International Space Station (ISS).

The images taken from the ISS show the night lights of New York, Washington, Las Vegas, London, Istanbul, Athens, Tehran, Mumbai, Tokyo, Rome, Shanghai, well as images of the Earth, Moon, and popular geographical sites.

Notably, 56-year-old cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko has already made five spacewalks.

On February 2, the World Wetlands Day was marked at the Gizilaghaj National Park jointly with IDEA Public Union, World Wildlife Fund, Azerbaijani Ornithological Society and the wider public.

Following the scientific workshop in the national park on the importance of protected areas of Azerbaijan located on the migration route of the migratory birds, the protection of rare bird species and the development of birdwatching tourism, participants watched the birds on the "Turaj" and "Lesser Sea" routes of the Gizilaghaj National Park and toured newly established Tourist Information Center.

The aim of the event with the slogan "Let's protect our birds" is to study the status of rare and endangered bird species, monitor the number, focus attention to the birdwatching tourism, and to highlight the importance of conservation activities.

Notably, the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat was signed on February 2, 1971, in Ramsar, Iran. Azerbaijan's Aggol lake, Gizilaghaj, and Lesser Gizilaghaj bays are the first additions to the List of Wetlands of International Importance since May 25, 2001. There are more than 200,000 hectares of wetlands in Azerbaijan, which becomes home for 100,000 birds of various species during the wintering and migration seasons.

"Fine Art of Azerbaijan" album has been presented at Baku Book Center. The album was published by the Azerbaijan Union of Artists in partnership with the International Confederation of Artists' Unions.

This album completes the series "Artists of the Commonwealth", which was dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Moscow Art Theater.

In their remarks, the director of the Baku Book Center Gunel Rzayeva, chairman of the Azerbaijan Union of Artists, People's Artist Farhad Khalilov, chairman of the Azerbaijan Union of Writers, People's Writer Anar Rzayev, People's Artist Fuad Salayev, Honored Art Worker Ziyadkhan Aliyev and others stressed the importance of preparing this album.

The album "Fine Art of Azerbaijan", released by "Galart" Publishing House includes 252 reproductions of the works of Azerbaijani painters, graphic artists and sculptors.

The album presents the art of eminent Azerbaijani artists. Their works intertwine national artistic traditions and modern trends of world fine art.

The event also featured presentation of albums with reproductions of such prominent national artists as Sattar Bakhlulzade, Gorkhmaz Efendiyev, Javad Mirjavadov and Sanan Gurbanov. The evening was followed by fascinating jazz concert with participation of talented pianist Vusal Aydemirov.