NEWS

World-famous musician and public figure, Azerbaijan’s current ambassador to Russia Polad Bulbuloglu turns 75 on February 4, 2020. Events commemorating the 75th anniversary of Polad Bulbuloglu will be held in Beylagan Olympic Sport Complex on February 4 and Heydar Aliyev Palace on February 7.

The Hajibeyov Azerbaijan State Symphony Orchestra, the ballet troupe of the State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater, pop ensemble and soloists will perform songs by Polad Bulbuloglu.

Polad is the only Azerbaijani musician who was honored as a star in “Stars Square" in Moscow in 2000.

"The renovation works are underway in the Baku Khan's House dating back to the 17th -18th CC and located at 44, 46, 48, 50, Boyuk Gala Street. We are planning to complete modifications by the middle of this year," Asker Alakbarov, Chairman of the Board of the State Historical and Architectural Reserve Icherisheher, said at a press conference on the results of 2019.

According to him, they planted big trees to build a park near the Baku Khan's House, and work is currently underway to plant decoration bushes and greenery.

Alakbarov said the restoration, reconstruction, and conservation of the medieval underground bath complex revealed during archeological excavations at the 50th Greater Gala Street had been completed. "The modification works are completed on the interior and exterior parts of the Gosha Gala, as well as the interior of the fortress wall from the Gosha Gala Gate to Aziz Aliyev Street."

As the chairman noted, over the past year, the reserve has organized 3,040 tours for official and unofficial delegations, as well as 3,271 individual and group tours.

The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources (MENR) has warned of sharp weather changes.

Report says, citing the National Hydrometeorology Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, that strong north-west winds will blow in Baku and on the Absheron peninsula on January 24. The weather will be rainy from January 25 night until January 25 morning. Sleet and snow are in the forecast for some places in the evening of January 24 and on January 25, with temperatures to vary from 0 to 2C.

The weather will be unstable in Azerbaijan's regions until January 25, with occasional rain and sleet predicted in some places. Snow will fall in the mountainous areas and hills and will intensify in some places. North-west wind will strengthen at times.

The roads are to be frozen in mountainous and foothills. 

Another concert will be held at International Mugham Center on January 25 as part of "Mugham Eveninings". 

At the evening, famous mugham singers Kamil Nabiyev, Miralam Miralamov and Nisbet Sadraeva will thrill the audience with "Chakhargakh" mugham.

It should be noted that the International Mugam Center implements a number of projects aimed at promoting Azerbaijani national music such as "Mugham Eveninings" aimed at the promotion of the country`s mugham heritage. 

The audience has already enjoyed 7 main mughams, as well as folk songs and tasnifs. 

Until the end of this year, mughams - “Bayati-Shiraz”, “Humayun”,“Shushter”, “Shahnaz”, “Orta Mahur”, “Arazbari”, “Osmanlı”, “Heydari” and others  will be presented as part of the project. 

With centuries-old history, the Azerbaijani mugham, a treasury of the world music, continues to amaze the music lovers.

This unique kind of music is based on the rich philosophical and literary ground.

One of the most valuable monuments of the material and spiritual culture of the nation contains seven main modes - Rast, Shur, Segah (are especially common), Shushtar, Bayaty-Shiraz, Chahargah, Humayun and three collateral kinds - shahnaz, sarendj, chargah in some other form.

Vagif Mustafazade is the founder of Azerbaijani jazz-mugham movement that emerged in the late 1960s and 1970s in Baku, as a result of the mixture of these two styles.

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

Throughout years, he 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.

Azerbaijan and the United States are thousands of miles apart, but the heat from “the land of fire,” as the country is often called, recently flared in a kitchen in California.

American gourmets and foodies flocked to the house of Feride Sadikhova Buyuran, an Azerbaijani cook who has been living in the U.S. for 16 years and teaches Americans how to prepare Azerbaijani cuisine.

“Another fun cooking class with wonderful people. They did an amazing job making Azerbaijani pastries and bread!” Feride posted to her Facebook page following Saturday’s session at her home. “What happened at our cooking class :) We cooked shekerbura, Lahij bread, and fasali (with onions and spices),” Feride wrote, referring to other popular foods.

Shekerbura, a famous pastry throughout the Caspian country, was the featured dish this past Saturday and quickly became the favorite. It is often baked and served during the springtime holiday of Novruz, which means “new day” and marks the start of spring on March 21. A half-circle shaped piece of dough gets stuffed with minced walnut kernels and granulated sugar before going into the oven. Shekerbura is an integral element to teatime in Azerbaijan when it is usually served.

Lahij bread, which takes its name from the old Lahij village located in the northern Ismayilli region of Azerbaijan, is a traditional sweet bread baked by locals. But Californian taste buds that prefer something savory didn’t go disappointed in Feride’s kitchen in Long Beach this weekend. Fasali is made by taking flattened dough and stuffing it with chopped spiced onions, which is then rolled into a spiral shape before getting baked.

Feride said that although it was at first tricky for American cooks and food lovers to learn the traditional styles of cooking Azerbaijani dishes, they have come to appreciate and understand the techniques used in preparing the recipes she taught them how to make.

Feride Sadikhova Buyuran has been actively promoting Azerbaijani cuisine in the United States for more than a decade. A graduate from California University, she is the author of a book titled “Pomegranates and Saffron: A Culinary Journey to Azerbaijan” that won the National Indie Excellence Book Awards. She is about to publish her second book about the regional cuisines within Azerbaijan.

When she is not writing or teaching Americans in California how to cook Azerbaijani food, she operates culinary tours to Azerbaijan and Georgia within her Food and Culture Tours to the Caucasus program.

"We are planning to complete reconstruction of two dilapidated buildings at 3 and 5 Boyuk Gala Street by the end of this year," Asker Alakbarov, Chairman of the Board of the State Historical and Architectural Reserve Icherisheher, said at a press conference on the results of 2019.

According to him, all 17 families living in those houses were provided with temporary housing.

Alakbarov went on to say that a new museum is to open at Baku Khan's House by mid-year. "The museum will allow making a virtual trip to the medieval ages of Baku. The Gala Reserve will also feature exhibitions in an open-air and antique museum," he said. 

An exhibition "Echo of Soviet Azerbaijan. Carpet. Embroidery. Poster" will open at the State Museum of Oriental Art in Moscow on February 5. 

The exhibition will display about 40 art pieces, including the carpets 1920-1970’s from the collection of the Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum (Baku), posters, courtesy of the Mardjani Foundation (Moscow), as well as revolutionary embroidery and sketches for 1920-1930s from the collection of the Museum of the East. The latter will be shown for the first time.

The project aims to reveal how significant historical events influenced the decorative arts. The exhibition will last until March 1, 2020. 

Unique Azerbaijani carpets are well-known all over the world for their quality and high artistic value. Besides, amazing and fantastic carpets of Azerbaijan represent a real mystery, leading one inside the fairy tales full of majestic feelings.

The Land of Fire has seven carpet producing regions including Baku, Shirvan, Guba, Tabriz, Karabakh, Ganja and Gazakh and each of them had its own technology, typical patterns and colors.

Colorful Karabakh carpets, which are classified in four groups, represent a fabulous symphony of the most delicate shades of the amazing Karabakh nature.

Karabakh carpets still retain their glory, featuring in many prestigious international auctions, estimated at tens of thousands of dollars. Samples of the Karabakh carpet weaving as cultural heritage of Azerbaijan, kept in major museums, including the Louvre, Hermitage, and adorn the Vatican and the White House.

No wonder that coffee and tea are the two most loved hot beverages in the world. Even the smell of coffee or tea alone feels like it pushes your brain into productive mode, especially in the mornings. 

"Passage 1901" Restaurant invites you to enjoy delicious coffee and tea on January 24-26. 

The main goal of the festival is to create high-quality opportunities for the development of the coffee and tea industry and business, as well as long-term cooperation and exchange of experience.

Baku residents and foreign guests have a chance to taste real Colombian coffee on January 24 at the opening ceremony of the event at 11:00, as well as on January 25 at 15:00.

The 2nd Coffee and Tea Festivall will run until January 26. It will be open from 10:00 to 18:00. The entrance to the event is free.

Last year the event gathered country's best coffee and tea professionals. The festival featured exhibition of manufacturers and importers of coffee and tea, national barista championships, seminars and master classes, a guest-bar, a recreation area, a playground and other entertainments. Moreover, two national barista championships were organized by the Specialty Coffee Association.

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

The event will take place at the ISS Dome Arena Dusseldorf on May 31, bringing together famous singers, 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. 

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 at 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 Moscow Museum of the East will host the exhibition "Echo of Soviet Azerbaijan Carpet. Embroidery. Poster" from February 5 to March 1.

"The State Museum of Oriental will open the exhibition "Echo of Soviet Azerbaijan. Carpet. Embroidery. The poster". The show will reveal how significant historical events influenced the decorative arts," the message reads.

The exhibition will display 40 pieces. Among them, the carpets 1920-1970's from the collection of the Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum (Baku), posters, courtesy of the Mardjani Foundation (Moscow), as well as revolutionary embroidery and sketches for 1920-1930s from the collection of the Museum of the East. The latter will be shown for the first time.