Ashiq Art Department

The Department of Ashiq Art was established in 2011. During the years 2011–2022, the department was headed by Honored Cultural Worker, Doctor of Philosophy in Art History, Associate Professor Ahliman Rahimov Rahim oglu.

From 2022 to the present, Honored Cultural Worker, Doctor of Philosophy in Art History, Associate Professor Samira Aliyeva has been working in this position.

In the 2022-2023 academic year, subjects at the bachelor’s and master’s levels are taught in the Ashug Art Department.

The teachers of the department have prepared a number of monographs and textbooks on ashug art. In these textbooks, the study of ashug art in different regions and in the context of the environmental factor prevails. In this regard, for example, the textbook “Shirvan ashug airs: characteristics, classification and teaching methodology” (2014), co-authored by Ahliman Rahimov and Altay Mammadov, Ahliman Rahimov’s monograph “Performing mastery of Shirvan ashugs” (2016), Nemat Gasimov’s textbook “Goycha ashug environment (based on Z.Abdulla’s creativity)” (2019), “Zodlu Usta Abdulla’s poetics” (2015), and Hafiz Karimov’s monograph “Musical creativity of Borchaly ashugs” (2019) can be cited as examples. In Fazail Orujov’s monograph “Forms of manifestation of the epic genre in Azerbaijani theater culture” (2005), in the textbook “Art of love and theater” (2017), as well as in the textbook “Performing epic as an actor’s theater” by Samira Aliyeva, the unique aspects of epic traditions are presented in a comparative manner with theatrical art. Since the 2016-2017 academic year, the department has been teaching the subject “Specialty-music performance”. In this regard, Hafiz Karimov’s musical textbook “Works of Azerbaijani composers (transcriptions and arrangements for saz and piano)” (2021) is also of great importance. In addition, the books “Novres Iman’s epic-story” (2019), “Anthology of poetry of contemporary Azerbaijani ashugs” (2019), “Derbend folk artists” (2020), “Ashug divans and mukhammas” (2022), “Ashug tajnisleri” (2022), and “Ashug deyishmeleri” (2022), prepared for publication by Altay Mammadov, an employee of the Azerbaijan Ashug Union, and published under the auspices of the Azerbaijan Ashug Union, are also valuable publications in terms of studying ashug art.

A number of interesting events were organized by the Ashiq Art Department. In particular, concerts dedicated to the creativity of master ashiq Panah Panahov at the Sada Educational Theater in 2018, master ashiq Miskin Veli in 2018, Sufi sheikh Miskin Abdal at the International Mugham Center in 2019, and Ashiq Ahliman Rahimov in 2024 were held. In 2021, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the great master of words Ashiq Alasgar, a republican competition entitled “I am Alasgar, I am familiar with all sciences” was organized by the department among students studying in the specialty “Ashiq Art” (saz) in secondary specialized and higher educational institutions operating in Azerbaijan. In addition, an event called “Garabagh Return” was held in 2022, a concert dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the ADMİU in 2023, and a concert project called “Unwavering in Hope and Desire, From Homeland to Homeland” was held in 2023, which talks about the love of Western Azerbaijanis for their homeland.

The employees of the department regularly participate in events of republican importance and held in foreign countries. Altay Mammadov participated in the “V Turkic World Ashiqlar Festival and Parvin Bahmani Qashqai Folklore Symposium” held in Giresun, Turkey in 2016, the International Scientific Conference on the topic of “Koroglu” epic and its role in world culture” held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, the “Turkic World Korgud Ata Ashiqlar Caravan” festival in Osmaniye, Turkey in 2018, the V International Festival of Epics of the Peoples of the World in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in 2019; Nemat Gasimov spoke at the Novruz Bayram event held in Moscow in 2012 under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, at the “Science and Culture Festival” event in Turkey in 2013, Fazail Orujov at the “Muslim World Music Festival” in Malaysia, at an international conference in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2016, Samira Aliyeva at the International “Bakhshi Festival” in Uzbekistan in 2019, at the event held within the framework of the “Year of Shusha” jointly organized by the Ministry of Culture and the Azerbaijani diaspora in Austria in 2022 (Austria), and Hafiz Karimov at the “Turkey-Georgia Bektashi Culture and Ozans” symposium in Tbilisi in 2016.

The teachers of the department also actively participate in the events organized by UNESCO in Azerbaijan. In March 2009, Altay Mammadov, Nemat Gasimli, and Samira Aliyeva adequately represented the ashug art in a series of concerts held in France in connection with the inclusion of ashug art in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List. In 2012, the UNESCO

A film dedicated to the work of Nemat Gasimov was shot under the direction of. Nemat Gasimov performed at the state event held in 2012 on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Azerbaijan-UNESCO relations, at the cultural event dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the National Commission of the Republic of Azerbaijan for UNESCO in 2019, Samira Aliyeva and Hafiz Karimov, together with the students of the department, performed at the opening ceremony of the 43rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee at the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku in 2019. In addition, Nemat Gasimov demonstrated their skills at the concert held on the occasion of the European Games in 2015, Samira Aliyeva and Murad Samadzadeh demonstrated their skills at the “Khari Bulbul” festival in Shusha in 2021, and Samira Aliyeva at the 5th Khari Bulbul International Folklore Festival in Shusha in 2022.

The teachers of the department are participants in a number of important events held in our country related to the art of ashug. Ahliman Rahimov, Altay Mammadov, Nemat Gasimov, Fazail Orujov, Samira Aliyeva participated in the 1st and 2nd International Ashug Festivals held in Baku in 2010 and 2014, Nemat Gasimov, together with the students of the department, performed successfully in the image of Leyli in the epic play “Leyli and Majnun” presented for the first time on the occasion of the 880th anniversary of Nizami Ganjavi. The employees of the department participated in many events on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the great master of words Ashug Alasgar, and organized a Republican competition at the ADMİU.

In our country, at the Novruz Bayram events, which are solemnly celebrated with the participation of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Samira Aliyeva, Nemat Gasimov, and Fazail Miskinli have performed together with the students of the department in different years. In 2022, Samira Aliyeva created the “Sazende Ashiqlar Group” consisting of students of the Ashiq Art Department and presented the project “From Egypt to Jangi”.

The teachers of the Ashiq Art Department have been awarded various Republican and International awards for their scientific and cultural activities.