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Vagif Mustafazadeh

From Unearthing The Music

Vagif Mustafazadeh. Photo by Eldar Mansurov

Vagif Mustafazadeh (Azerbaijani: Vaqif Mustafazadə; March 16, 1940 – December 16, 1979), also known as Vaqif Mustafa-Zadeh, was an Azerbaijani jazz pianist and composer, acclaimed for fusing jazz and the traditional Azerbaijani folk music known as mugham. According to many well known jazz musicians,[1][2][3][4][5] Mustafazadeh is one of the pioneers and "the architect of jazz in Azerbaijan".[2]

Early life

Mustafazadeh was born in Old City, the historic core of Baku, on March 16, 1940. His name was chosen by the renowned poet, Samed Vurgun, on his mother's (a piano teacher at the local music school who played a very influential role in his upbringing) request.[6]

In 1963, he graduated from the Baku State Musical School named and a year later was accepted to the Azerbaijan State Conservatoire. He first became well known at the Music School where he studied by giving concerts there, later on performing at the parties and evenings held at universities and clubs. Shortly after, he became one of the most influential musical performers in Azerbaijan. While performing at clubs, he mainly played classical jazz, as well as blues and dance music.

Soviet prohibition

Musical prohibitions during the 1940s and 1950s meant that playing of jazz was banned in the USSR, including Azerbaijan. Since there was no opportunity to get jazz records from anywhere, Mustafazadeh listened to jazz pieces, learning from movies where he heard jazz music and BBC radio and sang Meykhana (rhythmic poetry), which had also been banned. After listening on the radio, he and his friend Vagif Samadoglu attempted to recreate the music on the piano.

Popularity and recognition

From the 1960s onwards, prohibitions put on jazz music were gradually lifted and thus the late 1960s and 70s became a time when Baku became a center of locally inspired jazz. By this time, Mustafazadeh's music began to find a larger audience and his popularity grew. His name was often mentioned among other jazz musicians and he participated in festivals held in his native land, as well as in and outside the Soviet countries. Since making a strong impression in his early years at college, his music progressed and his popularity grew.

In 1966, Willis Conover (conductor of the "Jazz Time" radio program) even went as far as to say, "Vagif Mustafazadeh is an extraordinary pianist. It is impossible to identify his equal. He is the most lyrical pianist I have ever known.[2]

Vagif Mustafazadeh's grave in Baku. Photo by Babək Akifoğlu

In 1965, he quit the conservatoire and went to Tbilisi to lead the "Orero" musical ensemble. Later he created the "Qafqaz" jazz trio at the Georgian State Philarmony. In 1970 he brought together the "Leyli" women's quartet and in 1971 the "Sevil" vocal-instrumental ensemble, both of which he led until 1977. Between 1977-1979 and up to his death he led the "Mugham" instrumental ensemble which he also organized. Vagif attended the "Tallinn-66" All-Soviet Union Jazz Festival and the "Caz-69" Azerbaijani jazz festivals and was awarded as laureate there. Mustafazadeh was also elected as laureate at the Donetsk All-Soviet Union Jazz Festival held in 1977, and named best pianist in "Tbilisi-78". He won first prize at the 8th International Competition of Jazz Composers for his composition "Waiting for Aziza" in Monaco in 1978, and was awarded a white grand piano, but died the next year. Vagif Mustafazadeh was named an Honored Artist of Azerbaijan SSR, and after his death was honoured with an Azerbaijani State Prize.

Jazz mugham

Mustafazadeh 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. He began searching for new ways to structure his improvisations by exploring modal music. More innovative approaches were taken by him and its influence stretched into later developments of this style.

Death

Mustafazadeh died of a heart attack shortly after a concert in Tashkent, just before the birthdays of his wife (December 17) and daughter (December 19).

Personal life

Mustafazadeh was married twice; from his first marriage he had a daughter named Lala, a talented classical pianist. She won the Grand Prize in the Epinal Piano Competition, France, in 1991. His second marriage was to Eliza, and from that union Aziza Mustafa Zadeh, also a jazz musician, was born.[7]

Legacy

His works and performance were praised by internationally known leading world musicians, such as Willis Conover and B.B. King. Once when King shared the same stage with Mustafazadeh, he heard him playing the blues piano and said nobody could play the blues like him. Afterwards, he told Vagif that "people call me the king of the blues, but if I could play the piano like you do, I would call myself God."[8]

Vagif Mustafazadeh House Museum building in Baku. Photo by Wikipedia user Ymblanter

More than three decades since Mustafazadeh's death, a larger number of his recordings from all periods of his career are more widely available in stores than at any time during his lifetime.

In 1989 the Vagif Mustafazadeh House Museum was created in Baku, where it still operates to this day under the leadership of his cousin, Afag Agha Rahim gizi Aliyev.[9]

References

  1. Azerbaijan's traditional music back from brink
  2. В Баку представлена Всемирная энциклопедия джаза, в которую вошли имена Вагифа и Азизы Мустафазаде
  3. Continuum encyclopedia of popular music of the world
  4. Continuum encyclopedia of popular music of the world Song of the Land of Fire
  5. Soviet music and society under Lenin and Stalin: the baton and sickle
  6. Tsypylma Darieva, Wolfgang Kaschuba, Melanie Krebs. Urban Spaces After Socialism: Ethnographies of Public Places in Eurasian Cities. — Campus Verlag, 2011 — p. 236 — ISBN 9783593393841
  7. «Вагиф Мустафа-заде: маэстро, сын, отец…» Archived 2016-02-06 at the Wayback Machine
  8. «Больше, чем обычная любовь». Archived 2016-03-13 at the Wayback Machine Azərbaycan gadını
  9. "Vagif Mustafazadeh's House Museum".

External links

Text adapted from Wikipedia.

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