Song from the Land of Fire

This book examines Azerbaijani musical culture of the soviet and post soviet era with a special focus on 'mugam', a musical form bringing together classical poetry with musical improvisation.

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Song from the Land of Fire explores Azerbaijanian musical culture, a subject previously unexamined by American and European scholars. This book contains notations of mugham performance--a fusion of traditional poetry and musical improvisation--and analysis of hybrid genres, such as mugham-operas and symphonic mugham by native composers. Intimately connected to the awakening of Azerbaijanian national consciousness while ruled by the Russian Empire and the USSR, mugham is inseparable from the contexts in which it is produced and heard. Inna Naroditskaya provides the historical and political contexts for mugham and profiles the musicians, musical genealogies, and musical institutions of Azerbaijan.