The Garabagh musical culture has the roots that go back to very far antiquity. Its first object, known to history of the material culture, is an ancient musical instrument, discovered here and dated by archaeologists as of the end of II millenium BC. It contains bronze pendants with rattle-bells (spherical objects with slits and free rolling stone pieces inside). Such pendants were used as musical instruments and women adornments. Little "younger" are Sinji, also excavated by archaeologists and consisting from two round copper plates.

Extraordinary musical skills and beautiful singing were typical for Garabagh population at all times. They used to say: "Our children from their first breath use to laugh and cry in a harmony of the mugham tune."

But in XIX century there had happened especially outstanding splash in the musical culture of Garabagh. It was a splash that left its trace in the history of music.

Jabbar Qaryaghdyh

In the second half of XIX century Shusha - the capital of Garabagh - was considered to be the first town of Azerbaijan for its trade, economy, culture and population. Outstanding persons of that epoch, such as Khurshud Banu Natavan (granddaughter of Ibrahim Khalil-khan), Mir-Mohsun Navvab Garabaghlyh and many others lived in Shusha.

Natavan was a poetess. She used to arrange in her house musical-poetical parties with participation of poets, musicians and scientists. She used to provide her sponsorship to cultural projects and initiatives; had sponsored construction of the Shusha city water pipeline.

Mir-Mohsun Navvab Garabaghlyh (1833-1918) was one of the outstanding musical critics of his time. Besides he was a wonderful artist, calligrapher, mathematician, a chemistry and astronomy scientist. He was a person of extraordinary encyclopedic knowledge, who published books and had his own print house. He had arranged the Shusha library and the public reading house.

In XIX Shusha was known as "The Conservatoire of Caucasus" for so many singers and musicians had grown up here. They were arranging musical performances, established musical societies and musical schools; developed a public Majlis tradition - musical assemblies known as "Oriental Concerts". Musicians from Shusha were very popular not only in Garabagh, but also at all of the South Caucasus and generally Oriental World.

Haji Husi Niftali oghlu (died in 1898) was one of such famous musicians. He was popular in numerous Oriental countries and his voice had "conquered" all musical experts. Besides, Haji Husi was a brilliant teacher and musical critic. He was a founder of the "Singers' Society", uniting here all singers of Garabagh.

Performers at a public Majlis tradition

Another outstanding singer and musician was a Shusha citizen Abdoul-Baghi Zulalov (1841-1927). He had a title of "Bulbuljan" that means "A Lovely Nightingale". Accompanied by the famous "tarzan" (a tar player) Sadykhjan, he participated in musical Majlis assemblies in Garabagh, Shaki, Shamakhyh and other cities, and everywhere he showed himself as a singer who operates not just with perfect vocal, but with a rare performing culture as well. Nobody from singers could be compared with him. For several times Abdoul-Baghi had won the first award of musical contests in Iran, was awarded with the Iranian Order of "Shiri-Khurshid" (Lion-n-Sun)

Another glorious page in the history of the music of Garabagh and totally Azerbaijan is related with the name of Jabbar Qaryaghdyh, the native of Shusha (1861-1944). He was known not only as an outstanding singer, but a composer and poet as well. During 70 years J. Qaryaghdyh was involved with development of the oriental music. He was an expert, knowing all nuances and secrets of mugham performing, and had enriched them with new colors, created their original variations. He had a mild and strong vocal (tenor) of very wide diapason. He managed to enrich his singing with dynamical color, included in his singing the highest imaginable notes. The famous J. Qaryaghdyh trio was traveling throughout the world and performing with a tremendous success. Great popularity of this Garabagh trio had encouraged European sound-recording enterprises and many of them used to invite the musicians to record their music for the gramophone disks.

It would take a long time to count all of the talented singers originating from Garabagh, such as Seyid Shushinsky, Khan Shusinsky and others. But the top of the art of singing is considered to be occupied by Murtuza Mammadov. From his childhood he managed to imitate trills of the Garabagh nightingales. That's why people used to call him Bulbul - A Nightingale. And he became famous and known with this his new name.

Young Bulbul often performed singing at Garabagh festivities. A "velvet" vocal range, lightness and dynamism of sound, mildness of his intimate voice had predetermined his successful performing career of a lyric tenor.

Shusha had educated many musicians as the tar and kamancha players. Special place among them belongs to Sadykhjan (1846-1902). He was not just a talented "tarzan" (a tar player), but an innovator in his area. Sadykhjan had changed construction of tar's finger-board, deleted extra tones, remaining only 17. Besides, he was first musician who introduced tar playing with the instrument placed "clasped" to a player's bosom - earlier the instrument was played placed on knees. When these innovations were introduced, mugham performing with tar sounded more bright and colorful, and people called Sadykhjan "a father of tar". Shusha is known as a birthplace of famous composers and conductors, such as Uzeyir Hajibayli, Fikrat Amirov, Afrasiyab Badalbayli, Niyazi etc.

Uzeyir Hajibayli

From Uzeyir Hajibayli (1885-1948) there takes start a new history of Azerbaijanian music. Being a wonderful expert in the traditional (folk) music, using rich concords, tunes and intonation features of the Azerbaijanian music, he had created first oriental opera "Leyli and Majnun" based on the poem by Fizuli. First performance of the opera was in 1908. It was a turning-point in the history of music in Azerbaijan. Operas ("Ashiq Qarib", "Koroghlu"), musical comedies ("Arshin mal alan", "O olmasin, bu olsun") and many other compositions created by U. Hajibayli were popular throughout the world and still are the most favorite musical performances of people of Azerbaijan.