Thursday, July 22, 2010

When art talks about the country...

Yesterday we went to personal photo exhibition of a good friend, Fakhriyya Mammadova.
Today with her permission my post will be written around one of the photos she has made.
It often happens that one wanders around the exhibits and some of them excite you, the others make you smile, think, relax etc...
There is this photo that you will see lower that talked to me...first I liked the colors, then I realized that its theme is so close to me...in awhile I knew that I want to share it with you...
You might have heard that there are places on this planet where gas emissions come out of earth and those parts of land are constantly in fire...these kind of areas exist close to Baku and one place is called Yanardag i.e. Burning Mountain. They say that this was the reason why Zoroastrians from India stayed in Azerbaijan when they were crossing the country...where it could be more natural to worship the fire if not here...
Centuries passed...you won't see people worshiping fire at Yanardag now but you would see tourists and native people that visit Burning Mountain and places alike to watch the fire and let it mesmerize them...some people would go, look at fire, take photos etc and leave; for Azeri would be also very natural to look for a place to sit and watch the fire for awhile thinking about everything and nothing...the only thing that would be lacking for a complete happiness at that moment would be...yes...tea :)) (could be unexpected for a foreigner but veeeery natural for Azeri. You can find my other posts on tea here and here:).
Well...what might seem a bit unusual and awkward thing to do for others is quite a comfortable thing for art person...this is how I imagine Fakhriyya ended up taking a photo of an after tea ceremony in Yanardag. This is purely my interpretation of the photo which maybe is far from reality but then when it comes to art one never knows when reality gives up to imagination...
Be well...and arty :)
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Monday, July 19, 2010

Nizami Ganjavi...

There are things, events and people too grand for just a post...to talk about them in detail one would need to do a thorough scientific work...

This post is devoted to Nizami Ganjavi...one of grand figures of literature...Nizami Ganjavi belonged to XII century when people had no mobiles to communicate, computers to search for information and airplanes to travel...I can picture Nizami Ganjavi sitting calmly in his house in Ganja and creating his jewels one by one...no rush, no haste, no interruption...just him and his talent, wisdom and poetry...what a blessing...

Nizami Ganjavi is best known for his "Khamsa", five long poems, five enduring masterpieces...: "The Storehouse of Mysteries", "Khosrow and Shirin", "Leyli and Majnun", "The Book of Alexander" and "The Seven Beauties". I won't talk about these works here...I think one should "talk" about these works creatively, poetically, for instance creating ballets based on these stories as Qara Qarayev did creating his ballet "The Seven Beauties"...I would just say that if Europeans remember Romeo and Juliet story of Shakespeare seeing someone deeply, truly and madly in love...then Azeris and many other people in the East would remember Leyli and Majnun written by Nizami Ganjavi...

Six years ago my husband and I met a professor in British Library who was writing a book about Nizami and his works. When I noticed her book I exclaimed with excitement: "oh, I come from the same country as Nizami..."...and she said "well, he wrote in Persian so for us he is a Persian poet"...I started to tell that he was born and comes from the city in Azerbaijan, Ganja...that he was/is Ganjavi etc, etc...but didn't seem to convince her very much...did I have to...I don't know...I am free to think that he was Azeri :)...people like Nizami belong to the whole universe anyway...all we can do is read and enjoy his poetry and share the pride...
Be well :)

Artistic portrayal of Nizami Ganjavi on a carpet...
Nizami Ganjavi monument in Baku...created by sculptor Fuad Abdurahmanov (who was originally from Sheki) in 1949.
Bahram Gur, sculptural fountain, considered as first one in Baku is devoted to epic hero of Nizami Ganjavi's "The Seven Beauties". Created by sculptors Albert Mustafayev, Qorxmaz Sucaddinov and Aslan Rustamov (my father in law) in 1960s.
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Friday, July 16, 2010

Shirvanshah Palace the landmark of Baku...

Going back to my previous post on landmark of Baku, Maiden Tower (Qız Qalası) I need to mention another important historical landmark of our capital...Shirvanshah Palace that dates back to XV century....
Shirvanshah Palace was built during the rule of Shirvanshahs in Azerbaijan (861-1538) when capital of Shirvanshah was moved from Shemakha to Baku.

Palace of course shared hard times of Azerbaijan...museums and art struggle and thrive together with countries you see...Nonetheless broad walls of Shirvanshah Palace stood proudly to all mischief of history and reached XXI century to witness Azerbaijan of today that is able to protect its heritage and pass it with care to future generations...

Recently pieces that were kept in fund of the Palace were put on display and walking through the rooms of the Palace is even more interesting and educational now...For some reason I also have a feeling that exhibits "live" if they are displayed and viewed...in return they breathed new life into the Palace and take the visitors to more ancient times of Baku and Azerbaijan in general...

Enjoy the tour...
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