The Azerbaijan embassy Friday organised the opening ceremony of the Cultural Day celebrations in the presence of Qatar's Minister of Culture HE Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Hamad bin Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani.
Azerbaijan's Minister of Culture Adil Karimli, ambassador to Qatar Mahir Aliyev and a number of other dignitaries from various walks of life were present on the occasion. The Days of Azerbaijani Culture, organised by the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan, concludes Saturday.
Azerbaijan State Folk Musical Instruments Orchestra and Azerbaijan State Chamber Orchestra named after Gara Garayev performed. Under the leadership of Maestro Mustafa Ashurov, the ensembles performed folk songs, works of Azerbaijani and Arab composers together with soloists.
All the performances were accompanied by a backdrop on a huge screen showing greenery, mountains covered with pristine trees, lakes, local horses, prosperous green suburbs, lakes and waterfalls, grasslands in spring with myriad flowers, colourful carpets, classic paintings, and concluded with a video of a peregrine falcon flying over the mountains to accompany the final national song about Azerbaijan deeply rooted culture.
The concert started with the performance of "Cangi" from the opera "Koroglu" by Uzeyir Hajibeyli. Later, works by Fikret Amirov, Tofig Guliyev, Arif Malikov, Rauf Hajiyev, Emin Sabitoglu, Dadash Dadashov, Alakbar Taghiyev, Hasan Rzayev, as well as Ahab Abd al-Vahed, Farid al-Afrash and others followed.
Soloists: People's Artist Azer Zeynalov, Honored Artists Nargiz Karimova, Babek Niftaliyev, Emil Afrasiyab (piano) and Chinara Mutallibova (law), as well as Peyal Azizov (balaban), Ibrahim Babayev (tar), Ali Guliyev (saz), Ilkin Dovletov, Fatima Jafarzade. , Idris Huseynov (oud), Elnur Mikayilov (kamancha) and Aytan Maharramova's performances were met with continuous applause from the audience.
Dignitaries with the artistes on stage after the concerts Friday. PICTURES: Thajudheen
