THE CHARM OF "SARI GALIN"

At times, against the backdrop of the big events in the life of society, we do not notice the small things that are happening around us, but are significant in popularising the country and people. Small feats, figuratively speaking, often remain in the shadows. We would like to tell you about one of them.

Immediately after the summer holidays ended, by pure fortuitousness, through one of the readers of our magazine, we had the good fortune to learn about an interesting event - a 16-year-old Azerbaijani performer, a pupil at the special music school attached to the Uzeyir Hacibayov Baku Musical Academy, Jasmin Seid Medghalchi, had taken first place at the International Young Performers' Baltic Voice 2015 contest in Lithuania in June with the folk song "Sari Galin" [Blond Bride].    

Engaged to singing

The local media did incidentally give extensive coverage to the song contest in Romania, in which Jasmin took part, but occupied second place. This happened after the Baltic Voice 2015. But the contest in Lithuania remained unnoticed. She did moreover sing this song for the first time in April 2015 in Latvia when she took part in a singing competition (winning a special jury prize and an invitation to an International Competition in Georgia in November) and then in Juodkrante in Lithuania in June.

Singers from Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, Estonia, Georgia, Great Britain, Malta, the USA, Ukraine, Armenia and other countries took part in this competition. What is interesting is that the chairman of the jury was a representative from Armenia. The contest programme for the young performers consisted of two rounds. In each of them they had to perform one world-wide hit. As a result of both rounds, Jasmin took first place by the unanimous and unreserved decision of all nine members of the jury (three of whom were of Armenians).

Jasmin went on to the youth contest in Romania. There, in the open air, in the town of Gura Humorului, the annual international Euroritm-2015 festival was held. In the first round Jasmin sang the song in her mother tongue, in the second round she sang a world-wide hit. The outcome of the first round was that the young singer from Azerbaijan received the maximum number of votes for her performance of "Sari Galin". Her vocal interpretation evoked such admiration that one of the members of the jury, a Romanian, a Romanian radio producer called Lasi George Vanvu, stated with undisguised enthusiasm that he was prepared to listen to "Sari Galin" sung by the Azerbaijani singer every day.

He asked her teacher, Dmitriy Babayev, to send him a recording of this version of the performance. It is pleasing to think that the song may be being played on the radio in Romania today! In the second round she performed a world-wide hit. According to the rules of the contest, the song needed to be combined with an additional dance routine. But Jasmin does not like combining singing with any kind of dancing. Therefore, she simply sang. The irreproachable vocal performance was unanimously noted by the jury, but the refusal to accompany the song with a pointless dance routine moved our performer into second place. But it would seem that this act by our budding singer evoked respect. Her coach possibly backs her up in that.

In Romania, the member of the international jury, the singing coach from the Baku Music Academy, soloist of the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Society, Dmitriy Babayev, was awarded the festival's diploma in the category "For fairness, unbiasedness and professionalism". The Euroritm-2015 festival contest ended with a big gala concert, in the finale of which the melodies of the countries taking part in the festival were played by the state orchestra of Romania. The Azerbaijani folk song "Lachin" was yet another vivid confirmation of the national uniqueness of the people of the ancient Land of Fires.

Harmony in the soul

Will Jasmin link her fate with a career in singing? Possibly, if it were not for Jasmin's penchant for being interested in other things. You see, everything began as it does for many Baku children. Noticing her daughter's inclination for music, her mother took her to the Children's Special Music School attached to the State Music Academy. The little girl has been studying the piano for 10 years now. But in the sixth class, much to everyone's surprise, Jasmin stated that she wanted to study singing as well. Her parents, like her coach, did not object. Since then the girl has simultaneously been mastering the finer points of singing, getting unbelievable enjoyment from the very process of singing itself. She cannot boast of having experience in public performances of singing in early childhood, since she has never striven to perform in front of the public.

But suddenly it turned out that she was drawn to the tragic element in song, to the lyrical and dramatic sound and to songs in general, in which there is an inner dramatic unbalance. The philosophy of man's views of life, the inconstancy of feelings and views suddenly interested her. The singing lessons became a festival of the soul for her and the means by which she helped to raise herself up, her feelings and her desires. She enjoys this process of creative improvement, but not as a way to glory and popularity. She is not convinced that singing will become the cause of her life. This is because there are many things in life that she finds interesting and that she would like to understand and master. 

Therefore in the summer she is heading to Florence with her mother where she is to study the elements of the art of design. She does not have the feeling that she needs to conquer the world. "Conquer" is a verb with too aggressive colours. She simply wants to expose her soul to this world and immerse it in what is best, what can provide the sensation of harmony. She reads [Japanese author Haruki] Murakami and seeks out the coincidences with her own sensations which help her to understand herself and other people.

She has no attachment to material things on the level of acquiring expensive items. Jasmin quietly laughs at talk of outfits and prefers to wear what gives her the opportunity to sense her very own "ego" and not be encroached upon by some kind of pop diva image. This is what Jasmin herself told Regionplus: "I don't want to sing on the stage with an audience intruding upon me, encouraging them with dynamic movements in tune with the song. I don't like that. It is important for me to sing as if I am just singing for myself, as if I am talking to my own soul, and it will talk to the spectator."

The altruist pedagogue  

Jasmin's coach, Dmitriy Babayev, is willing to support her, whatever she decides to do. "Folk songs" and "Sari galin" are among the best of our country's vocal cultural heritage. They offer plenty of scope for possible self-expression, both musical and vocal. I have created arrangements, taking into account Jasmin's vocal gifts and the peculiarities of her personality," he explained to us.

Dmitriy pays attention to each of his pupils, fault-finding and strictly keeping track of their individual development, investing not only knowledge, time and the strength of professional and pedagogical conviction in them, but a feeling of spiritual attachment. His pedagogical "script" differs from that of others in the vocal schools in that he is not trying to "drive" all of his pupils into the frame of a single style of performance. Dmitriy is not trying to purposefully "hone" his pupils into stars. That is not what is important. What is most important is to furnish them with strong professional skills, which will later help each of his pupils to define their choice of priorities in life. 

His pupils' parents say that Dmitriy is often invited to sit on the jury at various international singing contests where they value his skill and professionalism as a pedagogue, as a competent opponent and uncompromising expert. But he never talks about that, not with anyone or anywhere, nor does he strive to promote himself and fuss around to emphasise the significance of his own persona. He simply goes about his business quietly, doing what he has to do, teaching and going with his pupils to song festivals and contests where they frequently get prizes, even if they don't take first place.

The case of Jasmin's participation in various foreign contests is neither the only one nor the first one. This one stands out from the many previous ones in that the popular folk song "Sari galin" got a powerful modern make-over, without losing its original roots. It sounded so emotional, expressive and original that not only the public were enthusiastic about it, but the members of the jury as well. This is also important because today the song is competing with "neighbours", when it comes to the folk cultural heritage of the Azerbaijanis. Thus, for example, this song was recently performed at the Russian information and cultural centre by Dilya Mardanova, a student of the translation and interpreting faculty of Moscow State Linguistics University.

She arrived in Azerbaijan as a member of a Russian students' group, who had won the "Azerbaijan through the eyes of Russian schoolchildren and students" competition, organised by the Regional National Cultural Autonomy of Azerbaijanis of Moscow Province. The song was sung in the original language and made a big impact not only on the Moscow students, but also here in Baku. The girl sang in a heartfelt manner and almost without an accent. Isn't that like discovering a gift of God? Isn't that an axiom that does not require any proof?