AN ENDLESS FAIRY TALE

Composer Rasid Safaq, an Azerbaijani honoured figure of art, was born and lives in Baku. He has authored over 20 theatre works - children's operas and operettas, musicals and vaudevilles based on the poetry of Nizami Gancavi, Huseyn Cavid, Mikayil Musfiq, Abdullah Saiq, and Ali Karim. He is not only the author of chamber, instrumental, vocal and choral works, but also a collector and restorer of children's songs. This is despite the fact that Safaq grew up in a non-musical family. However, he was surrounded by musicians. Rasid Behbudov studied in a class led by his mother in elementary school. Fikrat Amirov was a neighbour. Safaq was friends with Vaqif Mustafazada, who later performed an improvised version of his theme "Arzum". Over the years, he has written about 1,000 songs. In an interview with R+, maestro R. SAFAQ told us about his life, education and work.

- Maestro, how did you come into music and to your mission to compose it?

- Having noticed my musical abilities, my uncle, educator Cavadbay Cuvarlinski, who knew Uzeyirbay from their studies in the Gori seminary, showed me to this great man when I was five. After auditioning me, the composer advised me to do music at an older age. I only had three meetings with Uzeyirbay. The last one was not actually a meeting but bidding farewell to the composer, when Bulbul performed his song "Sansiz" by the coffin with tears in his eyes.

Since there was no piano in the house, I was admitted to cello classes led by teacher Isaac Turich and I was given permission to use a school instrument. In third grade, I wrote an elegy for solo cello and dedicated it to Uzeyir Hacibayli. Until seventh grade, I studied with Turich, then I moved to composition class led by M. Ahmadova. However, in the conservatory, I studied with Professor Qara Qarayev, and my graduation work was the symphonic poem "Dr Nariman Narimanov".

- How did the first song emerge?

- The first song was published in an insert in "Pioneer" magazine and was called "Pioneers' song". In 1956, destiny gave me a meeting with poet Abdulla Saiq, as a result of which our first joint song "Our beloved land" appeared. Later, on the occasion of the 130th birth anniversary of the poet, I released an album titled "Musical works based on Abdulla Saiq poems".

- How did it happen that almost all of your work is about childhood and children?

- Not only because I love children very much. Today's children are very clever, advanced, and interesting to communicate with. But my work, too, has always been about children's upbringing. For example, I worked in a tutorial office for children's art education at the Ministry of Education of Azerbaijan. I was one of the organizers of festivals of pioneers and schoolchildren of the republic. To hold big events like those, a lot of work needed to be done to identify the best children's choirs in the republic and organize a 15,000-strong composite children's choir to sing at the central stadium, and, in addition, to connect it all with dance groups. That was very challenging and painstaking work. For that festival, I adapted and rearranged many best children's songs, and not only those written by Azerbaijani composers. As a schoolboy, I sang in a boys' choir. All that left a trace. I also worked at the Institute for Training of Teachers. It was at that time that I wrote children's operas and they were performed in schools and culture palaces.

- Tell us more about your stage-related work

- I reworked S. Marshak's poems "A tale about a stupid little mouse" and "A tale about a clever little mouse" into children's operas. By the way, "A tale about a stupid little mouse" was staged in the Sovkat Mammadova Opera Studio under the Azerbaijani Conservatory, and then it was performed in the form of a concert by the Estonian choral studio "Spring" in Tallinn. Before that, the first performers were children who came with their parents (composers and musicologists) to the "Ruza" House of Creativity near Moscow. This opera premiered on the concert stage of the cinema there during a spring school break. Within a short period of time, grandmothers and grandfathers made masks and costumes for the young actors. It so happened that there were not enough parts to play for everyone and some even cried. But my solution was that three children, body doubles, could play one role. They were all happy this way. This opera has gained popularity and is now being prepared for a production by the Children's Philharmonic under the leadership of Dilara Aliyeva, an honoured figure of arts. You know, children are the best actors. They actually performed my first radio opera, which was based on Nizami Gancavi's "Iskandarnama", in 1966. Considering children's capabilities, I organized an opera studio at the Children's Philharmonic under school No 190 in 1970. I regularly reported about the state of affairs in the philharmonic to composer Dmitriy Kabalevskiy in Moscow, who encouraged children to be creative, and upon our invitation he even visited Baku for the Schoolchildren's Republican Festival of Songs and Dances. And the very first comic opera "The Pilgrimage of a Fox", which was based on the poem by Abdulla Saiq, was initially produced by children and later successfully performed on the professional stage of the Musical Comedy Theatre. In 1990, I managed to gather talented children aged five to 15 at the Sahriyar Culture Centre. They sang my best songs in different languages. My operetta "Caliph for an hour", based on Arabian folk tales, premiered at the Musical Comedy Theatre in 2001. It was directed by Adalat Ziyatxanli. The main part was played by Ramil Qasimov, who was 17 back then and is now an honoured artist of the republic. My work also includes productions of Azerbaijani folk tales "Magic mirror" and "Magic Ring", which were a success at the Puppet Theatre. The comedy "Adventures of the Little Rain Man", directed by the Leningrad dramatist V. Zimin, is still on at the Musical Comedy Theatre and has been filmed for Azerbaijani television.

- Did any funny things happen you?

- I grew up a very agile boy. I remember, on 1 September, children were playing by the building of the conservatory, and I was standing behind a pillar. Uzeyir Hacibayli arrived in a black "emka" [soviet-made car]. I briskly greeted him: "Salam, Uzeyir bay ami!" Uzeyirbay asked me: "Boy, how do you know me?" I was not taken aback, and said loudly: "Well, after 'Arshin Mal Alan', the whole world knows you!" So, he and I entered the conservatory, holding hands. Another interesting thing happened to Qara Qarayev. A boys' choir, of which I was a member, was rehearsing Qara Qarayev's "Pioneers' song about peace" at the conservatory. The choir was led by choral conductor A. Yurlov. We knew that the composer himself would be coming to listen. The author comes in, goes all the way through the room, goes up to the stage, sits down at the piano and plays the introduction to his song. At the flick of the conductor's hand, the choir started singing. Then, the composer turned to the children in the audience, promising them to write a series of new songs for them. Everyone applauded. The composer asked the children: "Are there any questions for me? I am the president of the conservatory. I am your guest today." I was standing in the front row of the choir by the piano. I said: "We really like your song, we want to sing it again with you." So, Qara Qarayev happily sits down at the piano again and accompanies the choir. And the entire room with all the students sang the refrain. The author left the room to a storm of applause. A lot happened, I can't tell it all.

- Rasid Safaq's songs are known not only in Azerbaijan but abroad as well. They are sung by the best children's groups - "Banovsa", "Maiden's Tower", "Qaya", as well as in Moscow. They have been posted online. And the song "Ana yurdumuz" continues to be performed in many languages of the world today - in Germany, Bulgaria, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. What happened to the famous song for the Neftchi football team?

- Something like that had never happened in music. Not aware of the victory of our football players, I took one day to write the song "Neftchi, score goals!" before they received the Bronze Cup. In the morning, it was recorded at AzTV's sound recording studio, and in the evening it was performed by the quartet "Sevil" via the broadcasting centre of the stadium that hosted the game between Moscow's Spartak and Neftchi. Our team back then won 3:0. I have two more songs about football. One is about the Turkish football club Galatasaray, which I co-wrote with poet Ali Rza Xalafli. The other is dedicated to the football team Karabakh that became the champion of Azerbaijan several years ago. It was also played at the national stadium on the day of their victory. In addition, three years ago, I wrote the music for the "Anthem of journalists", which is played on the day of press workers in the State Flag Square every year. It was performed for the first time at the opening of a residential building for journalists in the presence of President Ilham Aliyev, who handed out keys to apartments to their owners. Many of my lyrical pop songs have been performed by Sovkat Alakbarova, Flora Karimova, Elxan Ahadzada, Elmira Rahimova, Rauf Adigozalov, Cavan Zeynalli, Cafar Behbudov and other popular artists. I also wrote a one-hour long opera on the basis of Huseyn Cavid's first play, "Ana", which he wrote during his studies in Istanbul. It was performed in the Opera Studio of the conservatory and dedicated to the poet's 100th birth anniversary.

- Why do you think that composers are not turning to the children's music genre at the present time?

- The fact is that today some people believe that it is hard to write music for children, that there is no necessity and it is not prestigious. Composers of music for children are not held in particularly high esteem. Although this is absolutely not the case. Qara Qarayev said in his time that the children's music sphere is not keeping up with the times. He himself wanted to write it but did not manage it. Now hardly anyone in Azerbaijan writes songs for children. In order to write music for children, it is necessary to be in touch with their way of life, to associate with them and to be familiar with the range of a child's voice. Then it can be done. For example, I have worked with children all the time in schools. You have to write songs that conjure up images and little scenarios. Then they are accepted by children and they remember them easily. In 60 years I have worked in many schools and I have a lot of pupils.   

- What do you do at present?

 - I always write music. Since when I was 13, I have been interested in journalism and written stories about pioneers' school life and about the best musicians of this country, which have been published in the newspaper "Azarbaycan pioneri", and I have retained the skills. These skills have come in handy today on my job as senior editor of music programmes on Azerbaijani television and radio. I monitor and consult all music broadcast on AzTV. At present, I am working on an oratorio dedicated to the 19-year-old martyr poet Fuad Asadov.

- What is the most important thing you want in life?

- To tell via mass media about deceased best Azerbaijani musicians to make sure that people know and remember them.