Author: Turan SAKIR Baku
Our meeting with Farqana Qasimova took place while the folk singer was rehearsing for a solo concert. Not only the way she expressed herself, but her style of performance, her musical improvisation and the innovations she used aroused in me a single thought: "She's a chip off the old block". This idea probably formed the basis of most of the questions that I put to the Merited Artist of Azerbaijan, the daughter of the universally known mugam player, People's Artist Alim Qasimov.
- There was recently a presentation of your first solo album "Yalniz ona dogru" ("Only for him"). On 28 February you are to give a solo concert at the Heydar Aliyev Palace. How did you get the idea of doing two major projects in one month and was it your idea?
- The album was ready for release back in 2013. The presentation of it was delayed for financial reasons. The firm that organised the presentation scheduled the ceremony for February to fit in with their own plans. As far as the concert is concerned, my father and I began preparing ourselves for it last year. Of late our creative efforts have been taking us in another direction. We have made big changes in the concert programme regarding additional instruments. But my father said that, if that was how I wanted to do things, I should take up my daf (the percussion instrument that mugam players use to keep time) and perform. He told me I would go out on the stage by myself. It was then that it was decided to make the concert a solo one. It was not essentially intended that the two projects should go ahead in a single month. It just happened like that.
As far as the idea of releasing a disc is concerned, I myself decided to perform my songs in the way I liked. I did not include mugam in it, since mugam is extremely serious music. It would be a highly responsible task to prepare, perform and present mugam on a disc. I worked together with the arranger Rustam Zeynalli on the song 'Durnalar'. Besides this, two songs composed by me are on the album: one Turkish song 'Oxu, Alim' and another foreign song. After all the songs were ready, I asked my father to sing on the disc as well. Therefore we worked on and performed the song "'Sevgilim' by Cahangir Cahangirov, accompanied by the 'Natiq' musical ensemble"
- What are you going to do after these solo projects? Can we say that your father has left you to swim along on your own in the ocean of mugam? From now on your father will not be sitting beside you on the stage, but in the audience with us, won't he?
- Mugam really is like an ocean. But, even if I have to go it alone, my father will definitely be there by my side to keep an eye on me. He will watch over me and make sure I'm going in the right direction. When it comes to the idea that I shall always perform by myself, that's not going to be the case. This is simply like a small project. To be honest, my father has always told me to perform on my own. I have performed "Cahargah", "Mahur-hind" on TV channels on my own. I have made solo appearances abroad. But I have always thought that I probably don't need to perform on my own. I have always thought that we should go down this path together. I have felt that side by side, shoulder to shoulder, we shall manage to conquer greater heights. I have no wish to do it on my own. Possibly, if the situation were different, if I were with someone else, I might have thought about it, that it was time to show what I could do. But the aim on this path is not to show what I can do. If my father had wanted to pursue this career on his own, he would never have gone on the stage with me or have shared his fame and success. In doing this, we are not talking about "me", but about "us". The fact that I am now giving a solo concert does not mean that I am parting from Alim Qasimov. This should be regarded as encouragement on his part as my tutor. He has always instructed me to try out working on my own and see what it is like for myself. He has dispatched me, like releasing a carrier pigeon, so that I can see how far I can go.
- You have been quoted on the websites as saying that Alim Qasimov is your rival , and Alim muallim regards this as a step that will promote your further progress. Why did you say that about Alim Qasimov? For everyone sees in you not his rival, but his daughter, his student and his fellow musician. Aren't you afraid you might not be the winner?
- I have also heard this quoted, although I myself have never said it. On the contrary, my father has always said that Farqana is not my fellow musician, but my rival, my opponent. I have never thought anything like that. I love my father with all my heart. I care about him, and he cares about me. At some point, I might decide not to work with my father any more, and then they will say that I perform like Alim Qasimov. Alim Qasimov is the heart beating in my chest, the air that I breathe. But in no way is he my rival. There is something between a father and daughter that is absolutely out of this world.
Since you yourself have chosen Alim Qasimov as your own peak that you want to aim for, can it be said that Farqana Qasimova is striving to become the "Alim Qasimov" of female mugham players
Yes, I'm aiming for those heights. This is precisely why I am learning from my father. In whose footsteps should I follow in mugam? Naturally in those of Alim Qasimov. If Alim Qasimov comes to mind when referring to the heights of mugam, it is his manner of performance, his innovative style, his energy, the unusual nature of his playing that is recalled, so it is his descendent, no matter whether male or female, who should follow his path. This is because there is a person who is always at his side, soaking up all his creative force, just like a sponge, and that person is me. So, the concept of male and female needs to be ignored on that path, once mugam, the love of it, performing it, promoting it and serving it becomes the chosen goal.
- There are many mugam players in Azerbaijan, but only Alim Qasimov with his unusual manner of performance has managed to cause an international revolution, so to speak. What is your target audience, the audience at home or abroad?
- Naturally, I play for the audience at home. When playing mugam, my father is first and foremost playing not to the audience but to his inner world. After that, he starts to play mugam for the audience from the depths of his soul. He is absolutely devoted to Azerbaijan of course. When he goes abroad, he is precisely combining his own love with his love for Azerbaijan. In that I am like him as I am in all other things.
- In one of your interviews you said that those who couldn't stomach your father's successes were trying to block your career. Can we regard the solo concert as a message to these people?
- There are people who do not like my father, but this does not mean that they do not like his performances. It is just that there are elements of a different kind in my father's creative work. He has managed to demolish some stereotypes and introduce many innovations into mugam. Therefore some people are jealous of him. When I let slip a few words about that, my father explained to me that we need to have a tolerant attitude towards them. They have been the great masters of their age. And the fact that someone has turned up who has destroyed what they have created, has evoked in them a certain feeling of discomfort. It should not be referred to as envy. These things happen throughout life. But in my own case, such things don't happen, since all the heated arguments have been aimed at my father. And everything that has been said is a thing of the past. That soil has already been watered by the rain and the soil there is already been carpeted with green grass. This solo concert is placing huge responsibility on me.
- Has it ever happened that you have become completely confused on the stage, hoping for the support of your father, hoping that he would save the day?
- No, if we are on the stage, then we try to keep going right to the end, doing everything we are capable of. When my father is by my side, I am very confident. Sometimes he gets angry with me because I'm like that. When I say that he is by my side and will tell me what to do, he does not agree with that. He wants me to inherit his creative abilities. This is why he is demanding so much from me, even if God were to let him live till he's a hundred. But that is only a stage. My father wants to be confident that his mugam and the path he has taken are in safe hands. He feels really anxious about mugam.
- But Alim muallim has other students too. Why is he just relying on you?
- Yes, he does. For example, Zabit Nabizada. But he has only taken the past on board and that's where he has come to a stop. That was when my father stopped going to folk festivals. They even started to call Zabit muallim "bala Alim" ("Alim junior"). But my father never stopped moving on and progressing. In this I was always at his side because I was enchanted by this world.
- What are you going to play at the concert? What can the audience expect?
- In that sense, I'm like my father. I'm afraid to talk about it much beforehand. But after the concert, I shall speak confidently about everything. The only thing I will say is that there will not only be mugam at the concert, but mugam, original songs, including my own and turku [Turkic folk music]. And there will be jazz in the compositions, albeit somewhat veiled. You see, I have always loved jazz, right from childhood.
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