FOR ALL TIMES AND PEOPLES

The students in the fourth year of the "Theatre and Film Acting" faculty course at the [Russian] Novosi-birsk Theatre Institute have performed the operetta "Arshin mal alan" [Azeri: Arsin mal alan; "The Cloth Peddler"] by Uzeyir Hacibayov in Baku. The production was timed to coincide with UNESCO-sponsored centenary celebration of this timeless work.

An incredibly original idea 

Why did they choose "Arsin mal alan"? Because, like so many others, the young actors could not resist the charm of the eastern music, the dances, the ingenuous main characters and naturally the na?ve story of the lovers! Incidentally, pay attention to the fact that even at that time in 1913 Uzeyir Bay was more perspicacious than any skilled producer from Hollywood! He offered an absolutely fairy-tale-like ending, what people would today call a Hollywood ending.

Well, judge for yourself: Asgar pretends to be "arsin malci" [a cloth peddler] and finds a girl to fall in love with in the house of the impoverished courtier Sultan bay, Suleyman, a friend of Asgar. He comes to the house to officially ask for the hand of Gulcohra (Sultan bay's daughter) in marriage to his friend Asgar, but he bumps into Asya and immediately falls in love with her.

And Asya accordingly falls in love with him. But Suleyman thinks that Asya is the beloved of his friend Asgar, and quietly goes away to sulk about it, not wishing to interfere in the happiness of his friend. Asgar's auntie. Cahan also visited the house and bumped into the master of the house, Sultan bay, who immediately fell in love with the little widow and was willing to marry her straightaway and kept on repeating "Three manats, some sugar and it will all be done!" But this is not how it turned out: he is prevented by that cheeky "arsin malci", who, to the bad luck of the bay, was her nephew, who was daring to offer to marry his daughter Gulcohra! Here, throw into the mix a couple of servants - Telli and Velli, who follow their masters around all the time.

In brief, the subject becomes intertwined so that it seems as if no-one will ever sort it out amidst this emotional craftily tangled fanciful plot, but everything is untangled by the composer Uzeyir bay, who sorted out all the misunderstandings and got everybody married off! This is the typical happy ending! Only the Americans thought of it much later than our Hacibayov! Since then operetta captivates people, ranging from professionals, to fans, turning life into a fanciful fairy-tale with a happy ending over and over again.

The Internet is peppered with reports that "Arshin mal alan" is constantly advertised on the theatre posters throughout the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States], even now in the 21st century. And here the Novosibirsk graduates, together with their acting coaches, stage language and dance, could not resist the charm of this operetta either. And even the work itself has begun to influence the direction of their careers. This is the 32nd time that the drama students, who have come to Baku within the framework of the "Russia-Azerbaijan" House of Friendship programme, have performed at the Slavic University in Baku, presenting their concept of the Azerbaijani classic for their counterparts in Azerbaijan to judge.

To the great pleasure of the audience easily recognisable characters from the operetta appeared on the stage. Note that all the parts in this operetta written for bass, tenor and soprano, were sung by future actors of the drama theatre. Singing is not their main subject. It is taught like all the other skills needed in acting such as speaking, dancing and movement. They were accompanied by a live orchestra of students and post-graduates from the Novosibirsk conservatoire, who also displayed their mastery of the [Azerbaijani instrument] balaban, the nagara [drum], the violin, the piano and the flute. No-one in the student audience at the Slavic University was surprised that the scenery was extremely simple just with lots of Azerbaijani carpets scattered across the stage. The actors had nowhere to hide, nor was there any reason to because really serious passions were being expressed, and the life of the residents of Susa was flying by, everything happening in accordance with the author's original idea.

The first step is the hardest

The novice actors were so sincere, natural and convincing in displaying the feelings of the characters, so professional in the performance of not only the arias, but also the speech characterising the characters, in performing dynamic dance routines, that the audience sometimes found it hard to believe that the performers were Russian and not Azerbaijani. The producer of this show had a master's degree in this subject. He creates the atmosphere of the life of the Susa [Shusha; town in Karabakh] residents, mixing scenes featuring couples with crowd scenes. 

Some male dancing or male get-togethers, against the backdrop of relaxed conversation the problems of every-day life were being resolved. The spoken language on stage was beyond reproach. When the action started, we saw Azeris on stage, speaking perfect Russian but with the accent characteristic of Azerbaijan. The specifics of the rules of correct pronunciation of the Azeri language and the Russian transcript were imitated to perfection. I don't know how the actors of the numerous professional theatres throughout the CIS work, whether they resort to this method in practising the way of speaking, but I think the graduates should have got top marks for their efforts here.

The speech and movements of Auntie Cahan were so colourful, the servants Telli and Velli were splendid, the Sultan bay, the grumbler and growler, was unique, who needed to get married in order become a good person.

Lyrical and impetuous in expressing their feelings for Gulcohra, The two remarkable acting graduates, who even now can lay claim to the roles of the main characters, Asgar and Suleyman, were lyrical and impetuous in expressing their feelings for Gulcohra. Only Asya appeared to be excessively stand-offish and telling people what to do, although this character did not spoil the overall picture. The novice actors managed to surprise the audience with their standard of professionalism and their very approach to the problem of the learning process, in which nothing is left for later and the quest for the very essence of it is an integral part of their craft. They came to us from Russia with a love of Azerbaijani cultural heritage, with an interest in the historical past and in the present.

AN EXCURSION INTO HISTORY

"I'm here (in St. Petersburg - author). On the one hand, I'm studying, on the other hand, I'm writing "Arshin mal alan". It is turning out to be a splendid operetta. The aim of my works is to bring the theatrical art in the future to such a state that we might be able to put on our productions not only in Baku, but in any other place and in every town.

…When I was in Baku I underestimated the value of my work, but here I have understood that my work will achieve great things in the future" (from Uzeyir Hacibayov's letter to his actor friend Huseynqulu Sarabski, 30 July, 1913)

Uzeyir bay is writing this letter on 30 July 1913, not knowing that the First World War would start in exactly a year's time and that he would return to Baku in July 1914 with his wife Malika. But the composer's belief that his work would "do great things" in the future was in some sense prophetic. In a very short time the operetta became popular throughout the world. It was first performed at the Zeynalabdin Tagiyev Theatre in Baku in 1918. When it was performed, the show won over the hearts of audiences in Russia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Poland,  America and elsewhere..  "In one of the New York newspapers it is reported that 'Arshin mal alan' was staged in America. This  remarkable operetta composed by our fellow countryman Uzeyir Hacibayov has also found popularity among American audiences…" (The magazine 'Molla Nasraddin', 16 February 1917)… 'Arshin mal alan' enjoyed huge success even in America. We can state with pride that we are the authors of the first opera and operetta in the Islamic world…(Yusif bay Vazirov, 15 September 1918, the newspaper "Millat").

THAT'S INTERESTING 

In 2004 a new production of "Arshin mal alan" was premiered at the Shchukin Higher Theatre School attached to the Ye. Vakhtangov State Theatre. In 2013, to mark the centenary of its composition, many professional collectives and institutions of education in Russia turned their attention to the works of Uzeyir bay [Hacibayov], confirming the evergreeness of his brilliant work. The composer's work combined western and eastern styles of music: motifs from Azerbaijani folk music were adapted to classical European traditions by the composer. Thus music specialists assert that Uzeyir Hacibayov was the founder of a new genre in music - the romance-gazelle [poems].