"THAT'S A REAL ACTRESS!"

She tried not to think about her childhood. Being proud by character, she was probably afraid to fall into sentimentality. Her life was no bed of roses. Haqiqat Rzayeva was born in Lankaran on 20 May 1907. As a baby, she lost her father Ali who was known in Lankaran as a talented self-taught xananda (singer of mugham, an Azeri folk music genre) with a beautiful voice. After their father's death, the poor family's situation became even worse. The widow had to raise two sons and a daughter in poverty. She worked as a seamstress and her earnings were barely enough to get by. Some time later, Zinayat married a man named Karim who earned his living as wage labourer. In her second marriage, she had another daughter, Antiqa. 

Life was getting ever harder with every passing day and the family moved to Baku possibly just to find a better life. But after living there for a while, they returned to Lankaran in 1918. Haqiqat was 11 at that time. She did not go to school. She was busy with other things. The family had barely enough money for food. 

One happy day however, fortune smiled on the girl. One year after their return to Lankaran, the news spread that Maryam Xanim, the daughter of Teymur-bay Bayramlibayov was opening a school at her home. Maryam Hanym was walking door to door trying to talk parents to let their girls go to school. Zinayat took council with her neighbours and decided to send her girls to that school. 

With much effort, Maryam gathered some eight or nine girls at her school and started classes. Meanwhile she was faced with another problem: most girls were from poor families and badly in need of clothing and school supplies. On that occasion, a committee was organized in Lankaran to help children from poor families and orphans. It is thanks to its aid that girls from poor families got access to education. 

After finishing school in 1923, Haqiqat Rzayeva was sent by a local education department to Baku for professional training and she got her diploma as a teacher as early as in 1926. 

However her wonderful voice inherited from her father had called her for a long time to follow another path. Back in 1920, Haqiqat had been offered parts in school shows in which she had performed mugam and folk songs. "She is the spitting image of late Ali, he also had such a voice," Lankaran residents would say when they heard her singing. 

She continued to play on the stage while a student. When she was in her last year of studies, the Central Council of Trade Unions of Azerbaijan and the Union of Oil Workers opened the Damga theatre. The theatre management learned about Haqiqat's successful performance on the stage of the Ali Bayramov women's club and invited her with another two girls to the theatre. 

Her family did not know about Haqiqat performing on the stage. They thought she was teaching at night courses. Fearing her parents' and elder brothers' severe temper, she left home wearing a yashmak and took it off only in the theatre. 

While performing on the stage she simultaneously learned some necessary elements of dramatic art. Theatrical circles began to speak seriously about Haqiqat Rzayeva's wonderful voice and, one fine day, she was invited to the Azerbaijan State Opera and Ballet Theatre. Her masterly singing of mugam helped her succeed at audition and get a job at the theatre. 

In 1927, when Rzayeva came to the Opera and Ballet Theatre, there were few woman singing mugam. Although having some acting abilities, they were not very good at singing them. Haqiqat Rzayeva brought success to the Opera and Ballet Theatre and soon appeared in newspapers. It was hard for a young girl to work at the theatre in those years. The public opinion was still unprepared to see a woman on the stage; she was rebuked and it was real heroism to stay on the stage in that situation. 

The theatre was preparing a new stage version of the opera "Shah Ismayil" and when stage director Yusif Yildiz assigned the part of Arabzangi played so far by men to a young actress not yet hardened enough on the opera stage, many took that initiative with pessimism. Sceptics thought Haqiqat Rzayeva would not cope with it. To play that character, the actress would not only have dramatic mastery and a strong voice but also sword and fighting skills. 

The opera author, Muslim Magomayev, was very nervous although he saw how earnestly the stage director and the actress were working on the part of Arabzangi. Even three months of persistent rehearsals did not dispel his doubts. Nonetheless the first night was a success. The audience was in raptures over Haqiqat Rzayeva's voice and dramatic mastery.

In 1928, the young actress entered the Azerbaijan State Conservatory run by Uzeyir Hacibayov to be taught by expert xanandas such as Cabbar Qaryagdioglu, Seid Susinski and tar player Qurban Pirimov. At the same time, she was engaged in shows staged at the Baku Workers' Theatre during two years and starring at her Opera Theatre. After Arabzangi, she was entrusted the character of Asli in the play "Asli and Karam". In 1929, she acted as Leyli in Hacibayov's opera "Leyli and Macnun". The great Azeri actor Huseyngulu Sarabskiy was acting as Majhnun in that play. 

In 1927, Haqiqat married stage director Huseyn Rzayev and they had two sons and one daughter. 

When Days of Azerbaijani Culture and Art were held in Moscow in 1939, H.Rzayeva played Telli in U.Hacibayov's opera "Arshin Mal Alan" [The Clothes Peddler]. For a long time afterwards, Moscow's critics and theatrical figures would remember the silent scene where Telli steps on the stage with the broad hem of her dress slightly raised, fills with difficulty her pitcher with water from a spring and calmly walks away. 

Later on, Uzeyir Hacibayov would tell Haqiqat Rzayeva that, watching her silent scene, Stalin himself failed to hold back his emotions and exclaimed "That's a Real Actress!" 

During World War II, H.Rzayeva frequently gave concert for soldiers in the frontline zone. 

In 1953, she decided to quit the stage. The theatre director, Maharram Hasimov, tried hard to persuade her to stay on, offering to play at least supporting roles. But the actress was adamant. "Evidently she was aware that she could play neither Arabzangi, nor Leyli or Asli any more at her age," said the actress' son and renowned composer Azar Rzayev. Her character would not allow her to co-star at the peak of her fame, playing supporting roles that she had played at the outset of her career. 

Haqiqat Rzayeva spent the last years of her life working as a consultant tutor at the Opera and Ballet Theatre. She enjoyed sharing her expertise with the young.  She also taught at the Asaf Zeynalli music school. She taught Rubaba Muradova, Islam Rzayev and other renowned singers of Azerbaijan. 

Rzayeva's outstanding dramatic abilities enriched Azeri cinema with perfectly performed characters. After playing in a number of silent films, she featured in the film "Stepmother" at the invitation of film director Habib Ismayilov. Aunt Qamar is the most memorable character played by the actress in Azerbaijani films. According to the actress' son Azar Rzayev, apart from her dramatic mastery, the likeness between the actress and her character also helped her make that role a success. She was as serious and courageous and at the same time as kind-hearted and womanly. Despite her strict temper, she loved her children and grandchildren very much and was ready to sacrifice anything for them. 

In 1966, the loving wife lost her husband Huseyn Rzayev who died shortly before his 60th birthday. Three years later, death befell Haqiqat Rzayeva herself. She endured her heavy disease with the same courage as she had lived her hard life. She did not lament or complain. The doctors could do nothing to help her. The great Haqiqat Rzayeva was gone on 2 August 1969. 

She passed away leaving her name written in golden letters in the history of Azerbaijani culture.