IN THE CONTEXT OF THE SKY, OR, UNISON OF THE FLYING GAVALS

A few days ago, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev issued a directive to award the 2010 State Prizes for science, culture and literature.  Among the winners of a State Prize in the field of culture is our famed xanende, People's Artist of Azerbaijan Alim Qasimov, who recently played solo concerts in Baku.  The "golden voice of Azerbaijan" gave two performances in his native land - at the Mugham Theatre and at the Heydar Aliyev Palace.

Sitting in the lotus position, all compact, he seemed to concentrate the Universe in his body, with his flying qaval as the Sun...

Sur

Alim Qasimov's concert is an invitation to travel to our roots; or escape into the subconscious. Anyway, one has to sense the mystery, without attempting to understand it.  He is one of those who surprise us; in a big way.  There are many people who try to achieve this but, for some reason, they fail to impress the world with their talent.  To be liked all over the world, to make the West fall for you - only a few people can accomplish this.  People like Alim Qasimov.  It takes something -- a "special, planetary scope," a "particular cosmic psychology"....  And your heart must beat with the pulse of the Earth....

His art is a daring, shocking invasion, brought to life by methods which cannot be explained logically, taking the world back to its primordial origins.  Alim Qasimov is a uniquely cathartic reference point in our culture.  A squall of energy which, when it reaches the audience, sweeps away all barriers - linguistic, ideological, psychological and mental.  He sings and people unite, regardless of their place or success in life.  He sings, transforming peoples of different regions and races into residents of our only planet....

The quest to "conquer" an audience, which is almost mandatory for other performers, is alien to him, and the question of whether you believe him or not is simply never asked:  from the very beginning of a concert, you are inexorably drawn into the sphere of Alim's perceptions and principles, into the spontaneously interwoven system of laws and rules he creates - and you will be guided by those rules long after it ends.

Alim's theatre - the theatre of his feelings, his psychodrama - is both impulsive and mysterious.  You have to see how he sways from side to side before every solo, as if working himself into a trance, tuning himself.  These tense, rhythmical, body movements precede every performance and resemble the movements of a shaman who works himself - and you - into rapture.  I like people with an inherent sense of protest.  I like provocative people.  Art, if you think about it, is an act of provocation.  It is when the creator - the writer, the artist, the singer - is trying to provoke the reader, the viewer or the listener into his pathless reason, often making them question what seemed certain before.

Which is what Alim does, to be sure.

And I also like it when there is a labyrinth, when you cannot see the end.  It is a great joy to meet such people - unpredictable, multi-semantic, provoking you into endless questions.

A genius...  Alim Qasimov is the first artist to earn this epithet while still alive - traditionally, these types of compliments are bestowed only sometime later in Azerbaijan...  But people are not reluctant to use this epithet when talking about him.  It makes no sense to be too cautious.  Otherwise how can we explain the fact that his CD topped the music charts, beating all world records, February 2000 was declared the month of Alim Qasimov in France and, not so long ago, he received a special certificate from Japan certifying that his voice has curative properties?...

Alim's gesticulation - when the hand suddenly becomes the continuation of a vocal note, giving it the sound of an appeal to the skies.  Sometimes it seems that he extends the limits of what is humanly possible with his hands, pining within the confines of a genre, established God knows when and by whom, and presenting listeners with the gift of a hitherto unseen reality...  It is not enough to have a rich cultural arsenal, you also have to win international fame for your legacy.  His name is recognized - even a Californian taxi driver begins a lively conversation - and real communication is established; you sense inimitable respect.  So much for resonance with the Universe.

Culture is publicity for a country.  It is the best advertisement and this country has its ancient culture and unpredictably engaging modern arts.  That there are these days French performers of mugham is certainly in large part to his credit.  And the accolade from the world-famous Yo Yo Ma - "I am happy that I am Alim Qasimov's contemporary" - is precious.  The qaval went higher and higher, and elated Alim, sitting, rocking to the fast pace of a reng, when suddenly joy came, as if flying from a mountain peak.  So the Sur became a means of talking to the world and to himself.  Then his daughter Fargana joined him, so very talented and expressive on stage.

The sky and the Earth engage in dialogue.

Dialogue of spirituality - a genetic one.

Father and daughter demonstrated their mastery of all the techniques of duet singing - solitary departures into the "open cosmos," skilful duophony and unbelievable unisons - without looking at each other; how much they must rehearse to achieve this level of coordination!  The listener always takes the impression of a single organism from their performance - they sang, breathed and played the qaval in unison...  There was a synchronicity of hands and hearts, of souls...  He is certainly lucky to have this kind of daughter...  But he is also lucky for many other reasons...

"You must work hard and every time you enter the stage you think that you are doing this for the last time," he once told me.  Looking at Alim, who literally lives mugham, I thought:  Any European will beat any of us hands down in manufacturing or business.  The only thing we have with which we can rival the West is talent.  And we do rival them!  We do it, refuting the well-known geopolitical thesis by Kipling that the East and the West shall never meet.  Alim sings, and it seems that not only the West and the East, but also some other worlds have met; he sings and establishes all but intergalactic ties.

...The fiery passages, when the emotional surges follow one after another...  It seems that all obstacles to self-expression are absent, nothing contains the intuitive flight of spirit and the ability to realize it.

The flight into an area where everything is allowed!

A colossal emission of energy.  Attempts to find a key to interaction with the world - one after another.

He has no clearly defined audience.  Furthermore, at his concerts, you meet people with quite different worldviews - he finds a common denominator in his art for all the "pluralism" of opinions and views.  And his art has one unquestionable quality - to attract extraordinary people.  Insipid people will not come under his influence.

Eccentricity.  There are two kinds - feigned and inborn.  Qasimov is eccentric by nature.  This is when no matter where you are you introduce an air of slight madness.  That evening was no exception - he sang the Sur, bowed out, returned and said hello.  He said he had forgotten to greet his audience at the beginning and apologized: you somehow believe in his sincerity.  He acts absolutely in the manner that God intended him to act.  Hence his incredible naturalness.  And I remembered how once he was asked what kind of world he would like to see, or something to that effect, and he answered "The way people see it.  I am one of them."

"It has become increasingly difficult for me to sing...  And the stage sometimes seems like a gallows to me..."  You can "make it."  But you cannot "become a genius."

It is impossible.  Just as it is impossible to describe his character - controversial, elusive and, at the same time, amazingly wholesome.  I have attended his rehearsals many times and reached a conclusion that seems irrefutable to me:  a star is a talented workaholic.  When a person combines God-given talent and tireless effort.

And you also need the land - with the never-extinguished Yanar Dag.

Singing the sound, revelling in the sound, praising the sound...  The Japanese, who gave him the diploma confirming his voice's unique ability to cure, knew what they were doing (they generally are the best at realizing the benefits of everything and are never wrong).  Our life is full of stress and, as a result, of psychological traumas...

There is no room any more in our lives for reflection - a very important component of well-being which is essential for normal balance in a human being.  And mugham, even at a cursory glance, is reflection - reflection on the sound and its image.  This is where "mugham therapy" comes from.  There is something of pre-history in his presence on the stage, which appeals to people's spiritual complexion; they are products of the Universe, its inseparable components.  We have somehow forgotten this, living in our high-tech frenzied vanity, but Alim has not.  In a manner which remains incomprehensible to me, he somehow succeeds in remaining free of vanity, although he is very busy.  An irrepressible liker of extremes, he lives a full life but, at the same time...  In other words, the sense of urgency, as it were, of life, its fast-paced nature, the dynamism of the rhythm and pulse of his existence somehow coexist with enviable placidity...  The talent cannot be understood.  Simply, its wings are different, and its flight is of a different kind.  Being a fatalist, he nevertheless does not allow himself the right to idly deliberate on secret codes of the preordained, signs and messages.  He simply lives in full trust and harmony with his exceptional destiny.

"The xanende is a special kind of professional; he requires first and foremost purity of thought and high moral standards.  And it is not the voice which is the decisive factor here..."  This is another quote "from Alim Qasimov."  This conclusion falls into line with the words of another Azerbaijani - Mstislav Rostropovich:  "A conductor simply must be a good person."  The disabled in wheelchairs, who are regulars at all the xanende's concerts and who filled all the aisles in the concert hall, are the factual testimony to the words of our compatriots. I also remembered from conversations with Alim:  "The most important thing in a person is his or her ability to remain human, no matter how famous or rich he or she becomes:  that is when we can be happy.  I try to remember this."  Inscrutability and grace reigned at the scene.  The staging glowed in Eastern gold, representing an islet of universal harmony.  And impenetrable mystery.

His character is contentiously stubborn, free of compromise for expediency; even in a crowd, you can see that he is a soloist.  At the same time, the scraps of Alim's phrases do not in any way clash with daughter's constant worldview.  Participants in a performance, they do not rest calmly, passively awaiting their "turn" to sing solo - each of them experiences the other's expression on the stage as his own.  And then, pleased, they exchange that white-toothed smile, one for both.  And under the dome of creation, their two voices live...

It would be interesting to know what her children are thinking about as they sit in the front row and look at their mother - sweet-voiced and charismatic, with her own worldview - with their four pairs of eyes.

And - fantastic pleasure on the faces of the father, the daughter and all the musicians.  It is hard to imagine that all this is the result of exhausting - no fixed working hours - rehearsals.  Of the work - endlessly painstaking to a fault.  "Sag ol!" instead of "Bravo!" - he certainly does not hear this anywhere else.  They, the father and the child, holding hands, dressed in their sateen green-gold costumes, jumped onto the stage and jumped off it, like Eastern souvenir toys...

Mugham...  only the chosen few can grasp its essence.  This music certainly implies the presence in man of some "subtext", of some ethical depths, of environmental purity.  And only in this case can you count on the effect.  However, looking at Alim, and seeing the number of people he has managed to bring into his orbit all over the world, you come to a magnificent conclusion - things are not going so badly on our Earth.  It seems that many people have managed to find their way through the hierarchy of values.  Alim was clearly at his best - he was disconnected from his surroundings.

It seems that his virtuoso, frenetic improvisations are never going to end, and impromptu flashes of genius emanated from the stage as if from an invisible bag.  They were instant flashes made visible - of what was before our life and what will be after it.  A phrase, intonation, repeating continuously, tantalizingly anticipatory, gripped everyone's heart.  He almost lamented...

The voice sounded, tete-a-tete with the soul.  It was a special conversation.  At times it seemed like a prayer, and sometimes an ecstatic appeal to humanity, imploring them to hear the iniquity which had befallen his people.  And then the voice would become Voice, from which some otherworldly sounds emanated...

He was born at the right time and in the right place - God never makes mistakes with addresses.  However...  "The world is always deaf when it comes to justice," wrote one author.  And I sadly agree.

Qasimov's runs - the bogaz - sweeping one over another, like an avalanche, and we, having just begun to appreciate one of them, are captivated by the next.  And his hands produced something like sign language in the process - a thought occurred to me that deaf people can "listen" to him too.  Very precise movement, spare gestures and yet, an accurate depiction of the melodic phrase pattern, in all its refinement.

Singing in the context of the Heavens...

In the past, Uzeyir bey, the pioneer of the new music of the Muslim East, "brought" Europe to Azerbaijan.  Now Alim does the opposite.  Stunned foreigners, immersed in his element...  Stereotypical Western respectability and the always unpredictable East.  I remembered Tarkovskiy:  "It (the East - N.F.) is fully dissolved in God, in nature, in time, and it finds itself there all the time.  It can discover everything in itself."  It is as if he was writing a performance record for Alim.

...When he sings, it is as if he falls out of reality...

He sings, and you feel there is an abyss behind him.

He sings, and it seems that the Universe was mute before him...

He sings, continuing his path across the purifying desert...

The "set-design" authenticity of Alim:  here he touches his nose, touches his ear lobe, here, already breathing fast, he impatiently moves his shoulder and neck - suddenly, his collar becomes unbearably tight, and he finds his very being here uncomfortable...  As if in confirmation of the famous verse by Nasimi about the suffocating frailty and grandeur of the human spirit, which cannot "fit itself into this world"...

Alim has many achievements.  To me personally, the principal of these is that from just a background sound which accompanied my life, mugham has transformed itself, since his coming, into a part of existence, and a very important and valuable one at that.  These days, great attention is given to this sphere:  I mean the work to promote mugham by First Lady of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Xanim Aliyeva:  suffice to mention the grand mugham projects she has initiated and headed; the sheer number speaks for itself.  And this is indeed a great joy for all of us, because the information carried by mugham gradually tunes us to the essentials...  Alim has a strikingly apt description of this:  "Mugham is a spiritual food that comes from Allah."  No one would say it better!

And finally, the greatest achievement of A. Qasimov is that his art makes us more patriotic - in a genuine, burningly keen way, to the threshold of pain; when you want to kneel on your native soil and, raising your hands, thank the Almighty for being born in Azerbaijan!  Taking pride once again in your origins;  Alim gives you the reason!  Hats off to him for that...

A trail of diametrically opposite opinions follows him.  Some people admire him.  Others criticize him.  But this very diversity of opinion clearly makes the voice of truth audible.  And the truth - here is the truth:

They argue about him, and he signs, seated.

And the world applauds him, standing.

Achievements that cause the world to turn around at the mention of your name - how many people have accomplished that?  Are there many people capable of infatuating the world - multi-racial, multi-religious and not always compromising or wishing well?  Yet everyone knows Alim Qasimov - from sellers of metronomes in London (Sabina Rakcheyeva told me) to the Pope in the Vatican.  The latter now knows him in person too...

On 15 April, a concert by our xanende was organized at St Thomas's University in the Vatican.  The concert was organized with sponsorship from the embassy and the Azerbaijani Ministry of Culture and Tourism in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of the Vatican, and was described in the press as the "triumph of Alim Qasimov."

P.S.  Asking Alim about that concert did not make sense.  I knew this from past experience but phoned him nonetheless.  "I think I did not sing badly."  "But the local papers wrote that the Pope had tears in his eyes when he listened to you..."  He interrupts:  "I do not know, I did not see that.  I saw that people were applauding.  Maybe they liked it..."