A BREATH OF BAKU

With the onset of "gold" autumn and cool weather, the Golden Autumn festival, well remembered by residents of Baku from the 1970s and 1980s, finally returned to the city. The festival was very popular with the city's inhabitants and participants from allied republics. For Baku, with its fine musical traditions and the refined taste of its judges, this festival has always been a great holiday and a good school in which to foster and develop good taste in music. Even teenagers today know that Baku has always set the pace in "fashion" for the most advanced "new" music. Azerbaijanis are actually very talented people. What a voice! What a sense of rhythm! What a sense of musical harmony! Almost every third girl graduates from the conservatoire in our country. But we are talking about the Golden Autumn festival here. In those days it was a festival based on competition. But the lucky winners gained not only glory and recognition from the Baku audience, but also diplomas to confirm it. And then came the sad period when everyone forgot about music and songs. The city seemed to be engulfed in dark and hard times. Nothing but political games took place, and it seemed that there were no other problems but economic and financial ones.

Not only talented residents of Baku

Russian pop stars (and not just them) appeared here, at first rarely and then more and more frequently. The TV screens were full of numerous singers claiming to be stars who had nothing but insatiable ambition. What is so good about the TV set? If you don't like it, don't watch it! Switch it off, and that's it. But then there appeared jazz clubs where you could go and listen to music. Commercial projects followed, to hold jazz and classical music evenings attended by foreign groups. However, none of this was organised into a clear-cut programme and it seemed more like occasional events. Then finally, a number of people came together to set up the Pro-Cent production centre, uniting their creative efforts and interests. This centre will soon mark its first anniversary and already has a number of successful events to its credit. I don't know which of the employees of the centre - executive director Lubava Grineva (a former actress at the Russian Drama Theatre) or arts director Imran Agayev, commercial director Anar Alakbarov or director-general Alakbar Tagizada himself - was the first to propose resuming the Golden Autumn festivals (Qizil Payiz) which were once very popular. But the idea came at a very happy moment because these four October days (from 4 to 7 October) became a real musical holiday. Throughout these four days the Muslim Magomayev Philharmonic Hall and the halls of the Union of Theatre Actors were packed with people aged from 17 to 70. It was quite pleasing to realize once again how talented our audience is - any masterly passage, any original improvisation, any polyphony or overtone - all were greeted by the rapturous applause of approval.

On the third day, we were already shaking hands like old acquaintances. On the fourth day, it seemed to us that we were old friends. If the festival had lasted another week, we would probably have started visiting each other's homes. But the holiday ended. It ended on a hilarious and life-asserting note with the direct participation of Clive Brown and his gospel group The Shekinah Brothers, from whom our audience learnt what gospel is and what the performance of such music looks like from the side. There was no end to the audience's delight and, together with the artists, the floor was taken over, even by those well over 30, in the middle of the hall. They did not want to let the artists go. Nor did the artists themselves want to part from the knowledgeable listeners in the Baku audience. For this reason, they said goodbye three times and returned to the stage three times. Their music is based on the very old traditions of the people of Jamaica to express their love for God in dance. Put a text to it and you get gospel! It seems that everyone was delighted with this form of communication, or almost everyone. Because it turned out that not everyone was able to reconcile their conscience to a tradition which is so different from the stereotype we are used to.

Such different jazz

However, this was not the only group that the audience appreciated. The programme of the resurrected festival, which was not based on competition but united different styles and directions of modern jazz, also contained ethnic music and popular jazz-like songs, and even jazz standards, ethno-fusion and Gregorian songs. For four days, groups from Latvia (Cosmos), Azerbaijan (Arena and Qaya), Ukraine (ManSound), Belarus (Kamerata), Russia (A"Capella ExpreSSS), Georgia (The Shin), Britain (Clive Brown and The Shekinah Brothers) shook the audience with their professionalism. It is difficult to give preference to any of them, because we have to say for the sake of fairness that each of these participants was so original that it is difficult to compare them with anybody else. These groups, which are quite popular and well-known, and not just in their own countries, already have their own audience and, of course, fans. Now they have fans in Baku, too. This is natural because it is difficult to imagine that anyone could have failed to like the performance of the Belarusians or Ukrainians, or the masterly singing of the Russians… not to mention the Georgians! The adrenalin with which the sun so generously fills our blood unites them with us. The fusion style with which they have shaken Europe for many years does not seem foreign and is accepted as something normal. For this reason, when the vocalist of The Shin (which means Home - something each of us has in our heart) called Dato suddenly appeared on the stage - the audience greeted him with an ovation. You should have seen this! He first changed from a highlander in black, with Kakhetian hat, into a warrior who demonstrated his power and expressive nature to the unforgettable accompaniment of folk music, drums and guitars. Then he turned into a kinto - a recognizable and cheeky street craftsman, ready for any escapade. His every motion and gesture was based on his desire to demonstrate his own bravery. Small choreographic and dramatic tricks inside the music programme increased the emotional impact on the audience. But each of these tricks was not just a separate musical number, but part of the whole - a plastic expression of sound which concentrated the whole polyphony of the world and all the feelings that this polyphony might arouse - from passionate, expressive dynamics and hard men's protests against the whole world to the mischievous and cocky character of a person ready for friendly dialogue.

There were also the Russians, who demonstrated masterly female polyphony in singing a Georgian song, the Belarusians who imitated the sounds of tools and the environment, which were excellently improvised into songs, the Ukrainians who delighted the audience with their international songs and who sang a Qaya song in Azerbaijani at the end... In a word, the festival was quite successful.

It made a really good contribution to the cultural life of the city and the whole country. This was another act of good will. We are not closing our borders and we are ready for any friendly dialogue. Art is the shortest way to this dialogue. In this case, it was jazz. For this reason, there is hope that this beginning will become a real tradition and return to Azerbaijan its previous popularity and prestige in such events.

At the end of the festival, the Qaya group sang a song based upon Ismayil Dadasov's poem and Rauf Babayev's music, which we hope will become the anthem of the festival for many years to come. The script for the presenters of the festival concerts, Lubava Grineva and Rauf Babayev, with wonderful texts full of warmth and humour, was written by Ramiz Fataliyev. Perhaps, we have to thank all the organizations and people who strove to ensure that the festival with the beautiful name 'Golden Autumn' returns to our life and is seen as a pleasant and joyful event - a real and most importantly, friendly holiday - forever peaceful, like our hearts and intentions.