A TRUE KHANANDEH

The famous khanandeh was born on March 15, 1919 in Chemberekend quarter of Baku, which is still full of peculiar customs, traditions, and rules. That is where he spent his childhood.

A senior family member

Hajibaba was the firstborn of Huseynali and Sayyid Fatima. He had seven more siblings, one of whom had died as a child. The rest of them have become centenarians. To feed his large family, Huseynali-kishi was carrying stones and taking the hardest jobs. Although they lived a very poor life, they had never grieved or complained their lifestyle. Both parents were pious believing that complaining about life was a blasphemy. They taught the children to be content with what they had, be grateful for small, and not blame the fate. Hajibaba’s grandmother prophesied him a future of a clergyman.

Everyone in Chemberekend knew that Hajibaba had a good voice. Since his childhood, the parents would take to mosque to call out the adhan – a call to worship from a minaret in Islam. The news has soon reached the school where he studied. Back in that time, the Soviet regime was struggling against the religion and believers rather propagating the atheism. Therefore, the fact that a pupil was visiting mosque calling out adhan could not be ignored. The teacher had reproached Hajibaba for such a behaviour. The teacher's words had greatly angered the student, who was listening to religious conversations and had close ties with religion since his childhood. He overturned the teacher's desk and left the school. So, Hajibaba Huseynov parted with school life when he was at the fourth grade.

Being the firstborn in the family meant early access to perplexities of life and its difficulties. He soon began to help his father going with him to the sea to drag goods being not strong enough physically. Then he used to train as a carpenter to have a profession.

The severe conditions of life prevented him from realizing grandmother’s dream. She was suffering because of this and shed tears complaining: “I wanted to send my child to mullah. I wanted to see him akhund of the mosque. But look what he became...”

No one in their family did sing before him. Still very young, he was occasionally humming tunes but his father warned him: “I know that you have a nice voice and that you like singing sometimes. But look, do not try to be a khanandeh...” Hajibaba was also very far from this idea.

Since childhood, he resigned to fate. He felt that everything goes as it should go. He believed that being the elder sibling puts a greater burden to him. Father's disease followed by his death had added worries to Hajibaba, which at that time was almost 22 years old. After his father's death, he had to take care of all the family. He was accustomed to work and was an excellent carpenter, for which he was highly respected in the factory where he worked. In 1943, he was summoned to the army. But shortly before the dispatch to the frontline, Hajibaba was taken off the train. He was told that he was instructed to stay at home.

The character

Once, when he accompanying his mother to the relatives, he met a girl at his neighbour’s. She was visiting her grandmother. Mehpara was a native of Karabakh. Hajibaba immediately fell in love with her and told his mother that he wanted to marry her. He was 24 and Mehpara was 19 years old. In 1943, they created a family. They did not celebrate the weddings due to war and mourning and hunger all around. Later Hajibaba Huseynov had jokingly said: “People were divorcing due to famine, and I got married.”

The newlyweds were given a small room in a family house in Chemberekend. The life was extremely difficult. Even the black bread was difficult to get sometimes. At such moments, Hajibaba used to comfort his wife: “Do not grieve, be a little patient. This is a war.  After the war, I will feed you and get you nice clothes and everyone will say: look at Hajibaba’s family”...

During 1951, the family had wonderful days. But they also had a great trouble – for many years, they were dreaming about a baby. Despite this problem, they never thought about divorce, not even a stutter. Finally, good tidings came from the niece of Mehpara, Sadagat. That is what she told us: “When I was a kid, Hajibaba Huseynov would not allow me call him ‘dad’, as other used to say. He asked me to call him “agha”, as once he used to refer to his father. When I was in high school, he would come to me from the school. My classmates would always telling me that my grandfather came. There was quite an age difference between us. But I was not embarrassed at all and would call him my father to surprise my classmates”.

Sadagat-khanim said that Hajibaba Huseynov was very jealous: “Sometimes he would tell me about the first years of his family business. The father was really jealous. He would say that he was young wanted to subordinate his wife to his own will. He remained the same until the end of his life. He would not allow me even to talk with my cousin”.

Jack-of-all-trades

He was a kind, vulnerable but at the same time a formidable person. He was adamant and did not like repeating the said.

He grew up in a place like Chemberekend. From Sadagat-khanim: “My father was friendly. He did not like drinking or going to restaurants. He had always brought visitors home. He had not let anyone to leave our home hungry. He also would like collecting his guests at our house on the countryside”.

Everything happened the way he had promised. He became the renowned khanandeh in Azerbaijan, taken part at many wedding parties. He was earning well. However, even if he had not become a khanandeh, he could provide for his family the way he wanted. Hajibaba wasa jack-of-all-trades due to education provided by his parents. The most important thing for him was honesty. It did not matter what to do. For him, it was important that his family was satisfied. He even told his wife that if someday he would lose his voice, he could become a porter.

When he was a carpenter and could barely earn for living, he had looked for other opportunities to provide for his family. But even then he had not thought to become a khanandeh. Later he said: “I have got a voice and what? I could not believe that I would become a khanandeh”.

Hajibaba’s relative, an accordion player Teymur Damirov would be taking him to weddings. At first, he was not singing, but performing on naghara. He did it for the sake of the family's material well-being. He had not taken any naghara class before. Gradually, he would be more involved in performing at wedding ceremonies than carpentry.

At weddings in Baku villages, some heard that he had a good voice, and he was asked to sing. Sometimes he would perform several songs and mughams. Later he recalled those days: “I was shy. I could not sing in front of Zulfu (Adigozalov), Sayyid, Khan (Shushinski)”.

But the number of fans of Hajibaba Huseynov has been steadily increasing. The war was coming to an end. One day his sister-in-law, the famous singer Sara Gadimova, visited them. Mehpara-khanim said to her that Hajibaba had a good voice too. After insistent requests of Sara-khanim, his wife and mother, Hajibaba sang. When finished singing, he saw that Sara-khanim was crying. He jokingly asked if that was his song that made her cry. Sara answered: “Haji, you're a true khanandeh”...

A different voice

Sara Gadimova has told the tar player Akhmedkhan Bakikhanov and the composer Jahangir Jahangirov about her brother-in-law. They listened to Hajibaba Huseynov. His voice was average. But it was impossible to listen to his performance quietly. That voice seemed to take the listeners to other dimensions. From that day on, Hajibaba Huseynov left nagara aside and became a khanandeh. He used to sing in Akhmedkhan Bakikhanov’s ensemble and at wedding parties.

He did not study to become a khanandeh. He was just watching and listening to others. As recalled by Sadagat-khanim: “My father has told me that sometimes when he sang, Zulfu Adigozalov would be laughing at him saying: “You sing like me.” But over time, he started to charm the hearts of the audience with his incomparable performance. Whatever work he had to do in life, he would always master it to perfection”.

He had been writing poems, ghazals, mukhammas since the young ages. He was an avid reader, particularly focusing on ghazals. He loved Seyyid Azim.

Hajibaba Huseynov was not thirsty for fame. He was alien to the pursuit of glory. From the memoirs of Sadagat-khanim: “Once he told me that if it was not the war and the difficulties of that time, he would not go to the art. Not because he did not like it. He had his own style. He performed only songs that match his manner of singing. He was able to perfectly perform the ashug song by Ashug Aly “Nə qaldı”, but he believed this was not his song. He loved “Qara tellər” but would never sing it since it was “a trademark” of Bulbul. Now, some singers perform my father's songs as they wish. Bahram Mansurov and Talat Bakihanov initially accompanied my father. They used to perform at concerts and wedding parties. Their music records are still stored at the state radio. They also performed for the television. One of the khanandeh was able to find his path to the studio and destroyed my father’s records in 1971. My father always had such ill-wishers”.

He knew his job perfectly. Therefore, many people envied him, but feared him and could not express their views openly. Some singers, musicians gossiped about him behind his back. He knew everything, but he never answered in the same manner.

The apprentices

Later, Hajibaba Huseynov was accompanied by Mirnazim Asadullayev and Aghasalim Abdullayev. In addition to performances at concerts and weddings, he also taught at the Asaf Zeynalli Music School. Having been trained without a teacher himself, Hajibaba Huseynov had many apprentices, however. He has dedicated his life to demystifying the mysteries of mugham art musical art to many khanandeh, who were not his apprentices at all.

He did not have any honorary titles up to 70 years being not very happy even when he received the title of People's Art Worker. He was a man content with little. Sadagat-khanim told us that in his later years, he often visited the Bibi-Heybat cemetery, which he previously visited only occasionally: “He did not feel as good as before. He stopped going to weddings anymore. One day he suddenly became ill, the doctors said that he had an ischemia. He gradually began to lose weight, then there was dyspnea. As a child, he suffered pneumonia and his lungs were damaged. The shortness of breath has gradually turned into lung cancer. He did not know about the disease. Once at a dinner party, he talked a lot and sang a little. He could not talk so much since he was seriously ill. He was discharged from the hospital just 12 days before that. He returned home late. One guy somehow managed to take him home. He was bleeding from the mouth. Using hand gestures, he asked me to bring him some water. I left him for a moment to call for a doctor, but when I returned, he had already died”.

On that day, October 24, 1993, Hajibaba Huseynov parted from this world, from those who loved him and whom he loved. He wanted to be buried in Bibiheybat. But the government has allocated a grave at the Alley of Honor. This is where the prominent singers are buried.

The mughams, folk songs, especially the tesnifs “Bərəyə bax, bərəyə”, “Qarpız kəsdim, yeyən yox”, and many others have become popular thanks to his performance. These mughams and tesnifs filled with a new spirit, a new breath by the great performer will stay in the memories of those who love Hajibaba Huseynov forever.