2020-09-18 Fri

National Music Day is one of the national working holidays in Azerbaijan. It's annually celebrated on September 18, on the birthday anniversary of Uzeyir Hajibeyov, the father of Azerbaijani music.

Uzeyir Hajibeyov has made important contributions to the development of national Azerbaijani music. He is known as the author of the Azerbaijani anthem during the Soviet period and he became the first composer of an opera in the Islamic world.

His first opera Leyli and Majnun was based on the tragic love story, written by the 15th-century poet Fuzûlî. His opera reflected traditional modal music of mugham (one of the folk musical compositions from Azerbaijan), incorporated into a Western genre, and used the instruments indigenous to both traditions.

National Music Day was officially established in 2008 and it was dated to the anniversary of the first performance of Leyli and Majnun in 1908. Same year i.e. in 2008, the country issued a commemorative coin of 100 Manat Dedicated to Uzeyir Hajibeyov.

Image Courtesy: azerbaijans.com