Bulbul (22 June 189726 September 1961, born Murtuza Mashadi Rza oghlu Mammadov) was an Azerbaijani and

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

operatic

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

, folk music performer, and one of the founders of vocal arts and national musical theatre in

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

Biography

Bulbul was born in 1897 in , a hamlet in the former royal gardens between

Shusha Shusha (, ) or Shushi () is a city in Azerbaijan, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Situated at an altitude of 1,400–1,800 metres (4,600–5,900 ft) in the Karabakh mountains, the city was a mountain resort in the Soviet Union, Soviet ...

and Khankandi. His mother was from the village of Pareular, the daughter of a nomad

Kurd Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

. He was known for his musical talent since his childhood, which is why people nicknamed him Bulbul ("nightingale" in Azerbaijani). He chose it as a stage name when he became involved in professional music. While still a young

khananda A khananda ( ; ; alternative spellings in English: khanende, khanande, khanandeh) is a name generally given to singers of mugham, an Culture of Azerbaijan, Azeri folk music genre. The word is of Persian origin and means "singer". When performin ...

, he was invited to

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

in 1920 to perform the role of Karam in

Uzeyir Hajibeyov Uzeyir bey Abdulhuseyn bey oghlu Hajibeyov (18 September 188523 November 1948) was an Azerbaijanis, Azerbaijani composer, musicologist and teacher. He is recognized as the father of Azerbaijani classical music. He composed the music of the Az� ...

's opera ''Asli and Karam''. There he became acquainted with European-style opera and decided to excel in this genre. He later studied music and vocal arts at Azerbaijan State Conservatoire (now known as the

Baku Academy of Music The Hajibeyli Baku Academy of Music (Azeri: ''Hacıbəyli adına Bakı Musiqi Akademiyası'') is a music school in Baku, Azerbaijan. It was established in 1920 in Baku and was previously known as the Hajibeyli Azerbaijan State Conservatoire. H ...

), where he was admitted in 1921, as well as in the

La Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was Santa Maria della Scala, Milan, a church). The premiere performa ...

Theatre in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. In his songs, Bulbul was able to blend national manners of performance with traditions of Italian vocal school. He was also first to play the lead role of Koroglu in Uzeyir Hajibeyov's opera of the same name in 1938. Throughout his life, Bulbul was the vocal performer and the co-author of a number of songs and

romance Romance may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings ** Romantic orientation, the classification of the sex or gender with which a pers ...

s. Bulbul was also known for his music-related publications and teaching vocal arts at his ''

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

'', the Azerbaijan State Conservatoire between 1932 and 1961. He acquired a PhD degree in music in 1940. His

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

s nowadays serve as an important source for those studying

Azerbaijani music Azerbaijani music (Azerbaijani language, Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan musiqisi) is the musical tradition of the Azerbaijani people from the Azerbaijan Republic. Azerbaijani music has evolved under the badge of monody, producing rhythmically diverse ...

. Bulbul was the first musician to publish study guides and manuals used in teaching students how to play the

tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black b ...

kamancheh The kamancheh (also kamānche or kamāncha) (, , , ) is an Iranian bowed string instrument used in Persian, Azerbaijani, Armenian, Kurdish, Georgian, Turkmen, and Uzbek music with slight variations in the structure of the instrument. Th ...

and balaban, traditional musical instruments of Azerbaijan. Bulbul was awarded the highest artistic order of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

–

People's Artist of the USSR People's Artist of the USSR, also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to artists of the Soviet Union. The term is confusingly used to translate two Russian language titles: Народный арти ...

, as well as the ''"Stella di Garibaldi"'' order in Italy. He died in

. His second son Polad Mammadov also known as

Polad Bülbüloğlu Polad Bulbuloghlu (; born February 4, 1945) is a Soviet and Azerbaijani singer, actor, politician, and diplomat. Bulbuloghlu became famous in the Soviet Union with composing jazz-influenced songs with heavy Azerbaijani folk influences in Azer ...

, was from his second marriage to Adelaida Mammadova, also an accomplished singer and actress. Polad is currently the Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia.

Commemoration

Bulbul was buried at the Alley of Honor in Baku. The Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan purchased the bronze busts of Bulbul and several other famous Karabakh Azerbaijanis that had once been erected in Shusha, on the black market in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. Following the Armenian occupation of Shusha in 1992, these monuments were machine-gunned, removed from their original place and intended to be sold as scrap metal. Nowadays these monuments are preserved in the courtyard of the Azerbaijani Museum of Arts in

. In 2008 the

Central Bank of Azerbaijan The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA, ) is the central bank of Azerbaijan, with its headquarters in the capital city Baku. The National Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan was established by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaij ...

minted a 100- manat gold

commemorative coin A commemorative coin is a coin issued to commemorate some particular event or issue with a distinct design with reference to the occasion on which they were issued. Some coins of this category serve as collector's items only, while most commemora ...

dedicated to Bulbul.

Monument to Bulbul

On 31 October 2012, the Monument to Bulbul containing a statue of the singer was unveiled on Bulbul Street in

, not far from the house where the singer lived. The monument was created by sculptor Akif Asgarov. The monument's unveiling was attended by President of Azerbaijan

Ilham Aliyev Ilham Heydar Oghlu Aliyev (born 24 December 1961) is an Azerbaijani politician who has been the fourth president of Azerbaijan since 2003. He is also the leader of the New Azerbaijan Party since 2005. The son and second child of former Aze ...

, the principal of the Baku Music Academy, People's Artist Farhad Badalbeyli, People's Artist Arif Babayev, chair of the jury of the 4th Bulbul International Contest of Vocalists

Sergei Leiferkus Sergei Leiferkus (born 4 April 1946) is an operatic baritone from Russia, known for his dramatic technique and powerful voice particularly in Russian and Italian language repertoire. He is most notable for his roles as Scarpia in ''Tosca'', Iag ...

, artistic director of the contest Robert Koerner, and the singer's son,

.Ilham Aliyev attended a ceremony to unveil a statue of outstanding singer Bulbul
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Awards and decorations

*Honorary citizen of

Sumgait Sumqayit (or Sumgait; ; , ) is a city in Azerbaijan, located near the Caspian Sea, on the Absheron Peninsula, about away from the capital Baku. The city had a population of 427,000 at the beginning of 2024, making it the List of cities in Azerb ...

*Honorary artist of

(1935)

Notes

References

External links

*
Listen to Bulbul
Music Section of Azerbaijan International {{DEFAULTSORT:Bulbul 1897 births 1961 deaths 20th-century Azerbaijani male opera singers Musicians from Shusha Baku Academy of Music alumni People's Artists of the USSR Recipients of the Stalin Prize Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Operatic tenors Soviet Azerbaijani people Soviet male opera singers Burials at Alley of Honor