Rubaba Khalil qizi Muradova ( az, Rübabə Muradova), born Rubaba Ishragi (21 March 1930 – 28 August 1983), was an

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

and

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

i opera ( mezzo-soprano) and folk singer. She graduated from the Zeynalli College of Music in Baku and worked at the Azerbaijan State Opera and Ballet Theatre, where she started in 1954. In 1971, Rubaba Muradova became the

People's Artist People's Artist is an honorary title in the Soviet Union, Union republics, in some other Eastern bloc states (and communist states in general), as well as in a number of post-Soviet states, modeled after the title of the People's Artist of the U ...

of Azerbaijan.

Early life

Rubaba Muradova was born to a family of a cleric in the

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

ian city of

Ardabil Ardabil (, fa, اردبیل, Ardabīl or ''Ardebīl'') is a city in northwestern Iran, and the capital of Ardabil Province. As of the 2022 census, Ardabil's population was 588,000. The dominant majority in the city are ethnic Iranian Azerbaija ...

. In 1943, she moved to then Soviet Azerbaijan, and settled in the city of

Ali Bayramli ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...

. Since age 17, she acted in various roles at the local theaters.

Career

In 1950, a troupe from Baku was touring the region. During the tour, an actress for one of the main roles got sick, and the head trouper agreed to replace her by Rubaba Muradova for one night. Despite poor performance (according to Muradova herself), she was successful mostly due to her vocal improvisation of the role. She then was invited to move to Baku to pursue a degree in professional singing. In 1953, she graduated from the Zeynalli College of Music in Baku, where she was taught by prominent

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

Seyid Shushinski Seyid Shushinski ( az, Seyid Şuşinski), born Mir Mohsun Seyid Ibrahim oglu Shushinski (12 April 1889, Horadiz – 1 November 1965, Baku), was an Azerbaijani khananda folk singer. Early career He was born in the small town of Horadiz, near pres ...

. She started working at the Azerbaijan State Opera and Ballet Theatre in 1954. Her most famous role was that of Leyli in

Uzeyir Hajibeyov Uzeyir bey Abdulhuseyn oghlu Hajibeyov ( az, Üzeyir bəy Əbdülhüseyn oğlu Hacıbəyov; russian: Узеир Абдул-Гусейн оглы Гаджибеков, translit=Uzeir Abdul-Guseyn ogly Gadzhibekov; September 18, 1885November 23, 19 ...

's ''Leyli and Majnun'' (1908). Muradova's lyric improvisations are remembered for their emotional qualities that would often bring people in the audience to tears. Her colleagues explained this such emotional singing by the difficulties Muradova experienced in her personal life, particularly her being homesick for

and not being able to visit it because of the closed Soviet-Iranian border.Craving for Bilberries
by Sadig Garayev. ''Dövlət Gömrük Komitəsinin qəzeti''. 6 May 2006. Retrieved 28 July 2007

Awards

In 1971, Rubaba Muradova became the

People's Artists of the Azerbaijan SSR People's Artist of the USSR ( rus, Народный артист СССР, Narodny artist SSSR), also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to artists of the Soviet Union. Nomenclature and significa ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muradova, Rubaba 1930 births 1983 deaths 20th-century Azerbaijani women singers Iranian opera singers People from Ardabil People's Artists of the Azerbaijan SSR Iranian emigrants to the Soviet Union Soviet Azerbaijani people Mugham singers Iranian Azerbaijanis