Azerbaijani mugham jazz - Emil & Friends

A unique amalgam of classical music, jazz and traditional Azerbaijani music, presented for the first time to the Athenian audience.

The musical genre known as mugham jazz was created in the middle 1960s in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, and has since become known throughout the world. Its founder, pianist and composer Vagif Mustafazade, combined elements of western classical jazz, already rising to popularity in Azerbaijan in the 1930s, with the melancholy melodies of mugham, traditional Azeri music, constituting an inseparable part of the cultural heritage of Azerbaijan and the Near East.

Pianist Emil Frasiyab, a worthy heir to this musical tradition, who has participated in some of the best-known jazz festivals, such as the Montreux Jazz Festival, and who has won prizes at international competitions, performs in Greece for the first time initiating us into the world of mugham jazz, through piano improvisations, accompanied by tar, oud and drums.

This concert is held to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan.