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Written in fRoots issue 347, 2012


NAZAKET TEYMUROVA
Mugham
Felmay FY 8184 (2012)

An opening surge of keening kamancha and sobbing balaban (Azerbaijani duduk), pattering hand-drum, the plucked wire strings of the figure-of-eight bodied tar, then in bursts a voice of immense power and passion, soaring, descending to sultry depth, rich with twisting, fluttering melisma, the instruments taking over as she pauses before the next phrases of simmering narrative.
     So begins the Dastgah Kharidj Segah, a thirty-seven minute magnum opus stringing together a varied series of mughams – ghazal lyrics sung with the freedom of improvisation to particular modes – punctuated by instrumental sections.
     Talk of mugham can turn academic and tad dense, but, as with any other music with a long history and much said about it, when done with true feeling it rises above all issues of understanding or point-scoring. Nazaket Teymurova is a magnificent, utterly world-class singer, and it doesn’t take any knowledge to hear this as great straight-to-the-heart music.
     The dastgah takes up over half the CD, and it’s good to take a pause after the splendour of its rendition by Nazaket and her band of top Azerbaijani musicians, including Aliagha Sadiyev on tar and Elnur Makayilov and on kamancha.
     It’s followed by a masterly tar solo, then two more tracks in which Nazaket is accompanied by a slightly different, larger group adding kanun, ud, shawm and extra naqara drums.
     Italian label Felmay, in making this first official release of Nazaket Teymurova in western Europe, describes her as ‘one of the great voices of Central Asia”. And she is. No more words to drag it down; just listen.

www.felmay.it


© 2012 Andrew Cronshaw
 

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