Alim Qasimov

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Alim Qasimov is an Azerbaijani singer and one of the most important singers of mugham, the classical vocal repertoire of Azerbaijan. He was born in 1957 in the village of Nabur near Shamakhi, about a hundred kilometres north of Baku. His family worked on a Soviet collective farm. His father made him a simple drum from a window frame and goat's stomach lining. He began singing at religious gatherings and at twenty-one went to the music school in Baku.

Music and breakthrough

Under Soviet rule mugham received little support. In 1983 he won a national singing competition. He then won prizes at the UNESCO symposia of 1983 and 1987. In the 1990s he toured Iran, Brazil, the United States and Europe, among other places. At a festival in France he met Jeff Buckley, with whom he sang a duet that appears on Buckley's Live à l'Olympia. In 1993 he became People's Artist of Azerbaijan and in 1999 he won the IMC-UNESCO Music Prize. He recorded nine albums, three of them with his daughter Farghana Qasimova, such as Love's Deep Ocean from 2000.

Influence

His style is based on improvisation, and he also took over elements from ashiq, a rural singing tradition. The qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was a great inspiration to him. The New York Times called him one of the greatest singers alive. In 2012 he sang along at the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku. He made the old form of mugham sound like a living, personal art.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1989Anthologie du Muğam d’Azerbaïdjan, vol. 2
• 1993Azerbaïdjan
• 1998Azerbaijan: L'Art du Mugham
• 2000Love’s Deep Ocean
• 2003Azərbaycan Muğamları
• 2007Music of Central Asia, Volume 6: Spiritual Music of Azerbaijan
• 2010Intimate Dialogue
• 2010Music of Central Asia, Volume 8: Rainbow
• 2019Awakening

Mentioned in other articles

• Azerbaijani mugham GenreAlim Qasimov is the best-known singer today.

See also

• Azerbaijani mugham