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Imamyar Hasanov

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

Imamyar Hasanov is an Azerbaijani musician known as a player of the kamancha, a round-bodied fiddle with a skin soundboard. He is regarded as one of the best-known kamancha players in his country. No further personal details are recorded in the available sources, so the text sticks to what is certain.

Music and breakthrough

Together with the tar and the frame drum ghaval, the kamancha is the core of mugham, the classical music of Azerbaijan. Together these three instruments form a trio. The strings of the kamancha are traditionally made of silk or horsehair, and the sound is soft, nasal and highly expressive. Mugham consists largely of improvisation: within a given mode, such as Bayati Shiraz, the musician builds his own melody, with long ornamented phrases and free rhythms.

Influence

The 2007 recording, an improvisation on mugham Bayati Shiraz, shows that art. For the history of pop this music matters because it reveals a completely different approach to melody. The mode is not a sequence of chords but a collection of moods, and the player has to turn them into a story in the moment. Much later world music and fusion was inspired by such traditions.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to the improvisation on mugham Bayati Shiraz and notice how the melody floats freely through time, without a fixed rhythm, with long sweeping phrases and trills on the string.

Discography

Studio albums

See also

Categories: ArtistsAzerbaijani mugham