Culture of Azerbaijan

Palimpsest in the Caucasian Albanian language

Caucasian Albanians are believed to be the earliest inhabitants of the land, north of the Aras, which is present-day Azerbaijan. Early arrivals included the Iranian Scythians during the 9th century BC.[1] The South Caucasus was conquered by the Persian Achaemenid Empire around 550 BC. Zoroastrianism was already prevalent among the Medes in the lands surrounding the Aras. The Achaemenids were defeated by Alexander the Great in 330 BC. After the fall of the Seleucid Empire in Persia in 247 BC and its succession by the Parthian Empire, the Caucasian Albanians established a kingdom in the 1st century BC and remained largely independent under Parthian rule until the Sasanian Empire made the kingdom a province in 252 AD.[2][3] The Arsacid king Urnayr adopted Christianity as the state religion in the fourth century, and Caucasian Albania was a Christian state until the eighth century.[4][5] Sasanid control ended with their defeat by Muslim Arabs in 642.[6]

Arabic inscriptions on the surviving Gate of Ganja

For centuries before Islam arrived in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia, the region was under Sassanid Iranian rule; before that, it was ruled by Parthian Iranians. Muslim Arabs defeated the Sassanids and the Byzantine Empire as they marched into the Caucasus. They made Caucasian Albania a vassal state after Christian resistance, led by Prince Javanshir, surrendered in 667. Between the ninth and 10th centuries, Arab authors referred to the region between the Kura and Aras as Arran.[lower-alpha 1] Arabs from Basra and Kufa came to Aran, seized lands abandoned by the indigenous peoples, and became a land-owning elite.[7] Despite pockets of continued resistance, most inhabitants of Azerbaijan converted to Islam. During the 10th and 11th centuries, the Kurdish Shaddadid and Rawadid dynasties ruled portions of Aran.

The Seljuk Empire may have been more pivotal than Azerbaijan's Arab conquest, since it helped shape the identity of modern Azerbaijani Turks. After the decline of the Abbasid Caliphate, Azerbaijan was ruled by the Iranian Sallarid, Sajid, and Shaddadid dynasties. At the beginning of the 11th century, waves of Oghuz Turks arrived from Central Asia. The first ruling Turkic dynasty was the Ghaznavids, from present-day northern Afghanistan, who took over part of Azerbaijan by 1030. They were followed by the Seljuks, a western branch of the Oghuz, who conquered Iran and the Caucasus pressing on to Iraq and overthrowing the Buyid dynasty in Baghdad in 1055.

Shīrwān Shāh,[8] or Sharwān Shāh,[8] was the title in medieval Islamic Azerbaijan for the ruler of the Shirvan region.[8] The Shirvanshahs established a dynasty which ruled Aran and parts of Dagestan,[9] in addition to Shirvan, and was one of the Islamic world's longest-lasting dynasties.

Shah Abbas I at a banquet

The Safaviyeh was a Sufi religious order formed during the 1330s by Safi-ad-din Ardabili (1252–1334), for whom it was named. The order converted to the Twelver branch of Shia Islam by the end of the 15th century. Some Safaviyeh, notably the Qizilbash Turks, believed in the mystical and esoteric nature of their rulers and their relationship to the house of Ali and were predisposed to fight for them. The Safavid dynasty claimed to be descended from Ali and his wife, Fatimah (daughter of Muhammad), through the seventh Imam Musa al-Kazim. The Qizilbash increased in number increased by the 16th century; their generals were victorious against the Ak Koyunlu confederation, and captured Tabriz. Safavid Iran, led by Ismail I, expanded its base, sacking Baku in 1501 and persecuting the Shirvanshahs.

The region of Aran had been under Persian-based empires for millennia; the last one was ruled by the Qajar dynasty. After its defeat by the Russian Empire, Qajar Persia signed the 1813 Treaty of Gulistan ceding Aran, Dagestan and Georgia to Russia. Local khanates, such as those in Baku and Ganja, were abolished or accepted Russian rule. The 1826–1828 Russo-Persian war began with a Russian defeat but ended with a crushing loss for the Iranian army. The Russians dictated the terms of the 1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay, in which the Qajars ceded their remaining Caucasian territories. The treaty established the borders of Tsarist Russia and Iran, dividing the Azerbaijani people between Iran and Azerbaijan. The region was known as Aran until 1918, when the Musavat Party renamed it Azerbaijan in accordance with its historic Iranian name. In the Russian-controlled territories, two provinces were established which later constituted most of the modern republic: Elisavetpol (Ganja) in the west, and Shamakha in the east.

After the Russian Empire collapsed in 1917, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was founded in Tbilisi on May 28, 1918 following an abortive attempt to establish the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic with Armenia and Georgia. It was one of the Islamic world's first democratic republics. The ADR extended suffrage to women, making Azerbaijan the first Muslim state in the world to give men and women equal political rights, and established Baku State University.

Azerbaijan's 19th-century architecture was influenced by the expansion of towns, the application of Russian town-planning principles and the layouts of Ganja, Shemakha and Baku. After northern Azerbaijan was ceded to Russia, theaters, schools, hospitals and houses were built during the mid-19th century. Azerbaijan's oil industry began to influence the country's architecture, as Baku was becoming one of Russia's largest cities.

The first stage of Azerbaijan's architectural development during the Soviet era was related to the construction of the settlements of Binagadi, Rasulzade, Bakikhanov, Montino and Mammadyarov around Baku. Settlements in Absheron Rayon were the first examples of Soviet architecture.

A number of schools were built in Baku and other Azerbaijani cities between 1933 and 1936. Four-story buildings, designed by S.Dadashov and M.Useynov in Baku and other cities, are distinguished by their expressiveness. Classic forms, combined with national architecture traditions, are typical of the projects.

Neft Daşları (also known as the Oil Rocks), a steel-pillar settlement in the open sea, heralded a new era of post-war architecture. Built in connection with the discovery of rich oil fields in the Caspian Sea in 1949, it includes houses, cultural objects and overpasses.

A new period of town-building and architectural development began in Azerbaijan during the 1960s. Baku (the capital) expanded during the decade, and the city's architecture defined its image.

Cut pomegranate

The annual Goychay Pomegranate Festival, usually held in October, features pomegranates from Goychay District, a parade, and traditional Azerbaijani dances and music.[11]

• Abayi (Azerbaijani: Abayı) is an Azerbaijani dance originating in Shaki and Zaqatala Rayon. The dance explores middle age; middle-aged people in the region are called Abayi, and the dance is generally performed by middle-aged men and women.[14]
• Agir Karadagi (Azerbaijani: Ağır Qaradağı; "heavy Karadakhi") is a melody for a dance which was created in Karadakh. Popular in Shaki and Zaqatala Rayon, it is played slowly.
• Chichekler ("flowers" in Azeri) is an elegant dance performed by girls in two forms: slow and fast. It was created in 1910. A group of girls collects flowers, forming circles and triangles as they dance. The music is upbeat and energetic.[15]
• Innaby (Azerbaijani: İnnabı; "name of a fruit"), performed by one or two girls, illustrate a young woman's airs and coquetishness.
• Gangi (Azerbaijani: Cəngi; "dagger", martial music) calls the people to unity, friendship and invincibility.[16]
• Lezginka (Azerbaijani: Ləzgi) is a popular Caucasian dance.
• Mirzayi (Azerbaijani: Mirzəyi) is traditionally played at weddings and performed by men and women with handkerchiefs.
• Uzundara (Azerbaijani: Uzundərə; "long valley") is an elegant and lyrical dance performed by women and popular in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. The song originates in a valley between Agdam and Prishib (Azerbaijani: Prişib) in Karabakh.
• Vagzali (Azerbaijani: Vağzalı) is danced when the bride is seen off from her family house to the house of her bridegroom.[17]

Late-19th-century rug market in Ganja

Azerbaijan is an ancient center of carpet-weaving. Archeological evidence indicates carpet-weaving (in addition to agriculture, stock-raising, metalworking, pottery and ceramics) dating to the 2nd millennium BC. Azerbaijani carpets can be categorized under several large groups and a multitude of subgroups. Scientist and artist Latif Kerimov classified Azerbaijani carpets into four groups, consistent with the country's four geographic zones of Azerbaijan: Guba-Shirvan, Ganja-Kazakh, Karabakh and Tabriz.

Baku carpets are known for the softness of their material, intense colors, and decoration. They have about 10 motifs (including medallions and geometrically-stylized plants), and are exported.

19th-century Gasimushaghi carpet from Şəlvə, Lachin

Ganja carpets are noted for their ornamental patterns – relatively small in number, between eight and 20 patterns. Gazakh carpets have about 16 patterns. Gazakh District, in northwestern Azerbaijan, is the best-known carpet production region and accounts for the Gazakh and Borchaly carpet groups. Gazakh carpets have a geometric ornamental pattern, with a schematic presentation of plants and animals. Ganja carpets focus on geometric motifs and the schematic presentation of plants and animals.

The Karabakh carpet, one of five major regional groups of Azerbaijani rugs, is named after the Karabakh region (present-day Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent lowland territories). Karabakh carpets have 33 compositions. Due to the specifics of local wool, Karabakh carpets are characterized by thick, high, fluffy pile and vivid colors. They are divided into four groups: with or without medallions, namazlyk, and subject carpets. In the mountainous part of Karabakh, carpets were made in Malybeili, Muradkhanly, Dashbulakh, Jebrail, Goradis and a number of other villages.

Shirvan is one of the most ancient historical regions of Azerbaijan. Carpet making of different types is a widespread craft with both settled and nomadic natives. The Shirvan school accounts for carpets manufactured in the following towns and villages of the Shirvan region: Shemaha, Maraza, Akhsu, Kurdamir. The school totals 25 compositions. The Salyan carpets, with similar artistic and technical features, also belong to this school. The Shirvan carpets are characterized by an intricate design, which depicts numerous artifacts of everyday life, birds and people.

Apart from the Epic of Dede Korkut, which may date to the 9th century CE.[19] and was first transcribed by the 14th century,[19] the earliest known figure in Azeri literature was Pur Hasan Asfaraini, who composed a divan consisting of Persian and Turkic ghazals.[20][21] In Persian ghazals he used his own name, while his Turkic ghazals were composed under a pen-name of Hasan Oghlu.[20]

Nizami Ganjavi who was born in Ganja is considered the greatest romantic epic poet in Persian literature, who brought a colloquial and realistic style to the Persian epic.[22][23] His heritage is widely appreciated and shared by Azerbaijan, Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

In the 14th century, Azerbaijan was under the control of Qara Qoyunlu and Aq Qoyunlu Turkic tribal confederacies. Among the poets of this period were Kadi Burhan al-Din, Haqiqi (pen-name of Jahan-shah Qara Qoyunlu), and Habibi.[24] The end of the 14th century was also the period of starting literary activity of Imadaddin Nesimi,[25] one of the greatest Turkic[26][27][28] Hurufi mystical poets of the late 14th and early 15th centuries[29] and one of the most prominent early Divan masters in Turkic literary history,[29] who also composed poetry in Persian[27][30] and Arabic.[29]

Detail of the façade of Ismailiya building in Baku.

Under the Soviet rule, particularly during Joseph Stalin's reign, Azeri writers who did not conform to the party line were persecuted. Bolsheviks sought to destroy the nationalist intellectual elite established during the short-lived Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, and in the 1930s, many writers and intellectuals were essentially turned into mouthpieces of Soviet propaganda.

Persian and Arabic literature have greatly influenced Azeri literature, especially in its classical phase. Amongst poets who have written in Persian and have influenced Azeri literature, one can mention Ferdowsi, Sanai, Hafiz, Saadi, Attar, and Rumi. Arabic literature, especially the Quran and Prophetic sayings, has also played a major role in influencing Azeri literature. Amongst poets who have written in Arabic and have influenced Azeri literature, one can mention Mansūr al-Hallāj who has had a wide-ranging influence in the Sufic literature of the Islamic world.

In 1875 Akinchi (Əkinçi / اکينچی ) ("The Ploughman") became the first Azeri newspaper to be published in the Russian Empire. It was started by Hasan bey Zardabi, a journalist and education advocate.[31] Starting in the 1830s several newspapers were published in Iran during the reign of the Azeri speaking Qajar dynasty but it is unknown whether any of these newspapers were written in Azeri.

In the Republic of Azerbaijan recent years, large numbers of Azerbaijani journalists, bloggers, lawyers, and human rights activists have been rounded up and jailed for their criticism of President Aliyev and government authorities.[32]

The classical music of Azerbaijan is called mugam (more accurately spelled muğam), and is usually a suite with poetry and instrumental interludes. The sung poetry sometimes includes tahrir segments, which use a form of throat singing similar to yodelling. The poetry is typically about divine love and is most often linked to Sufi Islam. In contrast to the mugam traditions of Central Asian countries, Azeri mugam is more free-form and less rigid; it is often compared to the improvised field of jazz.[34] UNESCO proclaimed the Azerbaijani mugam tradition a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on 7 November 2003. Meykhana and Mugham are one of the many musical traditions of Azerbaijan. During Mugam, the singers have to transform their emotions into singing and music. Mugham singer Alim Qasimov is revered as one of the five best singers of all time.[35] Meykhana is a kind of traditional Azeri distinctive folk unaccompanied song, usually performed by several people improvising on a particular subject. Among national musical instruments there are fourteen string instruments, eight percussion instruments and six wind instruments.[36]

Annually a cultural and musical festival that is held in Shaki, known as Mugam Festival.

The Mugham Festival was founded and is traditionally celebrated in the Azerbaijani city of Shusha. The last Mugham Festival in Shusha took place in 1988. Because of the conflict in the Karabakh region, Shusha has been occupied by Armenian forces since 1992 and all Azeris have fled the city. Today the festival lives on and has been held in Shaki since November 1994. Every year thousands of people participate in this festival.

Soviet postage stamp depicting musical instruments of Azerbaijan

Meykhana is a distinctive Azerbaijani literary and folk rap tradition,[37] consisting of an unaccompanied song performed by one or more people improvising on a particular subject. The name of this genre comes from the traditional Turkish meyhane (tavern, pub), which itself originated from the Persian words mey (wine) and hane (house).[38] Since medieval times, meyhanes were places where poets would gather exchanging verses in an extemporaneous fashion, sometimes joking and disparaging one another. At the end of the contest, the audience determined which poet had improvised the most elegant and clever verses and declared him the winner. These contests may be compared with modern poetry improvisation contests or even with rap battles.

Instruments used in traditional Azeri music include the stringed instruments tar (skin faced lute), the kamancha (skin faced spike fiddle), the oud, originally barbat, and the saz (long necked lute); the double-reed wind instrument balaban, the frame drum ghaval, the cylindrical double faced drum naghara (davul), and the goshe nagara (naqareh) (pair of small kettle drums). Other instruments include the garmon (small accordion), tutek (whistle flute), daf (frame drum) and nagara (drum) (barrel drum).

Ashiqs are traveling bards who sing and play the saz, a form of lute. Their songs are semi-improvised around a common base.

The Ashik tradition in Turkic cultures of Anatolia, Azerbaijan and Central Asia has its origin in the Shamanistic beliefs of ancient Turkic peoples.[39]

After the collapse of the Soviet Union all religious organizations fell into depression and split into pieces while the Religious Organization of Transcaucasia, Muslims headed by akhund Allanshukur Pashazade elected the sheykhulislam in 1980 intensified its operation and tried to spread its influence to the entire Caucasus under the name of the Caucasus Muslims Department. The measures to implement these attempts were undertaken at the tenth session of the Caucasus Muslims held in Baku in 1998. The opening of CMD representations in Georgia and Dagestan was one of the significant steps in this field.

Side view of the Church of Kish.

Orthodoxy is currently represented in Azerbaijan by the Russian and Georgian Orthodox churches. The Russian Orthodox Churches are grouped in the Eparchy of Baku and the Caspian region.

The Roman Catholic Church in Azerbaijan is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. It is one of the least Catholic countries in the world in terms of the number of adherents with only 400 faithful out of a total population of over seven million. About half of the congregation consists of foreigners that work as diplomats or work for oil companies.[44]

There are three separate communities of Jews (Mountain Jews, Ashkenazi Jews, and Georgian Jews) in Azerbaijan, who total almost 16,000 combined. Of them, 11,000 are Mountain Jews, with concentrations of 6,000 in Baku and 4,000 in Guba, 4,300 are Ashkenazi Jews, most of whom live in Baku and Sumgayit, and 700 are Georgian Jews.

Atashgah, a Zoroastrian Temple in Azerbaijan.

The history of Zoroastrianism in Azerbaijan goes back to the first millennium BC. Together with the other territories of the Persian Empire, Azerbaijan remained a predominantly Zoroastrian state until the Arab invasion in the 7th century AD. The name Azerbaijan means the "Land of The Eternal Fire" in Middle Persian, a name that is said to have a direct link with Zoroastrianism.[45]

Today the religion, culture, and traditions of Zoroastrianism remains highly respected in Azerbaijan, and Novruz continues to be the main holiday in the country. Zoroastrianism has left a deep mark in the history of Azerbaijan. Traces of the religion are still visible in Atashgah, Ramana, Khinalyg, and Yanar Dag.