“We have reached a point where no one appreciates an artist. An artist is given 200-300 manats at a wedding, and 20 thousand manats to someone who has no art.”
Sabir Abdullayev, an educator who plays an important role in the development of young mugham performers and a master singer who represents and promotes Azerbaijani mugham in the world, told Yenicag.az these words.
He recently expressed critical thoughts about ordinary students who say “wedding school” but know nothing about such a school. The singer opposed the opinions about the singer’s growth in the wedding:
“Lately, those who sing at weddings, or rather, those who want to sing, drink from the “wedding school.” They consider themselves perfect artists. When you go to weddings attended by those who call them “wedding school,” you will not find a single Azerbaijani music. I don’t know if any of the songs played there refer to the Azerbaijani “school.”
For example, if a singer does not know mugams, he cannot go and sing at a Nardaran wedding. He knows mugam, went to school and sings at weddings. The wedding hall does not train the singer, the singer must be educated before the wedding. Let us take the Opera as an example. They say that the Opera House educates the singer. Take an illiterate man with a voice and sing in the opera “Leyli Majnun”. He will not be able to read. That is why he passed school and then went to perform at that Opera House.
You train a player and then he goes and plays football. If you can’t train fully, you don’t let him into that team. A wedding is like that, a singer grows up, goes to school, gets an education and then goes and shows his skills at a wedding. Some self-proclaimed “wedding school” beat their chests. If I ask them a question about music, none of them will be able to answer. If a wedding is a school, why can’t they answer questions about music? It doesn’t go beyond the “rakka-chukka” that everyone sings. A song is not a song, nor are the words words. But the goal is to earn money.
We have reached a time when there is no one who appreciates a good artist. These famous singers may or may not have one or two weddings a month. They are sent off with a “kiss” or with 200-300 manats. Those who have no voice and no art are given 10,000-20,000 and taken to their meetings. I don’t blame them at all. Well, they do. Because such people should be given as much money as possible.”
