Habil-Sayagi (In the Style of Habil)

‘Habil-sajahy’ is a one-movement composition inspired by the art of Habil Aliyev, a famous performer and virtuoso on the kemanshah who is now over 70 years old and highly revered in Azerbaijan. The piece unfolds in several stages, in whose tonal development the traditions of the mugam art of Azerbaijan (the professional music of oral tradition) play an essential role. The seemingly free, improvisational form has its origins in the usual sequence of narrative sections (rhapsody, recitative) and dance interludes in mugam performance. The melodic model on which the composition is largely based is based on the 4th main mode ‘Tschargjach’, which in the mugam tradition is characterised by a passionate and excited mood. In ‘Habil-sajahy’, the sound colours of the national instruments are imitated in the European instruments cello and piano using various means of sound production: The cello takes on the part of the ‘kemanchah’ (spiked fiddle), the piano sometimes sounds like the long-necked lute ‘tar’ or the short-necked lute ‘’ud’ (by plucking the strings with and without a plectrum), sometimes like the 'däf', a kind of shell drum (by tremolo and stroking the strings with a rubber stick) or like the small, clay pair of timpani “gosh-nagara” (by tapping on the piano lid). (Ulrike Patow)