Jabbar Garyagdioglu

Jabbar Garyagdioglu
Jabbar Garyagdioglu
Background information
Born	(1861-03-31)31 March 1861 Shusha, present-day Azerbaijan
Died	20 April 1944(1944-04-20) (aged 83) Baku, Azerbaijan
Genres	Folk
Years active	1876–1944

Jabbar Garyagdioglu or Garyaghdyoglu (Azerbaijani: Cabbar Qaryağdıoğlu pronounced [dʒɑpˈbɑɾ ɡɑɾjɑɣdɯoɣˈlu]) (March 31, 1861 – 20 April 1944) was an Azerbaijani folk singer (khananda). He is known as the first khananda to perform mughamats in the Azeri language. He mostly sang in Azerbaijani and Persian. He was widely known both as a khanende and as a composer who performed both folk songs and his own song compositions, he was the author of new texts - tesnifs. His song "Baku" enjoyed great popularity in the 1930s-1940s. Jabbar Karjagdyoglu was also known outside the Caucasus. The art of the singer was admired by Uzeir Hajibeyov and Fedor Shalyapin, Sergei Yesenin and Bulbul, Reingold Glier. In 1906-1912 his voice was recorded by a number of joint stock companies (record companies) in Kiev, Moscow, Warsaw. In the Great Soviet Encyclopedia Karjagdy is called the biggest khanende, an expert in Azerbaijani folk music.

He was born in the Seyidlar neighbourhood of Shusha to a family of a dyer. His stagename Garyagdioglu literally translates from Azeri as Son of Snow-Has-Fallen. According to an urban legend, Jabbar's father Meshadi Ismayil was an extremely reserved and taciturn man and as a result, would often be asked in an idiomatic way, common to Azeri: "Why are you so gloomy? Has the snow fallen?" Therefore, he was nicknamed Garyagdi (Anglicisation of qar yağdı - "snow has fallen"). Meshadi Ismail wanted to teach little Jabbar the craft of the dyer. However, this did not happen. His son, who dreamed of becoming a singer, never learned the craft of his father. In the second half of the 19th century, most residents of Shusha were engaged in trade and crafts. But there were many servants of faith. Meshadi Ismail himself was a strong believer. He, along with his sons, took part in religious ceremonies. Despite his father's plans, Jabbar did not take up his business and decided to become a singer. His older brother, an amateur folk singer, played an important role in young Jabbar's passion for music. In 1871–1876 Garyagdioglu attended school where he took vocal lessons, studied the theory of music and the Persian language. While still in his teens, he was accepted into the ensemble of the notable musician Sadigjan. Until age 20, he performed primarily in his native Karabakh, but soon he became famous in other parts of the South Caucasus, and later would make tours to Iran and Central Asia.