Vasif Adigozalov

Vasif Adigozalov (1935–2006) (alternative spellings: Adigezalov, Adygazal) (Azerbaijani: Vasif Adıgözəlov) was one of Azerbaijan's most distinguished composers.

Vasif Adigozalov excelled both as composer and performer. He majored in Piano as well as Composition at the Azerbaijani Conservatory (now Baku Music Academy). His piano professor was Simuzar Guliyeva and throughout his career, he gave numerous concerts on stage as a pianist and accompanist. In the early 1960s, he accompanied legendary Azerbaijani singer Rashid Behbudov (1915–1989). Later on, he pursued a solo career and performed his own pieces.

Adigozalov is best known for incorporating traditional modal mugham music into his works – both orchestral and solo pieces. He owed his knowledge of traditional music to his father Zulfu Adigozalov (1898–1963), a prominent khananda singer of Azerbaijani mugham.

Vasif Adigozalov was greatly influenced by Gara Garayev (1918-1982), the distinguished Azerbaijani composer and teacher with whom Vasif had studied at the Azerbaijan Conservatory in 1953-1959.

Although Adigozalov had become seriously ill in the last few years of his life, he continued to carry out his responsibilities both at the Azerbaijan Composers' Union where he was Chairman (1990–2006), as well as the Music Academy where he had taught since 1961, and where he had chaired the Department of Choral Conducting (1992–2006).

Vasif Adigozalov enjoyed official recognition as the recipient of Azerbaijan's highest national awards – People's Artist of Azerbaijan (Khalg Artisti, 1989), State Prize (Dovlat Mukafati, 1990), Glory (Shohrat Order, 1995), and Independence Orders (Istiglal Ordeni, 2005).

Had Vasif Adigozalov written only "Carnation" (1960), which dozens of Azerbaijani singers have performed in various arrangements, his place in the history of Azerbaijani music and culture would have been assured. Adigozalov wrote "Carnation" at the age of 25, as a tribute to Natavan (1832–1897), a famous 19th-century poet and ruler of Karabakh – a mountainous region known for being a cultural center in Azerbaijan.

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