Song from the Land of Fire: Azerbaijanian Mugam in the Soviet and Post-Soviet Periods

<em>Song from the Land of Fire</em> explores Azerbaijanian musical culture, a subject previously unexamined by American and European scholars. This book contains notations of <em>mugham</em> performance--a fusion of traditional poetry and musical improvisation--and analysis of hybrid genres, such as <em>mugham</em>-operas and symphonic <em>mugham</em> by native composers. Intimately connected to the awakening of Azerbaijanian national consciousness while ruled by the Russian Empire and the USSR, <em>mugham</em> is inseparable from the contexts in which it is produced and heard. Inna Naroditskaya provides the historical and political contexts for <em>mugham</em> and profiles the musicians, musical genealogies, and musical institutions of Azerbaijan.