Concert in Tabriz

Alim Qasimov

Azerbaijani mugham singer, born in Shamakhi in 1957. Mugham is the classical modal art of Azerbaijan, with its own theory, repertoire and line of transmission; UNESCO inscribed it as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. It is not a branch of Sufism, but it is bound to it: the texts are largely Sufi love poetry, and a performance is directed at ḥāl, the ecstatic state in which singer and listener are taken up into the Divine. He has been associated with the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris since 1991, has performed across the world, and has recorded nine albums, three of them mugham records with his daughter Fargana Qasimova.