Song from the Land of Fire

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