AMEA Memarlıq və İncəsənət İnstitutu

The musical history of Azerbaijan is a part of understanding of the ancient past of Azerbaijan. The universally recognized development peculiarities of Azerbaijan are the result of the specific musical culture of the Azerbaijani people. Difficulties of studying the ancient music culture of Azerbaijan are directly related to the absence of leading sources and indirect references. Oral traditional folklore, folk song creativity, fiction and archaeological monuments are the main sources of the study of the past of Azerbaijani culture. It is important to preserve the authenticity of classical music and folk songs of Azerbaijan, starting with the ancient ancestors of the Azerbaijani people: thousands of years before our era had a different historical effect on the Medians, the Caspians, the Albanians and other tribes. The extensive trade routes passing through Azerbaijan, the Silk Road, the invasion of various tribes as Huns- Suvars (in the VII century BC), Romans (at the beginning of our era), Khazars (VI - VII centuries), Cumanses (IX - XI centuries), Seljuk Turks (X-XI centuries), Mongols (XIII century), Persians, Arabs and had their specific impact on Azerbaijani folk music and culture. 

The broad and sophisticated international trade junction of the Middle East countries certainly came to Azerbaijan. Latin and Greek inscription about Domitian’s, XII Roman legion being on the shores of the Caspian Sea, were discovered on Gobustan rocks at the end of the first century The great Norwegian researcher and traveler, Tur Heyerdal in his scientific findings made a special place for Gobustan boat descriptions and considered similarity with the Sumerian culture. He also stated that, the civilization of Arabian Sea had contacted with Gobustan[5]. The Khazars are one of the oldest and most widely spread ethnic groups in the Eastern and Central Transcaucasia. According to ancient and old Oriental sources, during the existence of the Achaemenid rule (6th-4th centuries BC), they established ethno-cultural relations with their close neighbors, as well as with peoples who were relatively far from them.