A “Lifelong” Interview about Father (Metadiscourse of National Musical Culture: Issue 4)

Abstract

For the first time, several interviews from A. Amrakhova’s personal archive are published. The chronological scope of these dialogues is almost 30 years, the first interview dates back to 1982 (this is the year of death of the Soviet composer Kara Karayev, the father of Faraj Karayev and his composition teacher), the last ones were taken at the beginning of the 2000s. In 2023, the texts were subjected to a kind of “internal censorship”: only what F. Karayev considered possible to publish was left. Conversations about his father reveal interesting details not only of Kara Karayev’s personal life, but also the historical background of the composer’s life in the Soviet Union in the middle of the last century.

Keywords

Faraj Karayev (Fərəc Qarayev), Kara Karayev (Qara Qarayev), Azerbaijani school of composition, Soviet music, modern music, cultural policy of the USSR