A Concert in Baku

I am at the Music acadamy in Baku, thanks to my very kind hosts i am about to get some 'culutre' The only culture i have had in the last few months or so has been between my toes so i am bit excited. I am about to learn a thing or two about concert going in Azerbaijan......

The 730 start time comes and goes. The ambassdor, who has helped to fund the concert, paces up and down somewhat impaitently at the front. The camera crew from the local TV station arrive about 15 mins later and the ambassador conducts a 'doorstop interview' with the help of a translator.

Its 750 and there is still not sign of the performers. I wonder if they have gotten stuck in Baku's crazy jumble of one way streets.....

The toilets are at the back of the room but i notice that if anyone gets up they walk via the front of the room. Seeing and being seen are everything in Baku, so it seems.

Finally a young violinist appears on stage. He is a young lad of 18 or so, a first year student at the acadamy, i read on the programme. He plays a difficult work by a local composer in comanding style. It was an impressive performance, i sense the he knows this also.

Next up is another student, a girl this time. Her performance is also very impressive. It is marred however by the antics of the camera crews. Moving nosiy tripods, walking up on stage and worst of all jamming the camera ( spotlight and all) a meter or so from the poor girls nostrils. They later zoom in on me, clearly the importance of having a forighn looking vistor cannot be underestimated (being tall, with blonde hair and blue eyes has never been such a blessing and a curse). I refrain from making rude jestures as the camera hovers near my face. Causing a national outcry for giving the one finger salute wasn't really on my trip itinary.

The concert continues with another pinano student. She plays Blue Rondo Alla Turka by Mozart and i think of pictures of lighting showroom flashing by(The De-lights add in Adelaide in the Mid-nineties for the un-informed). The tune was also used to sell lighting here in Azerbaijan i saw the otherday. The audience continues to talk and the camera crew get riddiculusly close to the poor girl. I admire her paitence as she doesn't miss a beat thorugh the entire ordeal. She didn't however stay to collect her bunch of flowers at the end and i sense that this may have had something to do with it.

The hightlight of the evening and reason for the concert is a visit from a Norwegian fiddle player. He has been working with some local musicians and tonight has been joined by a renonwed Mugab player ( Similar to a violin but played like a 'cello). Clearly not used to working with a translator the fiddle player rambles for a while as the translator does a supurb job of keeping up. He attempts to draw some very tenuis link between Azeri music and Norwegian music. 'There are only 12 notes, of course some of it is going to sound the same' i think to myself.

They play a set of tunes that includes both Azeri and Norwigian folk tunes, the fiddler playing the norwgian tunes and then pausing while the Mugrgab player takes over. Thankfully the camera crews must have had deadlines as they vanish midway though the performace. I cringe though as yet another mobile phone rings with the owner having a lenghty conversation in front of me.

The concert ends and the ambassador thanks all for their attendence. I leave feeling happy for the experince but perhaps a little wiser as to what i may expect the next time i attend a concert in Baku....