Music of Uzeyir Hajibeyli: A revival of the spiritual and cultural traditions of the Azerbaijani people – opera singer Burcu Kuru
Stockholm, September 18, Nargiz Jafarli, AZERTAC
September 18, 2025, marks the 140th anniversary of the birth of Uzeyir Hajibeyli – the great composer, founder of modern professional musical art in Azerbaijan, conductor, musicologist, publicist, playwright, educator, and People’s Artist of the USSR.
AZERTAC continues its series of conversations with figures from the music and cultural spheres. Burcu Kuru, a Turkish opera singer living and working in Sweden, shares insights about Uzeyir Hajibeyli’s legacy.
“When I was a student at the opera department of Hacettepe University (Ankara), I had the privilege of first encountering Uzeyir Hajibeyli’s music through his timeless operetta Arshin Mal Alan,” says Burcu Kuru.
“Hajibeyli’s work is a brilliant example of how the national essence of Eastern musical traditions found its highest expression, resonating with global trends of his time. His music represents a revival of the spiritual and cultural traditions of the Azerbaijani people, their worldview, and their rich inner world. He wove folk melodies, born in the heart of the nation, with Western classical harmony, transforming them into a polyphonic soundscape of a new artistic reality.
A special place in his legacy is held by the opera Leyli and Majnun – the first work of its kind in the East, created in the Muslim world.
Music is a universal language of humanity, capable of uniting people, understandable to all, evoking emotions, and reminding us of our essence. For me, as an artist, one of the most important missions is to speak this language, share it, and introduce the world to the richness of Turkic culture.
On September 20, at the Hallwyl Museum (Hallwylska Museet) in Stockholm, under the direction of our dear pianist Aynur Melikova, a concert will be held to commemorate the 140th anniversary of the great composer’s birth. As part of the anniversary celebrations, we have prepared a project featuring Italian pianist Sergio Lapedota, Swedish flutist Katrin Spongberg, and Swedish violinist Irena Lemos. Together, we will present works reflecting both Azerbaijani and Scandinavian musical traditions, with a particular focus on Azerbaijani music.
At this concert, I will perform Uzeyir Hajibeyli’s Sevgili Janan .
This romance, written to the poetry of the great poet Nizami Ganjavi, speaks to listeners as a revelation of the Eastern understanding of love and its sanctity. The recurring melodic line seems to embody the power of fate and its inevitability.
It is not merely a love song but a sublime reminder that love transcends human emotion—it is a divine creation. The poetic text of the piece portrays love as a path to God, a spiritual aspiration in the tradition of Eastern Sufism.
We sincerely hope that this concert will introduce the Swedish audience to the multifaceted beauty of Azerbaijani music and the broader Turkic world. At the same time, it will serve as a reminder to Azerbaijanis and Turks living abroad of the powerful unifying force of polyphonic music.”
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