As is often the way on my travels, I didn’t have an agenda for my visit to Washington DC other than catching up with a dear friend and seeing the fireworks. My friend’s brother mentioned that the Smithsonian were holding a folklife festival, so when I went off exploring the city, I decided to check it out. There was the AIDS Memorial Quilt stretching out across the Mall as far as the eye could see, food tents and stalls everywhere, and a full schedule of performances.
I was fortunate enough to happen by on Azerbaijani Thursday during a breathtakingly beautiful performance of mugham music, sponsored by the Karabakh Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to the preservation and sharing of the culture, arts and heritage of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijani mugham music concert at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
On stage were two exceptionally talented musicians. Pezhham Akhavass, percussionist, is a modern day master of the tombak; a goblet-shaped drum carved from a single block of wood. I have never seen anyone’s hands move as quickly as his did when he was drumming.
Pezhham Akhavass playing the tombak
With him on stage was the extraordinary Imamyar Hasanov, virtuoso on the kamancha; an ancient stringed instrument made of mulberry or walnut wood and played with a bow of horse hair.
Imamyar Hasanov prepares to show festival-goers what the kamancha is capable of.
The concert, entitled “Undiscovered Treasure: The Kamancha of Azerbaijan,” focused on the power and beauty of this delicate stringed instrument, and was so dazzling, it made me wish I could go back in time to witness their concert the previous week, “Music from the Land of Fire.” I shot a short video of Imamyar in action on the kamancha; you’ll hear Pezhham’s drumming too.
If you ever have a chance to see either of these guys in performance, do!
For another unusual DC adventure, see here.
Where's my backpack? 