The 100th anniversary of the great Azerbaijani composer, People's Artist of USSR, academician Gara Garayev has been marked at the UNESCO premises in Paris.
The event was co-organized by Azerbaijan's Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the country's Permanent Mission to UNESCO.
Azerbaijan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammadyarov and Culture and Tourism Minister Abulfas Garayev, daughter of the prominent composer Zuleykha Garayeva, as well as representatives of diplomatic corps accredited in Paris, representatives of the French public, business circles and permanent missions of foreign countries at UNESCO attended the event.
In his opening remarks, Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to UNESCO, Ambassador Anar Karimov highlighted life and works of great composer Gara Garayev. He said that the Azerbaijani folk music was a source of inspiration for the outstanding composer. He drew the audience’s attention to the fact that there is a street, subway station named after Gara Garayev in Baku. In order to perpetuate the memory of the prominent composer a monument to Gara Garayev was unveiled by President Ilham Aliyev in the center of Azerbaijan`s capital.
Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information Sector at UNESCO Moez Chakchoukh noted that Gara Garayev's music promotes dialogue among nations and reflects a way leading from the past to the future.
The event was followed by a concert conducted by Fuad Ibrahimov, which featured performance of Farhad Badalbayli, Murad Huseynov, Vurghun Vakilov, Jamil Sadizade and Elvin Khoca Ganiyev.
Then participants viewed a photo exhibition and documentary films devoted to the great composer Gara Garayev. Editions of a magazine and different CDs about the composer’s life and works were distributed among the participants.
