Alim Qasımov: Person of Note

This post is less about something I’m interested in and more about someone that is important in Azerbaijan: Alim Qasımov.  Alim is a Muğam singer who is world-renowned and is probably one of the most famous musicians in Azerbaijan.  Now, we already know my feelings on muğam. While I’m still not the biggest fan of the musical style, I can appreciate it as a traditional musical art form.

This is a short post because I don’t actually have much to say about Alim Qasımov. However, you can get a sense of the star power of Alim by a few things.  First, he just played a big concert in Chicago.  News.Az picked it up and you can read one of the (very brief) event previews here.

The most important thing, though, is that Alim Qasımov is important to Azeris. You can tell because of the way they write about him:

It wasn’t just singing, it was him making music and us feeling it. His performance took me to the deepest corners of my soul and I felt goose bumps all over my body. Most of the people stood up enchanted and listened in silence. When he finished, I felt tears in my eyes, while people burst into applause.

I’ve heard him sing only once, but it was enough to realize his value.

That’s from Fatalin’s blog. She’s also posted videos of him, including a performance where Alim paired up with Jeff Buckley. Cool stuff.