''Ashiq Qarib'' (, literally "the wandering

ashik An ashik (; ) or ashugh (; ka, :ka:აშუღი, აშუღი) is traditionally a List of oral repositories, singer-poet and bard who accompanies his song—be it a dastan (traditional epic story, also known as ''Azeri hikaye, hikaye' ...

") is an anonymous romantic

dastan Dastan () is an ornate form of oral history, an epic, from Central Asia, Iran, Turkey and Azerbaijan. A dastan is generally centered on one individual who protects his tribe or his people from an outside invader or enemy, although only occasion ...

, composed not earlier than the 16—17th centuries and popular in

Transcaucasia The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and West Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Armenia, ...

and

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

. The verses, which are incorporated into the prose, are ascribed to the eponymous hero, a wandering Ashik who began his journeys with worldly love and attains wisdom by travelling and learning then achieving sainthood. The original Azerbaijani version was first recorded by

Mikhail Lermontov Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov ( , ; rus, Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, , mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjʉrʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲerməntəf, links=yes; – ) was a Russian Romanticism, Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called ...

in 1837 and was published in 1846. In 1915 Azerbaijani composer

Zulfugar Hajibeyov Zulfugar bey Abdulhuseyn oghlu Hajibeyov (, 17 April 1884 – 30 September 1950) was an Azerbaijani composer and a member of a family noted for its musical talents. He was one of the founders of the Azerbaijan Music Comedy Theater ...

wrote an opera ''

Ashiq Qarib ''Ashiq Qarib'' (, literally "the wandering ashik") is an anonymous Romance (love), romantic dastan, composed not earlier than the 16—17th centuries and popular in Transcaucasia and Central Asia. The verses, which are incorporated into the pro ...

''. The dastan is popular in

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

and

Middle Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian suffix " -sta ...

.''

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; , ''BSE'') is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Great Russian Enc ...

'', 3rd Edition (1970-1979) The Turkish version assumed the form of cycles (''Son of Ashik-Garip'' and ''Grandson of Ashik-Garip''). The Turkmen version (''Shasenem and Garib'') abounds in ethnic details and historical names. The story of Ashiq Qarib has been the main feature of a movie with the same name by director and producer

Sergei Parajanov Sergei Iosifovich Parajanov (January 9, 1924 – July 20, 1990) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter. He is regarded by film critics, film historians and filmmakers to be one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. Parajanov was born to ...

Notes

Azerbaijani fiction Romantic fiction Turkic mythology Azerbaijani mythology {{azerbaijan-stub