''Babek'' () is a heroic ''

Spartacus Spartacus (; ) was a Thracians, Thracian gladiator (Thraex) who was one of the Slavery in ancient Rome, escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major Slave rebellion, slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Historical accounts o ...

''-like ballet in two acts, based on the story of the people’s liberation struggle against

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 C ...

Caliphate A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

under the leadership of

Babak Khorramdin Bābak Khorramdin (, , from , ''Pāpak/Pābag''; 795 or 798 – January 838) was one of the main Iranian revolutionary leaders of the Iranian Khorram-Dinān ("Those of the joyous religion"), which was a local freedom movement fighting the Abbasi ...

. Akshin Alizadeh composed the music and the prominent Azeri choreographers of the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

era Rafiga Akhundova and Maksud Mamedov choreographed the ballet for

Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater The Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater () is an opera house in Baku, Azerbaijan. Formerly known as the Mailov Theatre (), was built in 1911 by Armenian architect Nikolai Bayev.

(National Ballet of Azerbaijan) in 1986.

Story

The ballet creation narrates the story of the brave Iranian national hero,

, who in the 9th century led the rebellion against foreign occupying forces and local feudal lords in Iran. Babak succeeded Javidan, a rebel who had led the resistance during many years. On his deathbed, Javidan declares Babak as his successor and the one who would lead the resistance against the foreign occupation. For more than twenty-two years, Babak bravely fought the Arab invaders from his remote castle in the mountains of northwestern Iran and inflicted heavy casualties on the army of the Abbasid Caliphate. Finally he was betrayed by

Afshin Afshin () is a common Persian language, Persian given name derived from Avestan. Afshin was used by the Sogdians. Historically, it was the title of the rulers of Principality of Ushrusana in Transoxiana before the Muslim conquest of Persia.. Etym ...

and captured by the army of the Caliph. Babak was brutally executed but his legend lives until today.

World premiere

Created for the National Ballet of Azerbaijan, the ballet was staged in

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

at V.I. Lenin Palace (now

Heydar Aliyev Palace Heydar Aliyev Palace (Azeri language, Azeri: Heydər Əliyev Adına Saray, also known as Baku Palace, formerly Republic Palace (Respublika Sarayı) and during the Soviet Union, Soviet era known as Lenin Palace (Лeнин aдынa) is the main musi ...

) on 20 May 1986. The principal role of the ballet was performed by Vitaliy Akhundov, winner of the Grand

Ballet Contest. Four performances were staged at the V.I. Lenin Palace and later the ballet was included in the repertoire of the national ballet at

Presentation in the West

A series of performances followed the world premiere in Baku during 1986. After a successful season during the same year, the ballet fell into oblivion and was never re-staged in Azerbaijan.

Nima Kiann Nima Kiann (; born January 26, 1970) is an Iranian-born Swedish ballet dancer, choreographer, visual artist, and dance scholar. He recreated the disbanded Iranian National Ballet Company in Sweden, founded as Les Ballets Persans, and as their ...

, the founder and artistic director of Les Ballets Persans discovered the forgotten ballet and invited the choreographers to revive the ballet in order to be included in the world premiere production of the newly established Les Ballets Persans in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Thus, Babek was introduced for the first time in the West and for a European audience sixteen years after its world premiere in Baku. Staging of Babek in Stockholm was also the first presentation of the art form of Azerbaijanian ballet outside the country after the fall of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Legacy

The expressing and colorful music of Babek is one of Azerbaijan's musical compositions best representing the genre of historical and epic music. The composer, Akshin Alizadeh, has mentioned Babek as the composition he was born and living for to create: ''"Babek" is my whole life. I applied much effort into this ballet. When I was working on this ballet, I felt myself like a gladiator. I wrote this composition during the course of 10 years.''

References

{{Italic title Compositions by Agshin Alizadeh Ballet in Azerbaijan 1986 ballets