Memo bey Memayi (; 1849–1918) was an Azerbaijani poet. He wrote under the pseudonym ''Memayi''. He was a relative of Abdurrahim bey Hagverdiyev.

Life

Memo bey Muhammed bey oglu Memayi was born in 1849 in Shusha in a noble family. As a child, they called him Memo, the nickname stuck with him later, already as a pseudonym. He received his education in Shusha, where he was engaged in trade. Memo bey Memai was one of the most active members of the association of poets "Mejlisi uns", headed by the famous poet

Khurshidbanu Natavan Khurshidbanu Natavan (; 6 August 1832 – 2 October 1897) was an Azerbaijani people, Azerbaijani poet and philanthropist. She is considered one of the best lyric poetry, lyrical poets of Azerbaijan. Her poems are in either Azerbaijani language, A ...

. He loved to travel, and he visited many cities in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

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 ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. Later, all the impressions from the trips resulted in serious work, which he called the ''Book of Travels''. Unfortunately, this book has not survived to this day. The father of five children, Memo bey gave his youngest daughter to be raised by his wife's brother, the famous playwright,

Abdurrahim bey Hagverdiyev Abdurrahim bey Asad bey oglu Hagverdiyev () (17 May 1870 – 11 December 1933) was an Azerbaijani playwright, writer and cultural figure, stage director, politician, public figure, one of the five first Azeri Deputats of First Duma of Russian Emp ...

. The poems of Memo-bek, written in the classical style of

aruz The ''ʿarūż'' (from Arabic ), also called ''ʿarūż'' prosody, is the Persian, Turkic and Urdu prosody, using the ''ʿarūż'' meters. The earliest founder of this versification system was Khalil ibn Ahmad. There were 16 meters of ''ʿarū ...

in the Azerbaijani and Persian languages, have been preserved. Memo bey was a well-known calligrapher. Well-known calligraphic copies of his work by

Natavan Khurshidbanu Natavan (; 6 August 1832 – 2 October 1897) was an Azerbaijani poet and philanthropist. She is considered one of the best lyrical poets of Azerbaijan. Her poems are in either Azerbaijani or Persian and she was most notable for he ...

and other well-known Azerbaijani poets. At the present time they are kept at the

Institute of Manuscripts of Azerbaijan Institute of Manuscripts (), named after Muhammad Fuzuli, is a scientific center of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences engaged in scientific-research, archive and library science activities, security, study, translation and publication o ...

. The poet died in 1918 in

Shusha Shusha (, ) or Shushi () is a city in Azerbaijan, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Situated at an altitude of 1,400–1,800 metres (4,600–5,900 ft) in the Karabakh mountains, the city was a mountain resort in the Soviet Union, Soviet ...

, where he was buried.

References

{{Azerbaijani Turkic literature Azerbaijani-language poets Azerbaijani nobility 1849 births 1918 deaths Writers from Shusha Persian-language poets Azerbaijani poets Poets from the Russian Empire