Seyid Mirbababev () was an

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

i singer, khanende, and

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

industrialist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The prototype of Seyid Mirbabayev was created by the composer

Jahangir Jahangirov Jahangir Shirgasht oglu Jahangirov (Azerbaijani: ; 20 July 1921 – 25 March 1992) was a Soviet and Azerbaijani composer, conductor and choirmaster; he was named People's Artiste of the Azerbaijan SSR in 1964. Biography Jahangir Jahangirov was bo ...

in his opera "The Fate of the Singer".

Life

Seyid Mirbabayev was born in 1867 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 ...

. He lived and worked in

. Mirbabayev took an active part in the work of the

mugham Mugham () or Mughamat () is one of the many classical compositions from Azerbaijan, contrasting with tasnif and ashik. It is an art form that weds classical poetry and musical improvisation in specific local modes. Mugham is a modal system. ...

meetings. A number of mugham performed by Seyid Mirbababev were recorded on gramophone records. In 1906 Mirbabayev received an invitation to

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

to record his performance by

gramophone A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physic ...

. The singer was one of the stars of

weddings. Singing in a millionaire Shikhbalayev's only son's wedding changed the life of the singer, as the groom's uncle gifted a plot of land to the singer. An oil fountain was discovered on his plot and Mirbabayev became a

millionaire A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. Depending on the currency, a certain level of prestige is associated with being a millionaire. Many national currencies have, or ...

. Having become one of the representatives of the oil industry and a wealthy man, Mirbababev moved away from music. He began to feel embarrassed about his former profession, and even bought up his records and smashed them into smithereens so that nothing reminisced about his past .In

Mirbababev bought a building called "Governor's House" (built in 1865-1867), where the Azerbaijan State Conservatory was located since 1920 and Mirbababev rented it to the governors of Baku. The current building of Azneft (Built in 1896), which was acquired from Aramyan and in which Mirbabayev lived until the establishment of

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 ...

power in

in 1920. After 1920, Mirbababev emigrated to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Mirbabayev, who moved to

after the Baku operation, was in a miserable position in this city. Meanwhile, Teymur bey Ashurbeyov from the Ashurbeyovs' family met with the khanende and brought him to Tehran. Seyid Mirbabayev lived under the protection of Ashurbeyov in this city until his death. Seyid Mirbabayev died in 1953 in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

References

{{Reflist 1867 births 1953 deaths 20th-century Azerbaijani male singers Soviet emigrants to France 19th-century Azerbaijani male singers Male singers from the Russian Empire 19th-century businesspeople from the Russian Empire