Shovkat Feyzulla qizi Alakbarova () (20 October 1922 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 ...

– 7 February 1993 in Baku) 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 ...

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

Life and career development

Shovkat Alakbarova was born to Azerbaijani parents - Feyzulla and Hokuma Alakbarov, and was the third of the family's four children. Her mother was a professional

tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black b ...

player and her father, a labourer, was a folk music lover. Both parents passed similar interests on to their children.Our Last Conversation
by Rafael Huseynov. ''Azerbaijan International''. Summer 1993. Retrieved 27 August 2006 As a child, Shovkat took up kamancha lessons. In 1937, she became one of the finalists at a contest held among amateur singers and judged by prominent Azerbaijani composers and musicians, such as

Uzeyir Hajibeyov Uzeyir bey Abdulhuseyn bey oghlu Hajibeyov (18 September 188523 November 1948) was an Azerbaijanis, Azerbaijani composer, musicologist and teacher. He is recognized as the father of Azerbaijani classical music. He composed the music of the Az� ...

and

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. She performed ''Qarabagh shikastasi'' at the Azerbaijan State Opera and Ballet Theatre in Baku (which was her first stage performance) and was chosen by Hajibeyov to join the newly formed Azerbaijan State Choir, where Alakbarova started her professional career as a singer. As a teenager, she was vocally trained by

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. ...

instructor Aghalar Aliverdibeyov and

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

singer

Huseyngulu Sarabski Huseyngulu Sarabski (), born Hüseynqulu Malik oğlu Rzayev (20 March 1879 – 16 February 1945), was an Azerbaijani opera singer (tenor), composer, playwright, stage actor, theatre director, and musician (tar). Early life Sarabski was born to p ...

. At the early stage of her career, she mostly performed folk songs. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

while giving concerts to soldiers in hospitals, train stations, military units, Alakbarova first sang patriotic war songs composed by Hajibeyov. She would make up to 50 performances a day, including those in distant places such as

Stalingrad Volgograd,. geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn. (1589–1925) and Stalingrad. (1925–1961), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. The city lies on the western bank of the Volga, covering an area o ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. Beginning in 1945, she worked with the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Society. By the 1950s, she was recognized as the most popular Azerbaijani singer of both folk and composed songs. Most of Alakbarova's songs were in Azeri, however she also sang in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, and Turkish. She toured over 20 countries in

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Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. Three years before her death, in 1990, she went to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

to receive medical treatment and at the same time to perform for the Azeri émigrés.

Family and death

Alakbarova has been married twice. She gave birth to her daughter Natella. After her husband went away to the front as a doctor, he married again. In 1955, she married film director Latif Safarov and gave birth to her son Bashir. Her husband committed suicide. After that, she devoted herself to her children and to her career. In 1992 her daughter Natella died and it affected Alakbarova's health and she died a year after, at the age of 70.

Discography

* Axşam (Qaş qaralır) * Ayrılıq * Aldatmayaq bir-birimizi * Ay Qız * Ağlaya-ağlaya * Bir könül sındırmışam * Bakı * Dərələr * Gəl səhərim * Gedək üzü küləyə * Oxu gözəl * Neylərəm (İmaməddin Nəsimi / Süleyman Ələsgərov) * Sən mənim, mən sənin * Sənsən ürəyim * Səslərəm səni * Kəsmə şikəstə * Küsüb məndən * Lay-lay * İnanmıram * Təkcə ümid qalsın * Tez gəl * Töhfə * Mirzə-hüseyn segahı * Məhəbbət * Ola bilməz * Vağzalı çalınır. * Fizuli Kantatası * Yavaş-yavaş * Hardasan

References

External links

To listen to Shovkat Alakbarova, clic
here
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alakbarova, Shovkat 1922 births 1993 deaths 20th-century Azerbaijani women singers People's Artists of Azerbaijan Musicians from Baku Mugham singers Soviet Azerbaijani people Soviet women singers Persian-language singers of Azerbaijan Turkish-language singers of Azerbaijan Arabic-language singers of Azerbaijan