Suraya Sadraddin gizi Qajar (; May 1, 1910 – July 27, 1992) was a Soviet and Azerbaijani singer (

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...

). She was awarded the honorary titles of

People's Artiste of the Azerbaijan SSR The People's Artiste of the Azerbaijan SSR () was an honorary title awarded from 1931 to 1991 (and active from 1928 to 1991), it was granted to artistes of the Azerbaijan SSR for their contributions to the development of Azerbaijani culture in th ...

(in 1954) and

People's Artist of the Armenian SSR People's, branded as ''People's ViennaLine'' until May 2018, and legally ''Altenrhein Luftfahrt GmbH'', is an Austro-Swiss airline headquartered in Vienna, Austria. It operates scheduled and charter passenger flights mainly from its base at St. ...

Life

Qajar was born on May 1, 1910, 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 ...

, Russian Empire. In 1927 she graduated from the Baku Pedagogical College. From 1927 to 1939 she was a soloist of the

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.

. Since 1940 she has been a soloist of the

Azerbaijan State Academic Philharmonic Hall The Muslim Magomayev Azerbaijan State Academic Philharmonic Hall (), located in Baku, is the main concert hall in Azerbaijan built in 1910. Since 2006 Murad Adigozalzade is the director of the Azerbaijan State Academic Philharmonic Hall. History ...

, and since 1968 she has been a vocal teacher-consultant. From 1946 to 1957 she was a soloist of the Armenian State Academic Philharmonic Hall. The main focus in the work of Qajar was occupied by Azerbaijani folk songs,

mugam 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. ...

s, as well as songs of the people of the USSR and Soviet composers. She has toured both the cities of the Soviet Union and of Iran. She was awarded two Orders of the Badge of Honor and medals. She died in 1992 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 ...

Roles

* Leyli – ''

Leyli and Majnun ''Layla and Majnun'' ( "Layla's Mad Lover"; ) is an old story of Arab origin, about the 7th-century Arabian poet Qays ibn al-Mulawwah and his lover Layla bint Mahdi (later known as Layla al-Aamiriya). "The Layla-Majnun theme passed from ...

'' (

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� ...

) * Asli – '' Asli and Kerem'' (Uzeyir Hajibeyov) * Gulnaz – ''

If Not That One, Then This One ''If Not That One, Then This One'' (; ), also known as ''Mashadi Ibad'' (; ) is a 1910 Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani operetta in four acts written by composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov. The comedy reflects social and everyday life relations in October Revolutio ...

'' (Uzeyir Hajibeyov) * Shahsenem – '' Ashig Garib'' (

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 ...

)

Family

His father, Sadraddin Mirza Gajar, was an officer belonging to the

Bahmani family The House of Bahmani (), also called Bahmani-Qajar (), is an aristocratic Iranian family belonging to one of the princely families of the Qajar dynasty, the ruling house that reigned Iran 1785–1925. The founder is Bahman Mirza Qajar (1810–1 ...

. The family was founded by

Bahman Mirza Qajar Bahman Mirza (; 1810 – 1883/84) was a Qajar prince, literary scholar, and writer who lived in Iran and later the Russian Empire. The fourth son of the former crown prince Abbas Mirza, his career in Iran was marked by several governorships, inclu ...

, a former governor of

Iranian Azerbaijan Azerbaijan or Azarbaijan (, , ), also known as Iranian Azerbaijan, is a historical region in northwestern Iran that borders Iraq and Turkey to the west and Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the Azerbaijani exclave of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republ ...

and a member of the

Qajar dynasty The Qajar family (; 1789–1925) was an Iranian royal family founded by Mohammad Khan (), a member of the Qoyunlu clan of the Turkoman-descended Qajar tribe. The dynasty's effective rule in Iran ended in 1925 when Iran's '' Majlis'', conven ...

. Sadraddin Mirza Qajar was executed by

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

s after the

Red Army invasion of Azerbaijan The Red Army invasion of Azerbaijan, also known as the Sovietization or Soviet invasion of Azerbaijan, took place in April 1920. It was a military campaign conducted by the 11th Army of Soviet Russia with the aim of installing a new Soviet govern ...

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Qajar, Suraya Sadraddin People's Artistes of the Azerbaijan SSR People's Artists of Armenia Qajar princesses 20th-century Azerbaijani women opera singers Operatic mezzo-sopranos Bahmani family 1910 births 1992 deaths People from Elizavetpol Governorate Azerbaijani Muslims Musicians from Shusha Azerbaijani people of Iranian descent Soviet singers