Today is the birthday of Alibaba Mammadov, a prominent representative of the khandalyk school in Azerbaijan, who preserved the color and purity of our national music, took his prejudices, and gifted these qualities to young artists.

Even in the 94th year of his birth, the memory of People's Artist Alibaba Mammadov is remembered with great respect by our people.

Alibaba Mammadov, one of the most prominent representatives of Azerbaijani culture, was born on February 5, 1930 in the Mashtaga village of Baku. After graduating from high school, he studied music in the class of the famous singer Seyid Shushinsky at the Asaf Zeynalli Baku secondary music school in 1956-1960, and deeply mastered the secrets of mugham, which is an inexhaustible treasure of our cultural heritage.

Alibaba Mammadov, who started his career as a soloist of the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic at the end of the 1940s, created the "Humayun" folk instrument ensemble at the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic in 1968 at the initiative of maestro Niyazi and led that ensemble until the end of his life. Alibaba Mammadov became the artistic director and first soloist of this ensemble. This originality gave him great artistic success. "Humayun" achieved perfection in his performance.

The famous artist Haji Mammadov expressed his opinion on this: "After Seyyid, there is no one who reads Humayun like Alibaba..." Bulbul, Khan Shushinski, Shavket Alakbarova, Sara Gadimova, who participated in the ten days of Azerbaijani literature and art held in Moscow in 1959 , Alibaba Mammadov was among the artists like Haji Mammadov. At that time, the "Bayati Kurd" mugham, which he sang, was received with great sympathy by the audience. He was awarded the honorary decree of the Soviet government for the first time in the same year. Then, in 1963, he received the honorary title of Honored Artist of Azerbaijan, exactly 26 years after that - in 1989, People's Artist.

Alibaba Mammadov, a worthy follower of the Azerbaijani singing school, is one of our artists who further enriches the national musical treasury. From a young age, he was formed as a mature singer in the unique mugham environment of Baku and Absheron villages, and made the preservation of classical mugham traditions the main rock of his full creativity. "Rast", "Shur", "Bayati-Shiraz", "Rahab", "Dashti" and other mugham dastgahs performed by the master singer with special skill have risen to the level of perfect art examples and have forever taken a place in the golden fund of our musical culture. Alibaba Mammadov's wide repertoire, pleasant voice and unique style of performance have earned him great admiration from mugham fans.

Alibaba Mammadov, in addition to his activities as a singer, taught at the current Baku Music College, Bulbul Secondary School of Music and Azerbaijan National Conservatory for more than half a century since 1963, instilling the intricacies of mugham art to a generation of young performers. The students of the master singer have been awarded the title of winner of various international festivals and competitions.

Alibaba Mammadov is one of the few singers who contributed to the development of our musical culture not only as a skilled performer of mughams and kassifs, but at the same time, he wrote the words of poets such as M. Fuzuli, A. Vahid, M. Mushfiq, S. Rustam, B. Vahabzade, and today he has gained his fame. He is at the peak of people's love with his songs. Although Mr. Alibaba does not claim to be a composer, he has composed unique, memorable and beloved songs based on the words of the poets we mentioned earlier. Just mentioning the names of such songs is enough to make you hum sweetly the music recorded in your memory. "Believe me", "Live still", "My Azerbaijan", "Opposition classification", "Shur classification", "The country is good"... are among the perfect musical pearls that are always fondly remembered in the singer's creative activity and whose performance is desired.

Alibaba Mammadov, as an artist, was also worried about the fact that our folk songs and mughams were almost forgotten and neglected. It is good that these pearls of art, which keep alive our national identity, our belonging, and the spirit of the people, have been given a new life. Mehriban Aliyeva, the First Vice-President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, saved this art from oblivion. The attention he paid to artists, especially Azerbaijani mughams and folk songs, first of all caused the immense joy of our elderly artists, including Alibaba Mammadov, the master of this art. We all remember Alibaba Mammadov's words at that time: "I couldn't believe my ears when I heard the news that a mugham house would be built in Baku. I remembered the corners where we used to gather from time to time, next to the philharmonic hall, Sahil Garden. Thank you, finally we will have an opportunity and a place to sit together and talk and share our artistic thoughts." For his achievements in the development of national music culture, Alibaba Mammadov was awarded the highest awards of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2000 with the Order of Glory, in 2010 with the Order of Independence and in 2020 with the Order of Honor. People's artist Alibaba Mammadov died on February 25, 2022 in the 92nd year of his life and was buried in Birinci Fakhri Alley.