A life dedicated to music: it is bliss

By Kamal Ali

I met Farac Qarayev (Faradzh Karaev), a professor at Moscow Conservatory, near the monument to his late father, Qara Qarayev (Kara Karaev), in Baku. The monument was erected not so long ago, in February 2014, in a small park near the Nizami Cinema in central Baku. Our great composer, Qara Qarayev, used to walk through the park on his way to and from the old conservatory in Samad Vurgun Street 21.

-- It is said that great artists are like tyrants at home. What kind of a person was Qara Qarayev in family? Does the monument reflect the character of your father?

-- Qara Qarayev was a mild person at home. He would always listen to his children, to me and my sister Zulya (Zuleykha). He was a strict but a just father. He was never like a tyrant. You could talk to him and persuade him. We would walk at home on our tiptoes and wouldn’t invite guests when he worked in his small room. “Father is working”: it was something sacred.  

-- What language did you speak with your parents? 

-- Our grandfather and grandmother spoke with us in Azerbaijani. But for some reason, our parents spoke with us in Russian. It was a state policy. When my grandfather Abulfaz Qarayev, who was a doctor, passed away, then the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan did not allow us to bury him in a Muslim cemetery.   

-- Qarayev’s both children are musicians, aren't they they?

-- As you know, I teach the theory of music in Moscow. I also compose music. My sister, Zuleykha, is also a musician. She has been living in Turkey with her family for 30 years now. Her husband, Elshad Bagirov, is an excellent music director. He recently gave a concert at Baku Philharmonic Music Center.

I graduated from Bul-Bul secondary school specializing in music. When I was an eight-grade pupil at the school, I realized that I cannot be a pianist like Richter. So, I wanted to choose another profession. Then my father told me: Finish your studies, get a diploma and then you can apply for the Medical University or anywhere else. 

By the time, however, I had already started composing music. So, I think I made the right choice and has no regrets about it now. I have spent a life dedicated to music. It is bliss.

My children are not musicians though. My son, Ajdar, is a pediatrician, as was his great grandfather, Abulfaz Qarayev. My daughter, Madina, is a TV engineer. She works for STS television channel in Moscow. I have three grandchildren.

-- It was a bit too late to erect the monument to Qara Qarayev in Baku, no?

-- Better late than never. It takes years to build a monument. The author, Fazil Nacafov, showed me the sketches, asking for my thoughts. We had a creative and friendly conversation with him. It took us long to find a sculptor and a place for erecting this up. It is also a very expensive job. 

It is a very good monument though. The only thing is that the name of the composer is written on all four sides of the monument. It is not the sculptor’s guilt. It is rather due to the provincialism of the architect. 

-- You live in Moscow, right? 

-- Yes, it has been almost 30 years. There was a period when I also taught at Baku Conservatory, but it was very difficult for me. I am 70-years-old now. I moved to Moscow in the late 1980s when I got a job offer at Moscow Conservatory. Now I work at the Deportment for the Theory of Music. 

Bakudaily.az