Cultural Significance
In 2003, UNESCO has acknowledged the authenticity, richness and cultural significance of mugham both national and global culture, and in 2003 announced it as a “Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”.
Considered to be the classical music of Azerbaijan, the Mugam is a traditional musical form characterized by a large degree of improvisation and draws upon popular stories and local melodies. The recent evolution of the cultural industry has threatened the improvisational nature and the ear-to-ear transmission of this art form. During his official visit to the country in August 2005, the Director-General of UNESCO, in the company of President Ilham Aliyev and several Goodwill Ambassadors, attended a foundation stone-laying ceremony of a Mugam Centre. In 2004, Mehriban Aliyeva, the First Lady of Azerbaijan, was named as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the oral and musical traditions.
During week of 18-25 March, 2009, Baku hosted International Festival "Space of Mugham." The program included academic symposium that brought together Azerbaijani scholars with their German, French, American, and Syrian counterparts exploring theoretical, social, gender, and aesthetic aspects of "mugham" and related musical traditions. Dozens of groups from the "Mugham belt" took part in Contests -- group of Iranian musicians from Europe and America, Iraqi performers, guests from Central Asia and Uighurs of China. Each day of the festival was also marked by a rich concert program ranging from performancse of "mugham", attendance at a "mugham" opera in the State Opera House, concert of "mugham"-jazz and symphonic orchestra.
At Eurovision Song Contest 2012, Azerbaijan has shunned local tradition, opting instead for a distinctly European-style pop song as When the Music Dies by Sabina Babayeva features mugham legend Alim Qasimov.
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