Azerbaijani president attends commemorative ceremony in honor of outstanding musician Muslim Magomayev

The President was accompanied by his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva.

Magomayev was just 20 when he first performed at an international youth music festival in Helsinki, the Finnish capital.

At the age of 21 he gave his first solo concert in the Moscow Tchaikovsky Concert Hall to a full house and became a soloist of the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre.

In 1964 – 1965 Magomayev was on probation in the La Scala theatre in Milan. In the following years, the singer turned to popular music, becoming a pop idol for several generations of music lovers in the Soviet Union.

Muslim Magomayev`s popularity in the USSR was overwhelming. He quickly became a cult figure and gave three concerts a day filling out huge arenas all across the Soviet Union, while his albums sold millions.

In 1973, at the very young age of 31, Muslim was awarded the Soviet Union`s highest artistic title: People`s Artist of the USSR.

Magomayev was also known as a composer, writing several film soundtracks.

In addition, Magomayev acted in films and hosted television and radio broadcasts devoted to prominent musicians of the 20th century.

Magomayev also was the holder of Azerbaijan's high state awards “Shohrat” and “Istiglal”.

Despite he lived the last part of his life in Moscow, Muslim Magomayev was always in close touch with his Motherland, where he was known as a strong patriot and was mostly loved for his song Azerbaijan, which became his visiting card.

Magomayev died at his 67 in Moscow last year.

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/AzerTaj/