Interview with Dilara Yusifova about "Around the guitar" event

- Dear Dilara, we were reading about the Community art event "Around the Guitar", organized by Baku Bards club. Could you please present us this club? How long it is established? What activities it usually organise? 

- Bard’s Club "Baku" was established in 1974. This year we  are celebrating its 40th anniversary. In the 60-70 years of the last century bard’s  songs were very popular.  Bard’s club  existed in all the majority  cities of the USSR. These clubs united people who wrote the songs on their poems and sang them,  as well as just the performers and organizers. Baku Bard’s Club  was one of the strongest clubs in the USSR, for its authors. Its members were awarded with different prizes of different  famous festivals.  After the collapse of the USSR, many members of Baku Bard’s Club left the country, the club  temporarily  stopped its activity.  But in 1997, the club continued its activity and  new authors joined the club. Since 2007, the club has been arranging international festivals on bard’s song, that has become a tradition.  Many participants come  from all over the world. By the way, for the second time, the participant from Lithuania Vigantas Kazlauskas  attend the festival in Baku.  Besides, many popular bards, such as Alexander Gorodnizky, Vadim Yegorov, Yury Lores, etc.  attend the festival held in Baku. Usually bard’s concerts  are arranged on the  birthdays of the classics of bards, such as Bulat Okudzhava, Yuri Vizbor, Alexander Galich, etc. The club also arranges the concerts  with the participation of Baku Bards.

- How did the idea to organise "Around the guitar" came to your mind?

- The idea to hold the event "Around the guitar" came when I saw that  not only older people, but also young people are interested in bard’s songs. 

- What issue this event tackled or aimed to raise?

- The aim of this event was to identify new young talented writers, as well as to promote this music among the people. I decided to arrange the event on the birthday of  Vizbora  for the following reasons: first, I knew that the concert will attend a large number of people, as his songs are  popular. They are very poetic, lyrical and easy to perform. Secondly,  Vizbor Yuri himself was talented person. He was a poet, journalist, wrote great songs, actor, was one of the first authors of radio reports. Yuri Vizbor’s song "My darling, sweetheart" has long become an anthem of a bard movement. 

- How did this event go? how many people gathered? what is your impression?

- The event attended about 250 people. Many guests wanted to sing songs and present their talent. Overall, I'm pleased with the results. We identified that youth are interested in bard’s songs and they have desire to compose their songs.  On July 12th Baku Bard Club will arrange the 10th Baku festival, as a part of its 40th anniversary.

- Why you decided to organize Community Art Event particularly related to Vizbor's anniversary?

- Yuri Vizbor was half Lithuanian, half Ukrainian. The name of his father was Vizboras. But later he took the surname Vizbor.  Yuri Vizbor  was born in Moscow and  he always told that his motherland was Russia. It is the example of cultural diversity mixed in one person. 

- Thank you for the interview!