Concert in honor of Muslim Magomayev held in Israel

One the even of the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah, southern Israeli city of Ashkelon hosted a concert dedicated to the memory of Muslim Magomayev. It was organized by the local branch of the Israel-Azerbaijan International Association AzIs. There were no empty seats left in the hall of the Waldenberg Palace of Culture, hundreds of immigrants not only from Azerbaijan, but also from other post-Soviet republics came to pay tribute to the musician.

The evening was opened by director of the Azerbaijan Cultural Center "AzIs" Yegyan Salman, who spoke about the role Muslim Magomayev played in development of the Soviet art stage in 1960-1980. Then she invited deputy mayor of the city of Ashkelon, Sophia Beilin, to the stage, thanking her for making this evening possible.

Sophia Beilin thanked the head of the AzIs association Lev Spivak for organizing the concert and for assisting in opening the association’s branch in Ashkelon under the leadership of Ilya Moskovich. AzIs Director General Lev Spivak congratulated Mark Ifraimov, the newly elected Knesset deputy, who was present in the hall.

Mark Ifraimov said that since childhood, Muslim Magomayev was his idol. A documentary about singer’s life and work, shot in Israel by Simone Waxman, was shown at the evening, and at the end of the film, Honored Artist of Russia, violinist, student of Gara Garaev, Mikhail Parkhomovsky, shared some facts from the life of Muslim Magomayev, since he was personally acquainted with the great singer. Memories of Magomayev's youth in Baku  were shared by Valery Lesovoy, who came from Jerusalem.

Then author, singer and composer Konstantin Kalinin  performed a song dedicated to Magomayev. There were songs from the repertoire of great singer performed by winner of many international song contests, Osher Raikhanov, laureate of the All-Union student amateur contest David Ben-Gershon, laureate of the international competition "Mediterranean Sea" from the group "Smileys" and singer of the Tel Aviv Opera House Camellia Yoff.