The website of the Lincoln Center, which is the largest American cultural center, is advertising 'Leyli and Majnun', which is to be held in New York as part of a large international art festival. It would be all fine, even great, but looking at the ad text, you ask several questions at once.
First, why was Leyli's name written like Layla?
Second, the author of 'Leyli and Majnun' poem, which formed the basis of the opera, is not specified. Leyli and Majnun was written by a specific author - a great Azerbaijani poet of the Middle Ages Nizami Ganjavi, who took the plot from Arabian folklore. After Nizami, the story of Leyli and Majnun's love was described by the Azerbaijani poet Mohammed Fizuli.
The announcement rightly noted that it was the first opera in the East and it was staged more than a century ago, which confirms the fact that it is about the opera of our great Azerbaijani man based on the poem of the classic of Azerbaijani literature from Ganja. However, why did they not mention the name of the author of music for the opera - the founder of modern Azerbaijani classical music, the greatest contemporary composer Uzeyir Hajibeyli - in the advertisement?
The performance includes Azerbaijani performers - People's Artist Alim Qasimov and Honored Artist of Azerbaijan Fargana Qasimova. And it would be all fine, but after all, Azerbaijani artists must have gotten an announcement of the performance in advance. Did they not notice such inaccuracies in the text of the announcement, though, the claims, most likely, should be addressed not to them, but to those structures that are responsible for the popularization and propaganda of Azerbaijani art abroad. They have to ensure that at least the minimum of truthful information about Azerbaijani art, history and culture that has come down to us from time immemorial, which will be preserved and handed over to descendants, was preserved in the texts of contracts and in ads.
Third, the advertisement indicates that pre-performance talk will take place on certain days. And it's the most important thing! It says that the talk will be hosted by the choreographer and stage director of the play Mark Morris, as well as Ara Guzelimian, without specifying the role of this person in this whole action. I do not know how to take this - whether this is a question, or maybe this is the answer to all the questions I raised above. In any case, one thing is clear: we cannot condone these glaring facts to prevent the remnants of our richest culture from slipping like sand through our fingers.
