Interview by Orkhan Yolchuyev exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
Turkmenistan is famous for music traditions and gave the world many talented musicians. Doubtlessly, they can be put in the folklore group that has contributed to popularization of folk music. The Askhabad Group created in the early 1990s showed the incomparable Turkmen ethnic music to the world.
Almost all musicians of the Ashkhabad Group started their careers playing at weddings. Fame came in early 1993, when talented producer Nazim Nadirov found the group. They appeared on Turkmen television afterwards, together with singer Aziza. Soloist of the group Atabay Charykuliyev received the State Premium of Turkmenistan.
True fame was gained when Peter Gabriel, a British musician, soloist of Genesis, decide to make a joint album with Ashkhabad. Gabriel was into ethnic music back then, so the art of Ashkhabad was just what he was looking for. In 1993, the group released a disc with Gabriel's Real World label. The "City of Love" album became canonical in the West. Such love and amazing attitude towards the Turkmen group is unsurprising, European music connoisseurs were offered something different from what they were used to. They heard music uniting the Oriental colour. The group was international, it affected their repertoire, containing folk music, Azerbaijani melodies, Persian elements.
While listening to performances of Honorary Turkmen Artist Hassan Mamedov of Azerbaijani origin born in Ashkhabad, you become convinced again that music space has no nationality. People of Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan live on different coasts of the Caspian Sea but they belong to the same ethnic and cultural space.
After the joint project with Gabriel, the group started losing fame. Musicians of Western states were eager to hear another masterpiece of Turkmen folk music. In 1998, together with Greek singer Melina Kana, the Turkmen group released an album called "Loop." In 2002, the group performed concerts in Moscow, took part in the First Moscow International Festival of Ethnic Music.
Ashkhabad is very successful among Moscow folk music connoisseurs. The group's concerts usually get all seats booked. Some arrive from faraway parts of Russia to hear its mastery. Ashkhabad has become the first Turkmen world group in the big world of music.
