Oleg Kusov, especially for Vestnik Kavkaza
"Only Adam and Eve were new in this world, all the others are repeats with changes. Like a rondo of fifths in music," Vagif Samadoglu once remarked. That man had many incarnations: playwright, poet, writer, member of the jury of the National Book Award of Azerbaijan. He was an honored worker of the arts, a winner of 'Humay', a knight of the orders of Shohrat and Sharaf. But the more you become familiar with his work, the more convinced you become that his main vocation was human wisdom. Therefore, his works were read with great interest. His work was so gnomic that a separate collection of "sayings" could be issued.
Vagif Samadoglu was born on June 5, 1939 in Baku in the family of the first national poet, Samad Vurgun. But as a young man he had not hoped to reveal himself through literature, but through music. Therefore, he got a good musical education: he graduated from the high school of Bulbul, then the Azerbaijan State Conservatory n.a. U.Hajibeyov, studied on courses at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. His passion for music helped Vagif to find his way in literature. His friends and colleagues recall that Vagif always gave priority to sounds. His poems were read as songs. They were not only the meaning, emotion and rich musicality of words. The secretary of the Moscow branch of the Writers' Union of Azerbaijan, Nasib Nabioglu, noted in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza the special style of poetry of Samadoglu: "He wrote free verse, blank verse. There were people who did not understand him, but many saw in his poetry deep philosophical reflections. The form only contributed to the deeper meaning. In fact, the eastern peoples, in particular in Azerbaijan, have a traditionally distinct form of poetry. So classics were written - Nizami, Fuzuli, Nasimi, poets of the 20th century. But, as happens in the literature, a poet suddenly breaks the traditional form of poetry. In Soviet poetry, remember, this was Vladimir Mayakovsky, and in Azerbaijan - Rasul Rza (1910 - 1981). He is the father of the current chairman of the Azerbaijan Writers Union, Anar.
Vagif Samadoglu, in my opinion, without repeating Rasul Rza, enriched here a philosophical content and unconventional form of poetry. Only, he built it on sounds and rhythms. "
Vagif Samadoglu wrote in the Azeri language, although he knew Russian very well. Being in Moscow with his father, when he was still a child, he could speak with Soviet literary classics like Alexander Fadeev, Konstantin Simonov, Boris Pasternak, Mikhail Sholokhov. In such an environment it was impossible not to catch the literary disease, and then it had the upper hand above music in Vagif's soul. Although he did not leave this art, indeed, for eight years he taught piano at the Azerbaijan State Conservatory. Vagif Samadoglu was a man of many talents.
The first collection of the poet Samadoglu was released in 1963 in Baku. It was called "Seven Poems". Five years later, the book "Telegrams of the Way" was published. In 1970, 31-year-old Vagif was admitted to the Union of Writers of Azerbaijan. For a long time he was the head editor of arts of the Azerbaijan Soviet Encyclopedia. From 1982 to 1985 he worked as head of the literary section of the studio Azerbaijanfilm. From 1992 to 1994 he was editor-in-chief of Oguzeli magazine.
Interestingly, the literary talent os Samadoglu opened most brightly in 1990 - a difficult time for post-Soviet Azerbaijan. Here the old rule was confirmed, that in difficult times the maximum voltage is required from writers, as well as from politicians, to help their homeland. From Samadoglu, in this decade, came three books, two films were filmed on his screenplays, theaters staged his performances.
Especially popular in Azerbaijan was the film "Wedding Ring", written by Vagif Samadoglu. This film is also called un Azeri "Mimino" - it is both philosophical and ironic.
Still, Samadoglu considered himself the heir not only of Azerbaijani literature, but also Russian. "He said that he would never consider Moscow to be a foreign city," says the secretary of the Moscow branch of the Writers' Union of Azerbaijan, Nasib Nabioglu. "In 2006, at the Central House of Writers we organized an evening in honor of the centennial of Samad Vurgun. A large delegation flew from Baku. Vagif was with his family, his sister came, unfortunately she left us two years after the centenary of his father. Vagif then said, speaking at the evening in Moscow, that he felt ambivalent feelings: both joy and nostalgia for the past years, living here. I remember his words well, that Moscow is not a foreign city for him."
In this period of his life, Vagif Samadoglu was actively involved in politics. In 2000-2005 he was a deputy of the Milli Mejlis, a member of the Commission of Pardons and the Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation to PACE. The journalist Jafar Abbasov, during a conversation with Vestnik Kavkaza, paid special attention to Samadoglu's attitude to the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh: "This problem was painful for Vagif muallim! He experienced it as a true patriot. Everything that happened, he explained as sheer madness. First, he asked how such a tragedy could happen between the two neighboring nations? Secondly, this is a great injustice - to take away 20% of Azerbaijan's territory, and to chatter about this problem for more than 20 years. Of course, he longed to finally and justly find a solution to the conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh during his lifetime. By a solution to the problem, he meant only one thing - the return of the land."
"What is 75 years of life for a man?" asks Nasib Nabioglu. "I am convinced that for Vagif, and for us, it was not enough - we need his wisdom and philosophy, his views on the changing life. A common raven can live 300 years, and here is some 75 ... So I read his last poem, which has the following lines: "I want to sleep, I want to sleep where there is no one and where there is no light. Where the dark is."I think he thought so about his death. Apparently, the pain tortured him. We all knew that he had a developing oncology. But he didn’t show it. He stood firm until his last day. On this day, Azerbaijani literature lost a very talented and bright representative. "
Vagif Samadoglu died on January 28th this year. He was buried at the Alley of Honor in Baku.
"Stop the globe, I want to get off!" As the story goes, Vagif Samadoglu once said this phrase jokingly. Now it's one of the many famous Azerbaijani aphorisms, like many other phrases uttered by a remarkable national writer.
