Ashik

An Ashik is a traveling bard, in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, and Iran. They sing and play the saz, a form of lute. The songs are made up on the spot around common ideas.

The Ashik tradition started with the Shamanistic beliefs of ancient Turkic peoples. ^[1] The ancient ashiks were called by many names. Some names were bakhshi (Baxşı), dede (dədə), and uzan or ozan. They helped keep oral tradition, helped make a shared value system and kept the culture of their people.

In September 2009, Azerbaijan’s ashik art was added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists.^[2]

The word Ashik comes from the Arabic word Asheq. It means the "one who is in love".

Ashik Media

Azərbaycan milli musiqi aləti saz
An ashik performance in Tabriz
Ashugh Jivani (center, playing the kamani) with instrumentalists
Soviet stamp from 1962 devoted to Sayat-Nova's 250 anniversary.
An ashik performance during Nowruz in Baku
Ismail I (1487–1524)
Armenian ashugh school in Yerevan
A portrait of Ashik Rasool Ghorbani [fa] taken in 1955.
Stamp of Azerbaijan

References

↑ "ashik,shaman" - DASTAN GENRE IN CENTRAL ASIA; European University Institute, Florence, Italy (retrieved 10 August 2006).
↑ Today.az. Azerbaijan’s ashug art included into UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. 01 October 2009

This short article about music can be made longer. You can help Wikipedia by adding to it.

[European_University_Institute.2C_Florence.2C_Italy-1] "ashik,shaman" - DASTAN GENRE IN CENTRAL ASIA; European University Institute, Florence, Italy (retrieved 10 August 2006).

[2] Today.az. Azerbaijan’s ashug art included into UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. 01 October 2009

[1]

[2]