The traditional music festival is an annual event held in Moscow in partnership with the Embassy of Turkmenistan in the Russian Federation, the Government of Moscow, the Russian Academy of Arts and the President of the Russian Academy of Arts, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, People’s Artist of the USSR and the Russian Federation ‎Zurab Tsereteli, multi-business company Art Center PLUS and the news agency Musical Klondike.

Named after Nury Khalmamedov, an outstanding Turkmen composer, who left an indelible mark on 20th-century music, the Festival aims to encourage an international cultural dialogue and to promote Turkmen music.

As part of the 2020 Festival preparations, a competition has been announced for music compositions inspired by lyrics written by poet Kurbannazar Ezizov, who would have turned 80 this year.

The competition will offer a wonderful chance to learn more about present-day composers, their works and current music trends, as well as to popularize Kurbannazarov Ezizov’s poetic legacy. Composer Nury Khalmamedov and poet Kurbannazar Ezizov enjoyed a close and longstanding friendship and a joint creative collaboration.

Renowned composers and vocal coaches from Russia, Turkmenistan and the USA will be on a jury judging the competition, which is open to any composer, presenting works for voice and piano. Scores may be submitted from April 1 to September 1, 2020 and need to be emailed to festival.sounds-of-dutar@mail.ru. The total cash prize money is US $1,500.

The Competition will consist of two rounds. The selective round will be held from September 1 to October 1, 2020. The jury will judge the submitted scores.

The final round will take place at the Museum and Exhibition Complex of the Russian Academy of Arts on October 28, 2020. The finalists will perform their compositions to a live audience. Following the concert, the winners of the competition will be announced.

More detailed information can be found on the official website of the Competition at dutar-sounds.ru

We contacted the organizer and art director of the Sounds of the Dutar International Festival named after Nury Khalmamedov, Mamed Guseynov, who gave an online video interview to us.

- Mamed Suleymanovich, the Festival has a fascinating background. In reality, not only is it a creative competition, it also provides a platform for a multicultural dialogue and the perfect fusion of musical traditions. Music is a universal art form. Is this your central message?

At the heart of the festival is strengthening the connection across diverse cultures, bringing them closer together through music. International communication enhances greater cooperation and allows blending national and classical styles in modern art. In my opinion, works by Nury Khalmamedov serve as the striking metaphor for a harmonious mix of traditions and innovations.

The stylistic diversity of the prominent composer’s oeuvre contributes to an extraordinarily broad spectrum of genres featured at the Festival: music, dance, poetry, and painting. The art of composing is seen here as a syncretic mixture of folk, classical and modern music.

Some 500 musicians, dance ensembles and choirs from Armenia, Germany, Kazakhstan, China, the UAE, Russia, Slovenia, the USA, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, France, South Korea, Japan, among other, have participated in the Sounds of the Dutar Festival over the last years.

It was not incidental that the Russian capital was chosen as the host city for the Festival. The city had played a significant role in the lives of many composers and the Moscow Conservatory had trained many eminent figures in music from the Union Republics (presently the CIS countries), including Nury Khalmamedov. The composer wrote his celebrated piano piece ‘The Sounds of the Dutar’, devoted to the illustrious bagshi (folk musician) Mylly Tachmuradov, when he was a student at the Conservatory. This authentically unique music revealed Nury Khalmamedov as an exceptionally talented and mature composer.

- A series of richly varied events have been organized as part of the Festival since 2015. They indirectly reflected the key and decisive moments in the life of Nury Khalmamedov...

- Nury Khalmamedov was an amazingly versatile personality, whose life was the path of creative pursuits and discoveries. A true pioneer, who reinforced the power of national music and added a flavor of the Turkmen folk tradition to classical music, he composed extraordinarily beautiful works infused with thought-provoking philosophy that delight listeners and touch a place deep inside their hearts.

When organizing various events: conferences, exhibitions, and competitions, we try to thematically link them with the momentous events in Nury Khalmamedov’s biography. Art exhibitions are a notable example.

The first of them entitled ‘Legends of Ancient Merv: Evolution in Music’ was on view during the Second International Festival. Nury Khalmamedov is known to have been raised in a children’s home in the town of Bayramali where the Ancient Merv State Historical and Cultural Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is located nearby. Undoubtedly, the historical aura of the place influenced the composer dramatically.

In 2017, the Third Festival featured an exhibition of miniatures called ‘In the World of Oriental Fairytales’, which marked the 95th birthday of People’s Artist of the USSR Izzat Klychev. The artist and the composer were good friends. In 1979, Izzat Klychev illustrated ‘Üç Desse’ (Three Vocal Series), a collection of romances by Nury Khalmamedov.

In 2018, the Fourth Festival saw ‘Colorful Life’, an exhibition of watercolors by the artist, director, Honored Art Worker of Turkmenistan, member of the Union of Artists of Turkmenistan, of the Union of Cinematographers of the Russian Federation, of the International Animated Film Association Evgeny Ivanovich Mikhelson, with whom Nury Khalmamedov formed not only a friendship but also a fruitful creative collaboration.

The composer wrote music for eight cartoons directed by Mikhelson: ‘Homeless Kongurja’ (1971); ‘Friends’ (1972); ‘Turmoil’ (1974); ‘Flatbread and the Little Boy’ (1975); ‘Oh Dear, I Had a Rest’ (1976); ‘Three Brothers and the Green Dragon’ (1977); ‘How Are You, Brother Fox?’(1978); ‘Why does the Camel Eat Camelthorn?’ (1982). The concert film ‘Inspiration’ (1982), featuring pieces by Nury Khalmamedov with lyrics by Kurban Ezizov was their last joint collaboration.

In 2019, the Fifth Festival hosted an art exhibition celebrating the 85th birthday of the full member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Honored Art Worker of Turkmenistan Vladimir Artykov. A graduate of the then All-Union Institute of Cinematography (now the Russian State Institute of Cinematography), Vladimir Artykov began his professional career at the Turkmenfilm Film Studio. Film director Alty Karliev, composer Nury Khalmamedov and artist Vladimir Artykov worked in tandem on the film Magtymguly.

Cinema did considerably influence Nury Khalmamedov’s signature style of composing. His music is incredibly powerful: the composer created melodic panoramas of vast scope offering psychological portraits of his characters. Nury Khalmamedov, who appreciated drama in music, could add a musical instrument not normally used in an orchestra to produce a particularly distinctive sound. Cinema made a noticeable impact on Vladimir Artykov’s painting style as well.

This year, we are planning to hold a research and practice conference entitled ‘The Face of War through the Prism of Art’, which is expected to culminate in the publication of collected articles. It will be the fourth edition of collected works contributed by the Festival.

- The Sounds of the Dutar Festival has played an important role in intercultural relations among the CIS countries. We would like to thank you for your massive efforts and hope that the artistic forum will stay with us for many years to come and will continue to delight audiences with new bright ideas, creative events and discoveries.