"Simurg" Ensemble from Azerbaijan Wins Grand Prix at the 13th Sharq Taronalari Festival in Uzbekistan
The Grand Prix of the 13th Sharq Taronalari International Music Festival, held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, from August 26–30, was awarded to the "Simurg" mugham ensemble from Azerbaijan.
More than 300 representatives from about 80 countries took part in this year's festival, which was organized in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Uzbekistan, UNESCO, ICESCO, and TURKSOY.
The Mugham ensemble "Simurg," consisting of the famous singer Miralam Miralamov and instrumentalists Zaki Valiyev (tar), Elnur Mikayilov (kamancha), Honored Artist Kamran Karimov (drums), Idris Huseynov (oud), and Anar Velizadeh (balaban), for the third time won the main prize of the world-famous festival for Azerbaijan with its outstanding performance.
The statuette of the festival and the certificate of the main prize were handed over to the ensemble by the Minister of Culture of Uzbekistan, Ozodbek Nazarbekov, and the Chairman of the International Jury of the 13th "Sharq Taronalari," the Director of the International Mugham Center, tar performer, Honored Artist Sahib Pazashadeh.
For the first time in the 27-year history of the festival, the representative of Azerbaijan headed the international jury.
The amount of the Grand Prix prize is 10,000 US dollars.
The "Sharq Taronalari" festival was established in 1997 and is held every two years. At the first festival, singer Simara Imanova from our country won the Grand Prix, while tar performer Sahib Pashazadeh secured the Grand Prix at the 11th festival in 2017. Various musicians from our country have won at this festival in different years.