Habil-Sayagy (In Habil's Style), 1979

Franghiz Ali-Zadeh
Azerbaijan

Instrumentation:
cello, prepared piano

The music of Azerbaijan, which provided half the inspiration for Franghiz Ali-Zadeh's Habil-Sayagy (In Habil's Style). The other half was provided by the prepared piano technique popularized by American avant-garde composer John Cage, in which objects are placed on and between the piano strings to alter their timbre. Ali-Zadeh, an accomplished pianist, was the first to perform Cage's music in Azerbaijan. In Habil-Sayagy, Ali-Zadeh prepares the piano with mutes, mallets and a string of glass beads to evoke the sounds of traditional Azerbaijani and Middle Eastern instruments such as gosha nagara [go SHAH na GOR ah] (kettle drums), tar [tar] (long-necked lute), qanun [KAH noon] (plucked zither) and oud [ood] (short-necked lute). The cello represents the sound of the kamancheh [ke MAHN cheh] (spike fiddle), and the piece takes its name from a great contemporary kamancheh player, Habil Aliyev.