The Azeri Aşıq in Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan: Towards a Transnational Comparison of a Diverging Tradition

Abstract

The Azeri asiq tradition is a genre of musical storytelling that has circulated through the Caucasus and Northern Iran for over 500 years. Asiqs travelled between regions to perform, and practitioners remained in contact for most of the genre’s history. This contact was disrupted in the early 20 th century, when northern Azerbaijan was incorporated into the USSR. Divided between two countries, the asiqs of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Northern Iran have developed along separate paths. This paper will compare contemporary asiq performances as observed in The Republic of Azerbaijan and Northern Iran, focusing on historical factors, performance contexts, and gender. Finally, it will consider how increased interaction between the two regions since the 1990s may influence the future of the genre. This study is based on the fieldwork and research of Anna Oldfield in the Republic of Azerbaijan and Behrang Nikaeen in Iran.