Oil, Trade, and Music: Penetration of European Musical Instruments and Music to Azerbaijan and Its Subsequence

Business has played its part in shaping Azerbaijan’s musical culture. The influx of money and Europeans to Baku during the oil boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries generated demand for Western musical instruments and paved the way for their diffusion in Azerbaijan. Therefore, when speaking of the rapid development of music education and professional music-making of the Western tradition in Azerbaijan, one should not lose sight of the fact that this would have been very difficult if there had not been sufficient saturation of the market with pianos, violins, etc. Materials from the collection of the State Museum of Musical Culture of Azerbaijan contain information on music shops in Baku, where gramophones, records, and sheet music were sold alongside musical instruments.