Cultural Exchanges
Cultural exchanges
The cultural exchanges over ages between Azerbaijan and India have led to close cultural affinity and shared traditions. World renowned Azerbaijani poet Nizami Ganjavi had a profound influence on eminent Indian poets like Amir Khusrau. In recent past, the famous Azerbaijani artist late Rashid Behbudov, a noted tenor who switched to singing popular Azeri songs in European classical tradition was a close friend of late Raj Kapoor. Famous singer Elmira Rahimova spent two years studying Indian music/dance in India in the late 1950s. Dr. Vasumathi Badrinathan, a well known Carnatic Classical musician from Mumbai, was invited to participate at the First International Mugham Festival in March 2009. Similarly, Hindustani raga exponent, Indrani Mukherjee from Kolkata, was invited to participate at the Second International Mugham Festival in Baku in March 2011. These artists were instrumental in popularizing Indian music and songs in Azerbaijan. Indian intellectuals like Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore are well known in Azerbaijan and his Birth Anniversary is regularly celebrated by local organizations.
Indian cinema continues to have a large following and Azeri language TV channels screen Hindi films periodically, including the new Bollywood cinema as well as the older movies of Raj Kapoor, Amitabh Bachhan, Mithun Chakraborty, Hema Malini, etc. Indian music and dance groups sponsored by the Indian Council of Cultural relations (ICCR) regularly participate in music and dance festivals in Azerbaijan. Yoga is immensely popular in Azerbaijan and the International Day of Yoga on 21 June is attended by several Yoga practitioners and enthusiasts from Azerbaijan with much enthusiasm.
