Shahriyar

Remembering Shahriyar

Azeri version of "Greeting, Heydar Baba!"

(PDF, 16 k)

It's extremely rare for any Azerbaijani (Northern or Southern) not to know the famous poet, Mohammed Hussein Shahriyar (1907-1987) and not to be familiar with his poem, "Heydar Baba, Salam" (Greetings to Heydar Baba). Through the graphic imagery, the poet as a mature adult nostalgically recalls his carefree childhood growing up in a village next to a mountain known as "Heydar Baba" near Tabriz, Iran.

It was while Shahriyar was training as a medical student in Tehran University in the early 1940s that he became inÑŽuenced by his mother to develop his colloquial Azeri idiom into a masterful literary language. Equal to Shahriyar's best poetry in Farsi, "Heydar Baba, Salam" proved that he could write Azeri with equal elegance and power.

The poem became so popular and so many Azerbaijanis identiЮed so closely with it that many songs were written and many stanzas have been incorporated into proverbial expressions in everyday Azeri speech.

"Heydar Baba" broke the cultural isolation and silence of Southern Azerbaijan. It can be said that it was responsible for reviving literary Azeri language in Iran. It quickly became known not only in Southern Azerbaijan but throughout the rest of the Turkic world and signaled a new chapter in the literary history in Southern Azerbaijan as the Azeri language at that time was not ofЮcially recognized nor publication ofЮcially allowed in Iran. Intellectual exchange with Northern Azerbaijanis was severed as Soviet policy had imposed a new unfamiliar alphabet--Cyrillic--on the language which had united them before.

In fact, though the original work was published in Arabic script in two parts (Tabriz: 1954 and 1966), its inÑŽuence is still strongly felt. In 1991, a symphonic work was composed in Iran entitled "Heydar Baba, Salam" and in 1993 in Northern Azerbaijan a mugam singer based his lyrics on these lines as well.

In the 1970s when a publisher was denied permission from the government to reprint the poem in Azeri, he determined to Юnd a way for even illiterate people to know "Heydar Baba". Soon "underground" cassette tapes were circulating and the impact of the poetry was even stronger than if it had been printed.

Left: Poet's Shrine in Tabriz where Shahriyar is burried.

Shahriyar is recognized as one of the Юnest contemporary poets of Iran particularly for his brilliant skill with a classical form called ghazal. As well, he established his own school of poetry--known as the "Shahriyar School."

In 1992, a joint Conference about Shahriyar--sponsored by Azerbaijan's Academy of Sciences and Iran's Ministry of Art and Culture was held in Tehran.

As September is the commemoration of Shahriyar's death in 1987, and many remember him and his literary contribution at this time, we use this issue to present the Юrst six stanzas of "Heydar Baba, Salam"--translated and published in English and transliterated to the new Latin script of Northern Azerbaijan. Both for the Юrst time.

Azeri version of "Greeting, Heydar Baba!"

(PDF, 16 k)

Greetings, Haydar Baba

By Shahriyar

English Translation by Dr. Hasan Javadi

Heydar Baba, when the thunder resounds across the skies,

When