Ashik

An Ashik is a traveling bard, in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia,  and Iran.  They sing and play the saz, a form of lute. The songs are made up on the spot around common ideas.

The Ashik tradition started with the Shamanistic beliefs of ancient Turkic peoples. "ashik,shaman" - DASTAN GENRE IN CENTRAL ASIA; European University Institute, Florence, Italy  (retrieved 10 August 2006). The ancient ashiks were called by many names.  Some names were bakhshi (Baxşı), dede (dədə), and uzan or ozan. They helped keep oral tradition, helped make a shared value system and kept the culture of their people. 

In September 2009, Azerbaijan’s ashik art was added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists.Today.az. Azerbaijan’s ashug art included into UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. 01 October 2009 The word Ashik comes from the Arabic word Asheq.  It means the "one who is in love".

References

Category:Musical groups
Category:Folk music
Category:Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity
Category:Azerbaijani music