Asaf Zeynalabdin oglu Zeynally (Azerbaijani:Asəf Zeynallı), also spelledZeynalli (5 April 1909,Derbent – 27 October 1932,Baku), was anAzerbaijanicomposer.
Asaf Zeynally was the third child of thegardener Zeynalabdin and his wife Asband. He grew up in a house located next to Derbent's famous historical Naryn-Kala sight. Asaf Zeynally's father died shortly after his birth, and his mother, Asband, aweaver, became the family's breadwinner. She was also an amateur musician and singer, and she played theaccordion contributing to her younger son's growing passion for music. In 1916, 7-year-old Zeynally started attending the DerbentRealschule, a local primary school, where he became a member of the schoolchoir and was taught to play theclarinet often participating in public performances of an amateurbrass band outside school. In 1920, the family moved to Baku,Azerbaijan, where Zeynally continued his education at amilitary school, at which he also learned to play thetrumpet.[1]
In 1923, Zeynally enrolled in the newly established musical college (which would be later named after him) where he was taught by prominent composerUzeyir Hajibeyov. While studying at the college, he composed his first work entitledMahni ("The Song") and performed it on atrumpet. The performance was perceived at revolutionary by music experts as the young composer managed to adjust the ceremonialmarch-like tune of the instrument in order to play folk Azeri music. Encouraged by Hajibeyov, Zeynally enrolled in thecomposer program at theAzerbaijan State Conservatoire upon graduating from the musical college in 1926. Along with writing music, Zeynally publishes articles on Azeri musical culture, in which he mainly develops Hajibeyov's method of merging traditional Azeri styles with Western Europeanclassical music. In the early 1930s, he was among members ofintelligentsia who opposed the goal of theSoviets to bantar. Since 1928 Zeynally taught at the music school by the Conservatoire, where he teaches theories of music (Gara Garayev,Jovdat Hajiyev andTofig Guliyev were among his students[2]). 1929 becomes the peak of the composer's activity. Among his works produced that year, there was theromanceOlkam ("My Country"), children'ssuite,Garabagh shikastasi for asymphonic orchestra, and other folk songs adjusted for Western instruments. In 1931 graduated from the Conservatoire and was appointed head of the Department of Music of the Baku Turkic Labour Theatre. There, his main contribution was writing music for the controversial propaganda playSevil. In 1932, the theatre successfully touredSaint Petersburg.
Asaf Zeynally died in 1932, at the age of 23, of an illness, never getting to compose the monumentalsymphony dedicated to Baku that he had planned earlier.[1]
TheAsaf Zeynally Music School in Baku currently bears his name.
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