Azerbaijan’s material and cultural heritage is so abundant that it can be written about at length. Irs-Heritage has been publishing stories on this subject for 10 years. The English version of this issue is touching upon the Mugham for the first time. Of course, the Mugham, which has been included on the world’s cultural heritage list, cannot be fully disclosed in one article, especially if we are talking about the Karabakh School of Mugham. The voices and skill of representatives of this School have earned Azerbaijani music a worldwide reputation. In fact, performers of Mugham from Azerbaijan’s historically native land of Karabakh have continued to impress audiences around the world even after the Armenian occupation of Karabakh. This issue of the journal also contains an article about the current plight of Azerbaijan’s material and cultural sites under Armenian occupation…

Two topics are forever embedded in the minds of our people: 20 January and the Khojali genocide. In the first two months of every year these two dates are commemorated by Azerbaijanis in and outside the country. Irs-Heritage is dedicating articles to the tragic dates, revealing the identities of those behind the developments. We do hope that Azerbaijan will succeed in using all legal remedies available to it to bring the culprits before an international tribunal.

We are also publishing interesting stories about Azerbaijan’s medieval architecture, musical instruments and the well-known Khinalig settlement. Starting from this issue, we will be publishing brochures in addition to the journal. Our ultimate objective is to make Azerbaijan’s material and cultural heritage known beyond its boundaries and gratify our compatriots living abroad.

Musa Marjanli,Editor-in-Chief

Our goal is to make Azerbaijan known beyond its boundaries

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