Azerbaijan or Azarbaijan (Azerbaijani: آذربایجان Azərbaycan) is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. It's bounded by Caspian Sea to the east, Russia's Daghestan region to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia and Turkey to the southwest, and Iran to the south. Azerbaijan is a home to various ethnicities, majority of which are Azerbaijani, a Turkic ethnic group which numbers close to 9 million in the independent Republic of Azerbaijan.

During Median and Persian rule, many Caucasian Albanians adopted Zoroastrianism and then switched to Christianity prior to coming of Muslim Arabs and more importantly Muslim Turks. The Turkic tribes are believed to have arrived as small bands of ghazis whose conquests led to the Turkification of the population as largely native Caucasian and Iranian tribes adopted the Turkic language of the Oghuz and converted to Islam over a period of several hundred years.

After more than 80 years of colonization under the Russian empire in the Caucasus, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was established in 1918. The state was invaded by Soviet forces in 1920 and remained under Soviet rule until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Music of Azerbaijan builds on folk traditions that reach back nearly 1,000 years. For centuries Azerbaijani music

has evolved under the badge of monody, producing rhythmically diverse melodies. Azerbaijani music has a

branchy mode system, where chromatisation of major and minor scales is of great importance. As is the case also with

Arabic and Turkish and even more evidently, much of the musical terminology of Azerbaijani cultures is of Persian

origin.

The classical music of Azerbaijan is called mugam (more accurately spelled muğam), and draws on the music of the Iranian-Arab-Turkish maqam.[4] It is usually a suite with poetry and instrumental interludes. The sung poetry sometimes includes tahrir segments, which use a form of singing similar to yodelling. The poetry is typically about divine love and is most often linked to Sufi Islam.Mugam created in ancient Iran territory and developed in Azerbaijan republic and Iran Azerbaijan provinces since Safavid(The most branch of mugam which called by bayat(like bayat-e-kurd,bayate-shiraz, bayat-e-turk...)created by an Azerbaijani tradition(Bayat which have music talents)in different provinces of Iran like kurdisatn, shiraz, isfahan. The most of royal musicians in palaces of ancient Iran kings in provinces were Bayat and there is no relation between Persian and mugam because of different morality and life philosophy between Persians and ancient Iran traditions.

Azerbaijan has a wide range of music and music styles but the most popular is rap music. In 2011, Azerbaijan won the Eurovision song contest by rap. In contrast to the mugam traditions of Central Asian countries, Azeri mugam is more free-form and less rigid; it is often compared to the improvised field of rap.[5] [6]

There are a number of Azerbaijani dances (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Reqsleri),

these folk dances of the Azerbaijani people are old and extremely melodious. It is

performed at formal celebrations and the dancers wear festival clothes or Chokha

cloaks. It has a very fast rhythm, so the dancer must have inherent skill

Azerbaijan’s national dance shows the characteristics of the Azerbaijani nation.

These dances differ from other dances with its quick temp and optimism. And this

talks about nation’s braveness. The national clothes of Azerbaijan are well

preserved within the national dances.

National clothes of Azerbaijan are the result of material and moral culture of the people who lived through numerous difficulties in their lives. Closely associated with the history of people, the clothes are one of the most important sources in the investigation of culture of that people. Clothes mainly reflect the national peculiarities and ethnic attributes of people. Clothes play a great role in solution of the matters regarding ethnogeny, they help to settle the problems of cultural-historical relations and mutual influence between the folks. They depend on the level of the development of natural economy and geographical conditions.

The history of folk creation, ethnographic and artistic qualities find their reflection on the clothes. This peculiarity is revealed in clothes of different form and in their decorations, art needlework and weaving.During archeological digs in the territory of Azerbaijan the archeologists found out bronze needle and awl referred to the beginning of the bronze age (III millennium b.c.). Those findings prove that, the ancient Azerbaijanis could sew for themselves. Small clay statutes found in Kultepe (the 2nd millennium BC) and barmagchills seals found in Mingechevir (V century BC) provide some information about the style of clothes during that period. Silk clothes found in Mingachevir catacombs are referred to the V-VI centuries AD. A number of golden accessories and plates made of clay in the form of shoe found in Azerbaijan and referred to the III-IV centuries b. c. prove that Azerbaijanis have ancient material culture.

The Culture of Azerbaijan has developed under influence under Turkish , Islamic and European cultures, including Caucasian and Turkic heritage as well as Russian influences due to its former status as a Soviet republic. Today, western influences, including globalized consumer culture, are strong.

Azerbaijani literature (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan ədəbiyyatı)

refers to the literature written in Azerbaijani, which currently is

the official state language of the Republic of Azerbaijan and is

widely spoken in northwestern Iran and eastern Turkey.

Azerbaijani is a dialect of Oghuz branch of Turkic languages, and

as such, is mutually intelligible with other Oghuz dialects spoken

in Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, 

Russia, Balkans and Middle East.

Nizami Ganjavi (Persian:  نظامی ,Kurdish: Nîzamî Gencewî ;گنجوی

گه‌نجه‌وی Nezāmi-ye ,نیزامیGanjavi; Azerbaijani: Nizami Gəncəvi, گنجوی to 1141 ;نظامی1209),Nizami Ganje'i, Nizami,

or Nezāmi (Persian: نظامی), whose formal name was Niẓām ad-Dīn Abū Muḥammad Ilyās ibn-Yūsuf ibn-Zakkī, was a 12th-centuryPersian poet. Nezāmi is considered the greatest romantic epic poet in Persian literature, who brought a colloquial and realistic style to the Persian epic. His heritage is widely appreciated and

shared by Afghanistan, Azerbaijan,Iran, Kurdistan region and Tajikisan.

The Baku Ateshgah (from Persian: آتشگاه Atashgāh > Azerbaijani: Atəşgah) or "Fire Temple" is a castle-like ancient Hindu religious structure

in Surakhani, a suburb of greater Baku, Azerbaijan. "Atash" (آتش) is

the Persian word for fire. The pentagonal complex, which has a

courtyard surrounded by cells for monks and a tetrapillar-altar in the middle, was built during the 17th and 18th centuries.

It was abandoned after 1883 when oil and gas plants were established in the

vicinity. The complex was turned into a museum in 1975 and now receives 15,000

visitors a year. It was nominated for World Heritage Site status in 1998

and was declared a state historical-architectural reserve by decree of the

Azeri President on 19 December 2007.