Ahmad Agdamski

Ahmed Agdamski also known by the stage name of Ahmed Bashir oglu Badalbeyli (January 5, 1884 – April 1, 1954) who was a Soviet Azerbaijani opera singer, mugam singer and actor.

Biography

Ahmadbey Badalbeyli was born on January 5, 1884, in Shusha, Elisabethpol Governorate, Russian Empire. He attended circles of theater-lovers and participated in national spectacles from his childhood.

In 1943, Ahmad Agdamski was conferred “Honored Art Worker of Azerbaijan” title.

He died on April 1, 1954.

Muslim women were not allowed to play in theater in Azrebaijan and this is why men played female parts. Ahmed Agdamski, whose nice voice and fine constitution helped him in creation of female roles, was one of them. He played pieces of Leyli (“Leyli and Majnun”), by persuasion of his brother Badalbey and because of refusal of Farajov (because of persecution of theater-haters), Asli (“Asli and Karam”), Gulnaz (“If Not That One, Then This One”), Gulchohra (“Arshin mal alan”), Minnat khanim (“Husband and wife”) and Tahmina (“Rustam and Zohrab”) from operas written by his cousin Uzeyir Hajibeyov. In “Shah Abbas and Khurshid Banu” he acted as poet Khurshidbanu Natavan.

In 1916, Agmed Agdamski was shot in “Arshin mal alan”, the first Azerbaijani comedy-film, which was based on motifs of an opera of the same name written by Uzeyir Hajibeyov.

Agdamski also played the female role of Gulchohra in the 1917 Azeri film The Cloth Peddler. He died on April 1, 1954, in Agdash, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union.