Director of the Institute of Architecture and Art, Corresponding Member of ANAS Ertegin Salamzade spoke at the 1st International Symposium on Traditional Music and Cultural Identity of the Turkic World.

In his speech the scientist mentioned that traditional music was one of the main indicators of national identity. He said that music constituted a large part of traditional art as a whole and was of great importance in terms of self-awareness, differentiation and accumulation of cultural characteristics of the ethnos. Ertegin Salamzade noted that cultural identity in the Turkic world was formed at two levels, manifesting itself both at the national level of individual peoples and within the framework of the general Turkic identity.

He spoke about the great states and vast geographies created by the ancient Turks, drawing attention to the historical depth of the common Turkic identity based on space and language. He mentioned that the vast geographical civilization space created by the Turks and the common language factor played a major role in the formation of the common Turkic identity.

Professor Ertegin Salamzade noted that the modern approach did not prevent the study of the uniqueness of each Turkic people, but rather allowed for a more in-depth study of the unified Turkic culture: “Investigating the culture of a people means studying Turkish culture as a whole”.

The scientist concluded his opinion by mentioning that a holistic study of Turkic culture opened up new scientific opportunities and that traditional music constituted one of the important semantic layers of this great civilization.