We headed to beautiful Xizi to explore the nature and the ancient sounds of Azerbaijani music with Maxmud Salah and his “Qadim Sharg” band. Mahmud Salah is considered as the best ghaval player in Azerbaijan. His name is mentioned in many books on Azerbaijan national musical instruments written by local and foreign authors. Professor of the Northwestern University (Illinois, United States) Inna Naroditskaya in her book “Songs from the Land of Fire” (2003) dedicated to Azerbaijani traditional musical culture expresses her gratitude to Mahmud Salah “for his patience and enthusiasm in teaching me to play the ghaval in 2002”. His qhaval (daf) performance is placed on the compact disk (sound track 2) appendixes to her book.
