The Fate of the Khananda

Jahangir Jahangirov

The Fate of the Khananda

Libretto by: Karim Karimov

Conductor – Ayyub Guliyev, Honored Artist
Stage Director – Hafiz Guliyev, Honored Art Worker
Scenographer – Tehran Babayev, Honored Cultural Worker
Chorus Master – Sevil Hajiyeva, Honored Cultural Worker
Choreographer – Naile Mammadzada, Honored Artist

Cast:

• Mir Said – Samir Jafarov, People's Artist

• Khanum – Fatima Jafarzade

• Asadulla bey – Taleh Yahyayev

• Rashid bey – Farid Aliyev, Honored Artist

• Rana – Sama Hamzayeva

• Gulsum – Sabina Vahabzade, Honored Artist

• Qasim – Fehmin Ahmadli

• Ashur bey – Tural Aghasiyev, Honored Artist

• Mammad (Kaspar) – Orkhan Jalilov

Synopsis

Prologue – Paris
An old, poorly dressed man enters a gramophone shop in Paris. He wishes to buy a rare record of the famous Caucasian khananda, Mir Said, but the price is too high. As he prepares to sell his ring, Azerbaijani tourists enter the store. Learning they are from his homeland, the old man grows emotional and says he left Baku in 1918. They ask him to tell the story of Mir Said—and so he begins...

Act I – Nardaran village, before the revolution

In the garden of millionaire Asadulla bey, the maid Gulsum and her daughter Rana are working. The news arrives: Rana’s fiancé, Mir Said, has returned from Paris. The couple joyfully reunites. Asadulla bey’s daughter Khanum listens in awe to Mir Said’s performance. He gifts her a record made in Paris.

Villagers invite him to perform at a wedding the next day. But upon seeing gold in Ashur bey’s hands, Mir Said changes his mind and agrees to sing at Khanum’s birthday instead. His friends feel betrayed.

Act II

Scene 1 – Asadulla bey’s salon

Khanum listens to Mir Said’s record with deep emotion. Rashid bey confesses his love, but she rejects him. Asadulla bey enters, congratulates her, and reveals his illness, urging her to marry soon. Guests arrive and interrupt the conversation.

Mir Said and his friends perform. He sings ghazals by Fizuli. Seeing Khanum's admiration, Rashid bey tries to humiliate him by making him sing a street song, “Vay-duy-duy.” Mir Said complies. Suddenly, news arrives: there’s a fire at the oil fields. Shocked, Asadulla bey collapses. On his deathbed, he gives his blessing for his daughter to marry her beloved—but only if Mir Said gives up his art. Mir Said agrees and becomes wealthy.

Scene 2 – Casino

Rashid bey, devastated after losing at cards, sees Mir Said and Khanum enter. In revenge, he plays a distorted version of Mir Said’s record, causing the guests to laugh. Humiliated, Mir Said smashes the record and declares he will buy back every copy to erase his past.

Epilogue – Paris

The old man finishes his story. The tourists realize he is Mir Said himself. They help him buy the record. But as a group of young people enters and begins dancing wildly, the record falls from his hands and shatters—erasing the final trace of his past.