Rashid was almost 30 years old when he was tapped to play the lead role of “Asgar”, the wealthy peddler, in the second (1945) screening of “The Cloth Peddler” (“Arshyn Mal Alan”), based on the same-titled 1913 musical comedy by Uzeyir Hajibeyov. Asgar was the rich merchant, who disguised himself as a cloth peddler just to get the chance to enter the courtyards of homes so that he could catch a glimpse of all the pretty young women and choose one for his wife.
This version of the movie came on the heels of World War II and was so successful that it not only made Rashid famous, but it won Hajibeyov the coveted Stalin Prize.
When the directors were getting ready to cast the film, one of them, Rza Tahmasib, had thought he would offer Rashid the role of “Vali”, Asgar's servant. Vali's character was comical, a trait which came naturally for Rashid. However, during the audition, Tahmasib heard Rashid sing an aria written for Asgar and decided to give him the lead role instead. The film turned out to be so successful that it was shown in more than 25 countries.

Iran and Turkey

Rashid often performed in the Near East. In Iran, he was accompanied by the pianist Chingiz Sadikhov and tar player Ahsan Dadashov. They were so popular that their two-week tour in Iran stretched into two months. His first concert in Turkey took place in 1961 with the talented violin player Azad Aliyev. The concerts in Ankara and Istanbul were extremely successful as well.
As Azad Sharifov reports: I was lucky enough to see one of his concerts in Ankara in 1966. At that time, I was a correspondent for the newspaper “Izvestiya”. It was his tenth concert on that tour. The concert hall was sold out, but I decided to try to go anyway. Fortunately, Rashid's manager saw me and motioned for me to follow him backstage. There I found Rashid pacing the floor. The manager cautioned me, "He's getting ready to go on stage better not disturb him right now." I stood silently as if frozen.
Suddenly, Rashid looked up, recognized me and came and hugged me. "Where have you been for so long?" he asked. "If you only knew how much I miss Baku and my daughter. Thank God, I'll be flying back tomorrow. It is so good of you to come. After the concert, let's have dinner together." I remember that the Turkish audience that night knew all of Rashid's repertoire by heart and sang along with him.

South America

Rashid was a sociable person; he loved getting together with friends. In the meetings in Moscow in the Artists' Union, Rashid used to meet friends like composer Zakir Bagirov, artist Toghrul Narimanbeyov and artist Tahir Salahov.
At these gatherings, Rashid used to tell stories about his South American tours 56 flights and landings in total. Some concerts were even held at extremely high altitudes (4,200 meters above sea level). During intermission, they used to offer him an oxygen tank, instead of the usual cup of tea.
Rashid wrote home to his wife, Jeyran, that the concerts in Chile were especially difficult because of the ongoing political crisis there: "My dear ones, this is the tenth day of our dangerous tour. Wherever we go by bus, we are accompanied by soldiers. Sometimes we can hear shooting in the distance. I'm rushing off to a concert which will take place at the Opera Theater which is the same building in which Russian singer Fedor Shalyapin, Russian composer and pianist Anton Rubinstein and American violinist Menuhin have all given concerts. At each of these concerts we have taken the audience by storm. Each has been a success. I'm so happy to get the chance to pave a way for Azerbaijani songs. But I want to see you. All the best. Kissing you, especially my little Rada. Your father, Rashid. August 5, 1973."

India

Rashid was also very popular in India and gave six concerts there. His first appearance was in 1952. Rashid sang Azerbaijani songs and then several songs in Hindi, Urdu and Bengali. It was a sensation. Members of the audience told him that he sang Indian songs just like a native. In India, he toured Delhi, Mumbai (Bombay) and Calcutta. It was in India that he first met the great Indian actor Raj Kapoor and the actress Nargis. They remained friends for the rest of their lives. Later, Rashid wrote a book about his trip to India entitled "In Far India."
A year later in 1953, Rashid went back to India with a group of famous Soviet musicians. This time he returned as a familiar face. Many people throughout the country knew him. At each concert, he was asked to sing the most popular Indian song at the time, "India is the Best Country."
It was on this trip that something extraordinary happened. Rashid's train was on its way to Hyderabad. Suddenly, a huge crowd of Indians surrounded the train, holding flashlights, fruit and flowers. They made the train come to a stop and insisted that Rashid sing for them. So he obliged and stood in the doorway of the train and entertained the crowd by singing Azerbaijani and Indian songs. Eventually, the train was able to proceed.

Official honors

Even though Rashid was extremely popular, official recognition of his contributions to the performing arts was late in coming. The title of "People's Artist of the USSR," the highest honor that could be given to an artist, had to be approved by the Kremlin. But the Soviet government balked and made excuses. They would admit that he was great, but then would add disparagingly, "But he's just a pop singer, not an opera singer."

But Rashid was not just a pop singer. He could handle extremely complicated opera roles as well which he proved in the portrayal of Balash in Fikrat Amirov's opera, "Sevil" (1953). This work is based on the storyline of a dramatic play of the same name by Jafar Jabbarli earlier in the century. The opera is characterized by its bright and colorful national melodies. Amirov himself offered the part of Balash to Rashid Behbudov.

In May 1959, a grand display of Azerbaijani talent went on display in Moscow during the cultural event dubbed "The Decade of Azerbaijan Culture." During the Soviet period, the Kremlin went to great lengths to create the illusion that the many ethnicities of its vast conquered lands were "one big happy family." They often created cultural events to foster and cultivate this belief. But it provided a chance for the various republics to make their art known throughout that vast land that spanned ten time zones.

Amirov's "Sevil" was performed at this event with Rashid playing the role of Balash. He demonstrated an unusual brilliancy and talent and for this he was finally awarded the coveted title of "People's Artist of the USSR."

Song Theater

It was Rashid's dream to create a place in Azerbaijan specifically designated as a Song Theater. Prior to the Soviet occupation, Baku already had an Opera and Ballet Theater, a Philharmonic Hall, a Comedy Theater and various other buildings dedicated to various genres of music, but nowhere was there a home for the genre of popular music.
Behbudov was already an established musician when he decided to undertake this project. He envisioned each song as a mini-spectacle with its own heroes, theme and development and he went in search of a worthy setting where the dramatic aspects of these popular songs could be dramatically presented. Creating the Song Theater became a pet project for him. He was very proud of it and spent a great deal of energy, anxiety and time on the conversion of a pre-Soviet Jewish synagogue into the Song Theater. Simultaneously, he worked on creating a professional music group that would be associated with the theater.
But in the spring of 1989, all these projects soon came to an end. The theater was preparing a new program for the Novruz holidays (the Spring Solstice on March 21 celebrating the New Year). Rashid looked fine despite his age of 74. His voice was still so strong and beautiful. But suddenly, during one of the practices, he took ill.
With great difficulty, his friends managed to get him to Moscow to the Kuntsevo Hospital, which was considered the best hospital in the Soviet Union at the time. Doctors struggled to save him. But it was too late. Rashid Behbudov was dying from kidney disease. Sadly, he was so far from home. Until the last minute, he kept expecting the door to open and friends to walk in. Every time the door opened, he would ask, "Have my dear friends come to visit me?"
Rashid was hoping that some of those who were attending the sessions of the Supreme Soviet in the Kremlin would drop by his hospital room. But during those days prior to Azerbaijan's independence (1991), an enormous struggle was going on in the Soviet Union. Those were difficult days for Azerbaijan. Friends were occupied with other things. Only Jeyran Khanum, his wife, stayed by his side in the hospital.
In one of his last letters written from the hospital, he wrote with great optimism, "My dear ones, and my boisterous loyal friends! We will soon be together. It will be necessary to work by yourselves during this interim. You'll have to work hard. Please know that your loyalty to the theater and to art is the best medicine for me." But Rashid did not recover, he was too ill, and on June 9, he died.

Listen to Rashid Behbudov:
http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/music/AudioPages/Behbudov/rashid.behbudov.html

Rashid Behbudov (Ra-SHID BEH-bu-dov) was one of Azerbaijan's greatest singers. On December 14th, his birthday, Azerbaijanis commemorated his 80th Jubilee (1995).
Rashid is remembered for his love songs - his melodic, lyrical love songs. He even managed to mesmerize officials so much with his beautiful rich tenor voice that they didn't pressure him to sing contrived songs to glorify the Soviet system or heroes like Stalin and Lenin. Maybe it was because officials, too, had their own love lives. Is it possible to prohibit love?

Stardom

Many people first became familiar with Rashid's extraordinary talent from the 1945 movie version of the opera, "Arshin Mal Alan" (ar-SHIN MAL a-LAN) ("The Cloth Peddler") which Uzeyir Hajibeyov (oo-ze-YIR Ha-ji-BE-yov) composed in 1910. (See AI 2:3, Summer 1994, 64). This award-winning movie, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, can still be seen at the Hajibeyov Museum in Baku or on video.
Rashid played the role of the main character, Asgar (As-GAR), a wealthy merchant, who had everything in life except the chance to choose a woman for his bride. The opera's setting takes place at the turn of the last century when, traditionally, women in Azerbaijan and the region were mostly confined to their homes and wore veils. Asgar, so the story goes, contrived a way to beat the system, by disguising himself as a cloth peddler, the only occupation that allowed him entrance to courtyards, where he could meet pretty young women and choose one for himself.
Rashid played the role brilliantly and quite frankly, made the movie very popular. The following year he was awarded the USSR State Laureate for his performance. After that he began touring various countries throughout the world which he did up until his death. He toured the UK, Finland, Iran, Turkey, China, Albania, Bulgaria, Belgium, Ethiopia, India, Iraq, Chile, Argentina and numerous other countries.
Though I personally never had the chance to travel with him abroad, I accompanied him throughout the Soviet Union. We must have performed in every major city. Those were very happy years together. In 1959 he was named "Peoples' Artist of the USSR"- an extraordinary accomplishment for an Azerbaijani musician. Most titles went to Russians.
Rashid's own background was quite cosmopolitan. An Azerbaijani, he was born in Tbilisi (Georgia) and worked in Yerevan (Armenia) performing in an Armenian jazz orchestra as well as a lyric tenor in Yerevan's Philharmonic and Opera House (1938-44). Rashid's father, Majid Behbudlu was a well-known singer too as was his sister. When I discovered that he was singing many of my songs, I invited him to come to Azerbaijan. He did and ended up staying here for the rest of his life. We worked together many years.
In Azerbaijan, he became a soloist with the State Philharmonic (1946-56) and was given major roles with the State Opera (1953-60 with interruptions). For example, he sang the role of Balash in Fikrat Amirov's "Seville". He was an organizer and instructor of the State Concert Ensemble (1957-59). In 1966 he created the State Song Theater and became its soloist and Artistic Manager. Today the theater building honors his memory, "Behbudov Theater".
He also performed in a number of films, such as Balash in "Sevil", Bakhtiyar in "Sevimli Mahni ("My Favorite Song") "1001-ji Gastrol" ("1001st Tour"), and "Dogma Khalgimiza" ("To Our Native People").

The Perfectionist

Rashid worked very hard. He was, undoubtedly, a perfectionist. I remember one time we worked the whole day on one of my songs from 10:00 in the morning until 8:00 at night. There were three of us - the poet, Rashid and me. He was very exacting and very critical both of himself and others. If he sensed the words didn't fit the music, he would change them. The same for the melody. He was very demanding. But that's why his songs have lived so long. They've been worked over so carefully.

There were days when we wouldn't go to bed until the wee hours of the morning, struggling over a line, reworking a phrase. I look back and recall those days with great pleasure. That's not to say that we didn't have terrible arguments. For sure, we did. Many times! We often quarreled about which version of a song-his or mine-was best. But there were times when he would make suggestions that amazed me because only someone with the knowledge of a composer could have had such ideas. He was entirely self-taught. He had had no formal training in music.
Many of "my" songs really have the signature of both of us. In fact, it's hard to remember now, but there are some songs for which I am recognized as composer, but Rashid made so many changes that they really ought to be considered his. I'm not ashamed or embarrassed by this fact. Admittedly, I'm rather proud that such a famous singer was interacting and developing my ideas. It wasn't only my songs that Rashid sang (though he did perform most of the ones I wrote). He also performed songs by nearly all Azerbaijani composers. He had a very broad repertoire. Besides love songs, he could sing folk songs as well as classical operas.

Natural Talent

Rashid loved to sing the popular songs of the countries where he toured. At the same time, he liked to translate Azerbaijani songs into their languages, especially those from the role of Asgar-as in English, Persian, Bulgarian, Czech, Polish, and Russian and other languages. He had a good ear and exceptional linguistic ability. He could imitate the accent of a native Englishman, German, or Frenchman. Some people even went so far as to say he could sing Russian better than the Russians themselves. Upon hearing a song for the first time, he had the ability to repeat it, though he never did perform on stage until he had worked on it, at least, three or four months.
Even today, singers try to imitate the nuances of his interpretations. But Rashid was naturally gifted. It's no exaggeration to call him a genius for his exceptional talent in music.
I remember how at 73 when he died that his voice was just as remarkable as it had been when he was 45. He took good care of it. I'm not exactly sure how. Admittedly, he drank and had a lot of love affairs. But he never smoked. Maybe that's why.
He was quite handsome, though admittedly short, and rather on the heavy side. He used to try to appear taller by wearing thicker heels on his shoes. But when you heard him sing on stage, his voice was gigantic. Had there not been so many restrictions on traveling outside the Soviet Union, he probably would be known and remembered all over the world today.

Tofig Guliyev, 78, is President of Azerbaijan's Composer's Union and one of Azerbaijan's most beloved songwriters. (See AI, Spring 95, 50). Tofig worked with Rashid Behbudov for many years and wrote many of the songs that Rashid performed, including the one published here in this issue, which was a favorite with them both Rashid and Tofiq - "Sana da Galmaz", ("Your Beauty Won't Last Forever").

Note: Tofig Guliyev passed away on October 4, 2000.

Translation assistance by Jamila Pashayeva and Jala Garibova.