Rəhman Məmmədli

Rəhman Məmmədli is more than just a guitarist: he is the symbolic figure of Azerbaijani gitara music. It is a globally unique way of playing the instrument that exists around the electric guitar in his home country. Alongside the late Rüstəm Quliyev, whose anthology on Bongo Joe Records attracted a lot of attention in 2020, Rəhman is the absolute don of Azerbaijani gitara culture. Sometimes he shreds live on social media for hours - but always for hundreds of thousands.

Born in 1961 in the Fuzuli district of Karabakh, Rəhman Məmmədli grew up surrounded by the music of the region. As a child, he had already mastered the garmon accordion. But it was when he picked up the guitar that his natural talent came to the fore: after just a few days, he was able to play a whole range of melodies and was soon promoted to guitarist in the Karabakh Ensemble. After a brief creative break, he began releasing his own albums as a solo artist in the 1990s. His attachment to traditional music, both Mugham and Ashiq traditions, runs deep. Rəhman Məmmədli has succeeded in transferring these genres to the electric guitar. To do this, he had to develop new and special playing techniques. His ability to imitate the voice of classical mugham singers earned him the nickname “the man with the singing fingers”.