Note of Asaf Zeynally’s “Iki romans”

Asaf Zeynally (1909-1932) - Azerbaijani composer, specialist in folklore. Founder of national romance genre of Azerbaijan.
Zeynally has graduated from the musical college in 1926 and the faculty of composers’s of Azerbaijan State Conservatoire (he was in Uzeyir Hajibeyli’s class) in 1931. During 1929-1931 Asef Zeynally was the leader of music part of Turkic Labour Theatre. He was a teacher at Musical school attached to Azerbaijan State Conservatoire during 1928-1932. Gara Garayev and Tofig Guliyev were his students.
His “My country”, “A question”, “Veil”, “Seyran” and other romances were very popular. A. Zeynally composed musics for J. Jabbarli’s “Sevil”, “Donush”, H.Nazarli and S.Rustam’s “Fire”, A.Hamid’s “Indian girl” and V.Kirsho’s “The city of winds” dramas which were performed in Turkic Labour Theatre. Asef Zeynally, who was the author of the first romances, fortepiano and violin miniatures and also the first samples of symphonic works, has written notes for about 50 Azerbaijani folk songs.
Asaf Zeynally died at the age of 23, in the period of prosperity of his creativity.