Belarusian president awards Polad Bulbuloglu

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has presented a special award ‘Through Art to Peace and Understanding’ to Azerbaijani Ambassador Polad Bulbuloglu who led the jury of the International Song Contest Vitebsk 2015 at the 24th International Festival of Arts Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk.

The awarding ceremony took place during the closing ceremony of the 24th International Festival of Arts Slavonic Bazaar.

“I could not miss this event. I could not come to its opening ceremony, but I should fulfill my duties at its closing ceremony,” the Belarus president said.

Polad Bulbuloglu said: “On behalf of all the participants I would like to express our deep gratitude to you, the leader of this wonderful country, for this bright festival of music and art in Vitebsk.”

“I would also like to express my sincere gratitude for this award. I view this award as not my personal contribution but your attention to the development of friendly relations between Belarus and Azerbaijan,” he said.

Polad became famous in the whole Soviet Union by composing jazz-influenced pop songs with deep folk feelings in Azerbaijani and Russian.

Musical works by virtuoso composer combine multiple genres, including large symphonic works, chamber and instrumental music, musical, vocal series, music for movies and drama performances, which entered the history of Azerbaijani music as integral pearls.

Polad was also extremely talented to enrich the cinematography. His beautiful songs, performances and popular roles in many films turned him into a film star and gained ever large popularity and sympathy among cinema lovers.

In the 1990s, despite having a huge success with a new version of his old song “Gel Ey Seher” (Come, Hey Morning!) in Turkey and sold-out concerts in Russia, Polad started a political career. He became Azerbaijan’s Culture Minister and is currently Azerbaijan’s ambassador to Russia.