Christina Marie Willat: “Azerbaijani music is fascinating”

She sings her heart out Azerbaijani songs such as “Sarı gelin” (Yellow bride), “Sensiz”( Without You) , “Ey eziz anam Azerbaijan” (Hey my dear mother Azerbaijan!) that you hardly believe that she is Canadian, but not Azerbaijani.  Koroglu’s aria (Azerbaijani: Koroğlu; literally, The Blind Man’s Son) is one of her favorite Azerbaijani music pieces. She discovered Azerbaijani music thanks to compositions of our outstanding composers Uzeyir Hajibeyov, Fikret Amirov, Gara Garayev, vocalist and pop singer Muslim Magomayev.  She fell in love with Magomayev’s songs and singing style.

Our interlocutor is Christina Marie Willat, who lives in London, Ontario. Christina is an award-winning singer and pianist. She works as a lecturer at Western University of Ontario. At the same time, she is the music director at St. Jude’s Church in London.  She performed at dozens of stages in Canada, US and Italy. Let’s get to know her closer…

She sings in 11 languages

Christina studied at the sound department of the University of Western Ontario. Having graduated her master degree, she worked in several places: “Currently, I teach piano and vocals. As well as, I teach my students to sing and pronounce properly in different languages.  Along with English, I teach Italian, German and French languages as well.  Furthermore, I work in the church. We have “Wormwood” music band with my husband. We play electronic music. Sometimes we do live shows with our band, make soundtracks for movies. What’s more, I work as a teacher at the University of Western Ontario”.

According to her, ability and skill to sing in different languages stemmed from the education she got, as it was a part of her education: “That’s why, I’m interested in singing in different languages. As I said earlier, I mainly sing in Italian, German and French languages, but also in Finnish, Hungarian and Russian, besides. Currently, I have been learning to sing in Portuguese, Spanish, and Azerbaijani languages”.

“A singer should understand what she is singing”

We wondered how the Canadian musician met Azerbaijani language and the interest arose for our language. According to Christina, having been offered by Kamala Shiriyeva, the chairwoman of the “Azerbaijani-Turkish-Canadian Association” she started singing in Azerbaijani language: “After watching my performance in various languages at the event, Kamala khanum offered me to sing in Azerbaijani language as well. She told me about Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Hajbeyov and sent his compositions. Indeed, I liked them so much and found interesting to sing in this language. I accepted the offer. Kamala khanum also teaches me proper pronunciation in Azerbaijani language, and explains the meaning of the song lyrics. In my view, every singer should understand the lyrics of the song. You may not know the exact meaning of each word, but generally, you should understand the whole meaning to achieve a wonderful performance. There are some combinations of sounds in your language that I am still working on them. For example, the sound  “ü”. In general, I do not have difficulty singing in Azerbaijani. Some sounds remind me of Russian sounds. For instance, the sound “ü”. 

“Azerbaijani music is fascinating”

As she sings classical songs in various languages she can make a comparison of languages: “ I would not say that singing Azerbaijani classical songs is more difficult for me than songs in other languages. There are some similarities between Italian classical music and opera and Azerbaijani classical music. There is something particular technique in Azerbaijani classical music that I adore. “

Speaking about where she first heard about Azerbaijan, Christina added that she did not know of the existence of our country, until she was offered to sing a song in this language: “I had never heard of Azerbaijan up to that time. I love music, and exploring music is absorbing. Azerbaijani music is fascinating.”

Christina says that she initially had difficulty in finding notes of Azerbaijani music, which she wanted to sing: “There are no Azerbaijani music notes in the library of Western University of Ontario. Consequently, I had drawbacks over this in 2014, when I first started singing in Azerbaijani. Kamala khanum assisted me to get the notes. Now I can find Azerbaijani music notes on the Internet. Still the issue is that I manage to find these notes by searching in other languages, not in Azerbaijani. Since, I do not know the Azerbaijani language. “

“Women in your country  got the right to vote before  us”

As for information about Azerbaijan, Christina added that she knows that Azerbaijani women gained the right to vote earlier than Canadian women. She is eager to visit and see Azerbaijan. She is even aware of the bordering countries of Azerbaijan and the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Touching upon the attitude of Canadians to our music, she added Canadians are just amazed by Azerbaijani music and songs in her performance.

Note that our compatriots, who listen to Christina’s performance, believe that she is Azerbaijani. Even some of them approach to her after the performance and try to talk to her in Azerbaijani. They are astonished by knowing that Christina is Canadian. This encuorages Christina to sing more songs in our language. She is currently working on some Azerbaijani songs.