Biography

Gochag Muharram oglu Askarov (Azerbaijani: Əsgərov Qoçaq Məhərrəm oğlu, 27 December 1978 ) is an Azerbaijani khananda folk singer. He enrolled for music school but soon had to stop his music studies in 1992 with Armenian occupation of Garabagh. His family fled and wandered from town to town until they settled in Baku. In 1998 he was accepted to the Baku Music College to the class of Mugham vocals. From 2004 to 2008 he studied music and traditional vocals at the National Conservatoire in Baku. In 2006 while being a student he took part in the First National TV Contest for young khanende (Mugham singers) and became one of its winners. The next year he was invited to perform at the stage of Brunei Gallery Theatre in London. That was his international debut and, at the same time, his first solo concert. The same year for the first time the BBC Radio 3 featured him in its “World Routes” programme, and since then has done it many times. In 2009 BBC Radio 3 invited him to perform at its stage at the WOMAD festival in the Charlton-park in London.