Shusha (Şuşa) Shushi (Շուշի)
—  Town  —
Nature around the town
Coat of arms of Shusha (Şuşa)Shushi (Շուշի) Coat of arms
Shusha (Şuşa) Shushi (Շուշի) Location of Shusha within Azerbaijan and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
Coordinates: 39°45.5′N 46°44.9′E / 39.7583°N 46.7483°E / 39.7583; 46.7483
Country	Azerbaijan (de jure)  Nagorno-Karabakh Republic1 (de facto)
Raion	Shusha Raion2
Province	Shushi Province3
Government
• Mayor; Head of Shusha Executive Power3	Karen Avagimyan; Bayram Safarov[1]4
Highest elevation	1,800 m (5,900 ft)
Lowest elevation	1,400 m (4,600 ft)
Population (2005)[2]
• Total	3,191
1Unrecognized country 2According to Azerbaijan administrative division 3According to NKR administrative division 4Azeri government functions in exile[3]

Shusha (Azerbaijani: Şuşa), also known as Shushi (Armenian: Շուշի) is a town in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus. It has been under the control of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic since its capture in 1992 during the Nagorno-Karabakh War. However, it is a de-jure part of the Republic of Azerbaijan, with the status of an administrative division of the surrounding Shusha Rayon. Situated at an altitude of 1400–1800 metres (4,600-5,900 ft) in the picturesque Karabakh mountains, Shusha was a popular mountain recreation resort in the Soviet era.

After serving as a town and an ancient fortress in the Armenian Principality of Varanda,^[4][5] Shusha was turned into the capital of the Karabakh khanate. The town became one of the cultural centers of the South Caucasus after the Russian conquest of the region in the first half of the 19th century. Over time, it became a home to many intellectuals, poets, writers and especially, musicians (e.g., the ashugs, mugham singers, kobuz players).^[6] Shusha was the only large settlement within the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast that had a predominantly Azerbaijani population.^{[7][8][9][10]} In 1977 Shusha was declared reservation of Azerbaijani architecture and history. The city was often referred to as "musical capital or conservatory of Transcaucasia".^[11]

The city was also a major center of Armenian cultural and economic life until the closing years of World War I.^[12] Along with Tbilisi; it was one of the two main Armenian cities of the Transcaucasus and the center of a self-governing Armenian principality in the 1720s.^[13] It also had religious and strategic importance to the Armenians, housing the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral, the church of Kanach Zham and serving (along with Lachin district to the west) as a land link to Armenia. Following the capture of Shusha in 1992 by Armenian forces, its population diminished dramatically and is now almost exclusively Armenian.

History[link]

Foundation[link]

The palace of Khurshidbanu Natavan, the daughter of the last ruler of Karabakh Khanate and poetess. Late 19th-early 20th centuries

The Armenian quarters of Shusha (with the Cathedral of the Holy Savior in the background) in the early 20th century, before their destruction by Azerbaijani military units in 1920.

The earliest mentions of Shusha appear in the Middle Ages. The town and fort of Shusha was mentioned as a linchpin of one of East Armenian military districts, called “syghnakhs,” which played a key role in the Armenian commander Avan Yuzbashi’s campaign against Ottoman forces in the 1720s and 1730s, during the Turkish invasion of the Southern Caucasus.^[14]

Kehva Chelebi, an Armenian patriot who maintained correspondence between the meliks of Karabakh and the Russian authorities, in this report of 1725 mentions Shusha as a town and a fort:

In his letter of 1769 to the Russian diplomat Count P. Panin, the Georgian king Erekle II documented that “there was an ancient fortress which was conquered, through deceit, by one man from the Muslim Jevanshir tribe.”^[5] The same information about the ancient fortress is confirmed by the Russian Field Marshal Alexander Suvorov in his letter to Prince Grigory Potemkin.^[15][16] Suvorov writes that the Armenian prince Melik Shahnazar of Varanda surrendered his fortress Shushikala to "certain Panah," whom he calls "chief of an unimportant part of nomadic Muslims living near the Karabakh borders."^[17]

But there are also other sources which cite history of foundation of Shusha in different way. Hasan Ikhfa Alizade in his work "Şuşa şeherinin tarixi (The History of Shusha city)" pointed that construction of Shusha was started in 1750 by Panah Ali Khan^[18] and his opinion was supported by other Azerbaijani historians^[19]. The settlement in Shusha was completed in 1756, when population from surrounding villages had moved in Shusha.^[20]

The restored cathedral of the Holy Savior "Ghazanchetsots," 1868-1888

The first capital of the Karabakh Khanate was castle of Bayat, built in 1748 in the district of Kebirli. Later another fortress was built in the place called Shahbulag.^[21] However, soon after Panah Ali Khan realized that in order to secure himself and his newly-established khanate from external threats, and especially from the invasions from Iran, he needed to build a new more reliable castle.

According to Mirza Jamal Javanshir Qarabaghi (1773–1853), the author of History of Karabakh, a text written in Persian,^[22] one of the most significant chronicles on the history of Karabakh in 18-19th centuries, the Karabakh nobility assembled to discuss the danger of invasion from Iran and told Panah Ali Khan, "We must build among the impassable mountains such an inviolable and inaccessible fort, so that no strong enemy could take it." Melik Shahnazar of Varanda, who was the first of the Armenian meliks (dukes) to accept the suzerainty of Panah Ali Khan and who would remain his loyal supporter, suggested a location for the new fortress. Thus, Panahabad-Shusha was founded.

According to George A. Bournoutian commenting the chronicler, prior to construction of the fortress by Panah Ali khan there were no buildings at that location and it was used as a cropland and pasture by the people of the nearby village of Shoshi.^[21][22] Panah khan resettled to Shusha the population of Shahbulag and some nearby villages, and built strong fortifications.^[21] Another account is presented by Raffi, an Armenian novelist and historian, in his work The Princedoms of Khamsa, who asserts that the place which Shusha was built on was desolate and uninhabited before Panah-Ali Khan's arrival. He states, "[Panah-Ali Khan and Melik-Shahnazar of Varanda] soon completed the construction (1762) [of the fortress] and moved the Armenian population of the nearby village of Shosh (Շոշ), called also Shoshi, or Shushi into the fortress.″^[23]

Shusha was founded in 1750-1752 (according to other sources, 1756–1757) by Panah-Ali khan Javanshir (r. 1748-1763), the founder and the first ruler of the independent Karabakh Khanate (1748–1822), which comprised both Lowland and Highland Karabakh.^[24][25] The latter, where Shusha was built, was predominantly inhabited by Armenians, living in five Armenian princedoms governed by their own hereditary princes.^[25] The town was initially named Panahabad, after its founder.^[26][27] During the rule of Ibrahim-Khalil khan (r. 1763-1806), the son of Panah Ali khan, the town received its present name from a nearby Armenian village called Shushi, also known as Shushikent ("village of Shushi") or Shosh.^[25]

Conflict with Persia[link]

A Shushavian from a noble family. Sketch by V.V. Vereschagin, a Russian traveller to Shusha in 1865.

Less than a year after Shusha was founded, the Karabakh Khanate was attacked by Muhammed Hassan khan Qajar, one of the major claimants to the Iranian throne. During the Safavid Empire Karabakh was for almost two centuries ruled by Ziyad-oglu family of the clan of Qajars (of Turkic origin),^[28] and therefore, Muhammed Hassan khan considered Karabakh his hereditary estate.^{[21][27][29][30]}

Muhammed Hassan khan besieged Shusha (Panahabad at that time) but soon had to retreat, because of the attack on his khanate by his major opponent to the Iranian throne, Kerim khan Zend. His retreat was so hasty that he even left his cannons under the walls of Shusha fortress. Panah Ali khan counterattacked the retreating troops of Muhammad Hassan khan and even briefly took Ardabil across the Aras River in Iranian Azerbaijan.

In 1756 (or 1759) Shusha and the Karabakh Khanate underwent a new attack from Fatali khan Afshar, ruler of Urmia. With his 30,000 strong army Fatali khan also managed to gain support from the meliks (feudal vassals) of Jraberd and Talish (Gulistan), however melik Shahnazar of Varanda continued to support Panah Ali khan. Siege of Shusha lasted for six months and Fatali khan eventually had to retreat.

After Panah Ali khan's death his son Ibrahim Khalil khan became the ruler of the Karabakh Khanate. Under him Karabakh khanate became one of the strongest state formations and Shusha grew. According to travelers who visited Shusha at the end of 18th-early 19th centuries the town had about 2,000 houses and approximately 10,000 population.

In summer 1795 Shusha was subjected to a major attack by Aga Muhammad khan Qajar, son of Muhammad Hassan khan who attacked Shusha in 1752. Aga Muhammad khan Qajar's goal was to end with the feudal fragmentation and to restore the old Safavid State in Iran. For this purpose he also wanted to proclaim himself shah (king) of Iran. However, according to the Safavid tradition, shah had to take control over the whole of South Caucasus before his coronation. Therefore, Karabakh Khanate and its fortified capital Shusha, were the first and major obstacle to achieve these ends.

Aga Muhammad khan Qajar besieged Shusha with his 80,000-strong army. Ibrahim Khalil khan mobilized the population for a long-term defense. The number of militia in Shusha reached 15,000. Women fought together with men. The Armenian population of Karabakh also actively participated in this struggle against the invaders and fought side by side with the Muslim population, jointly organizing ambushes in the mountains and forests.

The siege lasted for 33 days. Not being able to capture Shusha, Aga Muhammad khan ceased the siege and advanced to Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi), which despite desperate resistance was occupied and exposed to unprecedented destruction.

In 1797 Agha Muhammad shah Qajar, who by that time has already managed to declare himself shah (albeit he did not succeed in conquering the Caucasus as the tradition required) decided to carry out a second attack on Karabakh.

Trying to avenge the previous humiliating defeat Qajar devastated the surrounding villages near Shusha. The population could not recover from the previous 1795 attack and also suffered from serious drought which lasted for three years. The artillery of the enemy also caused serious losses amongst the city defenders. Thus, in 1797 Aga Muhammed shah succeeded in seizing Shusha and Ibrahim Khalil khan had to flee to Dagestan.

However, several days after the seizure of Shusha, Aga Muhammed shah was killed in mysterious circumstances by his bodyguards. The Iranian troops left and soon afterwards, Ibrahim Khalil khan returned to Shusha and restored his authority as khan of Karabakh.

Shusha within the Russian Empire[link]

From the early 19th century, Russian influence in the Caucasus began to rise. Following Georgia, many khanates accepted Russian protectorate. In 1805, a Kurekchay Treaty was signed between the Karabakh Khanate and the Russian Empire on the transfer of the Karabakh Khanate to Russia.

The Russian Empire consolidated its power in the Karabakh khanate following the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813 and Treaty of Turkmenchay of 1828, when following two Russo-Persian wars, Iran recognized belonging of the Karabakh khanate, along with many other khanates, to Russia.

The Karabakh khanate was eliminated in 1822. A survey prepared by the Russian imperial authorities in 1823, a year after and several years before the 1828 Armenian migration from Persia to the newly-established Armenian Province, shows that all Armenians of Karabakh compactly resided in its highland portion, i.e., on the territory of the five traditional Armenian principalities, and constituted an absolute demographic majority on those lands. The survey's more than 260 pages recorded that the district of Khachen had twelve Armenian villages and no Tatar (Muslim) villages; Jalapert (Jraberd) had eight Armenian villages and no Tatar villages; Dizak had fourteen Armenian villages and one Tatar village; Gulistan had twelve Armenian and five Tatar villages; and Varanda had twenty-three Armenian villages and one Tatar village.^[31][32]

During the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828, the citadel at Shusha held out for several months and never fell. After this Shusha ceased to be a capital of a khanate and instead became an administrative capital of first the Karabakh province (1822–1840) and then of the Shusha district (uyezd) of the Elisabethpol Governorate (1840–1923). Shusha grew and developed, with successive waves of migrants moving to the city, particularly Armenians.^[33]

Beginning from 1830s the town was divided into two parts: Turkic-speaking Muslims lived in the eastern lower quarters, while Armenian Christians settled in the relatively new western upper quarters of the town. The Muslim part of the town was divided into seventeen quarters. Each quarter had its own mosque, Turkish bath, water-spring and also a quarter representative, who would be elected among the elderlies (aksakals), and who would function as a sort of head of present-day municipality. The Armenian part of the town consisted of 12 quarters, five churches, town and district school and girls' seminary.

The population of the town primarily dealt with trade, horse-breeding, carpet-weaving and wine and vodka production. Shusha was also the biggest center of silk production in the Caucasus. Most of the Muslim population of the town and of Karabakh in general was engaged in sheep and horse-breeding and therefore, had a semi-nomadic lifestyle, spending wintertime in lowland Karabakh in wintering pastures and spring and summer in summering pastures in Shusha and other mountainous parts.

Early 20th century[link]

A photo taken in 1918 of the Karabakh reconciliation commission, composed of religious leaders and elders of both Azerbaijani and Armenian communities.

The beginning of the 20th century marked the first Armenian-Tartar clashes throughout Azerbaijan. This new phenomenon had two reasons. First, it was the result of increased tensions between the local Muslim population and Armenians, whose numbers increased throughout the 19th century as a result of Russian resettlement policies. Second, by the beginning of the 20th century peoples of the Caucasus, similar to other non-Russian peoples in the periphery of the Russian Empire began to seek cultural and territorial autonomy. That is why, in the beginning of the 20th century in Russia itself was a period of bourgeois and Bolshevik revolutions, in the peripheries these movements have acquired a character of the national liberation movement.

The initial clashes between ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijanis took place in Baku in February 1905. Soon, the conflict spilled over to other parts of the Caucasus, and on August 5, 1905 first conflict between the Armenian and Azerbaijani inhabitants of Shusha took place. As a result of the mutual pogroms and killings, hundreds of people died and more than 200 houses were burned.

Ruins of the Armenian quarters of Shusha in the aftermath of the 1905 Armenian-Tartar conflict.^[34]

After World War I and subsequent collapse of the Russian Empire, Karabakh was claimed by Azerbaijan to be part of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (1918–1920), a decision hotly disputed by neighboring Armenia and by Karabakh's Armenian population. After the defeat of Ottoman empire in the World War I, British troops occupied Karabakh. The British command provisionally affirmed Khosrov bey Sultanov (appointed by the Azerbaijani government) as the governor-general of Karabakh and Zangezur^{[disambiguation needed ]}, pending final decision by the Paris Peace Conference.^[35][36]

In August 1919, the Karabakh National Council entered into a provisional treaty agreement with the Azerbaijani government, recognizing the authority of the Azerbaijan government until the issue of the mountainous part of Karabakh would be settled at the Paris Peace Conference. Despite signing the Agreement, the Azerbaijani government continuously violated the terms of the treaty^{[Need quotation to verify]}.^[37] Ethnic conflict began to erupt in the region. According to Michael P. Croissant on 5 June 1919, 600 Armenian inhabitants of the villages surrounding Shusha were killed by Azerbaijani and Kurdish irregulars. Sultanov claimed that those irregulars were not under his control.^[38] The strife culminated with an Armenian uprising,^[39][40][41] which was suppressed by the Azerbaijani army. In late March 1920 the Armenian half of the police forces was reported by a British journalist to have murdered the Azerbaijani half during the latter's traditional Novruz Bayram holiday celebtrations. The Armenian surprise attack was organised and coordinated by the forces of the Armenian Republic.^[42][43] Azerbaijani outrage for this surprise attack ultimately led to the pogrom of March 1920, in which between 500^[44] and 20,000 of the Armenian population of Shusha was killed, and many forced to flee. According to the historian Giovanni Guaita, the Azerbaijani and Soviet authorities "during the decades will deny and try to hush up the mass killings of about 30,000 Armenians."^[45]

According to the description of an Azerbaijani communist Ojahkuli Musaev:

... the ruthless destruction of defenceless women, children, old women, old men, etc has begun. Armenians were exposed to a mass slaughter....beautiful Armenian girls were raped, then shot.... By the order of... Khosrov-bek Sultanov; the pogroms proceeded for more than six days. Houses in the Armenian part have been partially demolished, plundered and reduced all to ashes, everyone led away women to submit to the wishes of executioner musavatists. During these historically artful forms of punishment, Khosrov-bek Sultanov, spoke about holy war (jihad) in his speeches to the Moslems, and called on them to finally finish the Armenians of the city of Shusha, not sparing women, children, etc.^{[46][verification needed]}

Nadezhda Mandelstam wrote about Shusha in the 1920s, "in this town, which formerly of course was healthy and with every amenity, the picture of catastrophe and massacres was terribly visual.... They say after the massacres all the wells were full of dead bodies....We didn't see anyone in the streets on the mountain. Only in downtown - in the market-square, there were a lot of people, but there wasn't any Armenian among them; all were Muslims".^[47]

Soviet era[link]

View from the town

In 1920, the Russian Red Army (the 11th Army) invaded Azerbaijan and then Armenia and put an end to the national de-facto governments that existed in those two countries. Beginning from this period, conflict over control of Karabakh and its central town of Shusha, moved from the battlefield to the diplomatic sphere.

In order to attract Armenian public support^{[citation needed]}, the Bolsheviks promised to resolve the issue of the disputed territories, including Karabakh, in favor of Armenia. However, on July 5, 1921 the Caucasus Bureau (Kavburo) of the Communist Party adopted the following decision regarding the future status of Karabakh: "Proceeding from the necessity of national peace among Muslims and Armenians and of the economic ties between upper (mountainous) and lower Karabakh, of its permanent ties with Azerbaijan, mountainous Karabakh is to remain within AzSSR, receiving wide regional autonomy with the administrative center in Shusha, which is to be included in the autonomous region." As a result, Mountainous Karabakh Autonomous Region was established within the Azerbaijan SSR in 1923.

The decision favoring Azerbaijan has been largely possible by the firm position of the then Soviet Azerbaijan leader Nariman Narimanov, who resisted pressure from Joseph Stalin to concede Karabakh and Nakhichevan to Armenia^{[citation needed]}. According to another version, Stalin knew that by including the disputed and by then majority Armenian-populated region within the boundaries of Azerbaijan, it would ensure Moscow’s position as power broker.^[48][49]

Khankendi (renamed Stepanakert after the Armenian communist Stepan Shaumyan), which previously was a small village, became the new regional capital and soon became the largest town within Mountainous Karabakh Autonomous Region.

The town remained half-ruined until the 1960s, when the town began to gradually revive due to its recreational potential. In 1977 Shusha was declared a reservation of Azerbaijan architecture and history and became one of the major resort-towns in the former USSR.

With the start of Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1988 Shusha became the most important Azeri stronghold in Karabakh, from where Azeri forces constantly shelled the capital Stepanakert. On May 9, 1992 the town was captured by Armenian forces and the Azeri population fled. According to the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, the city was looted and burnt by Armenians.^[50] Today a large part of the town remains in ruins.

After the end of the war, the town was repopulated by Armenians, mostly refugees from Azerbaijan and other parts of Karabakh, as well as members of the Armenian diaspora. While the population of the town is barely half of the pre-war number, and the demographic of the town has changed from mostly Azeri to completely Armenian, a slow recovery can be seen. The Goris-Stepanakert Highway passes through the town, and is a transit and tourist destination for many. There are some hotels in the city, and reconstruction work continues, in particular, the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral recently finished going through the restoration process.

The Armenian quarter continued to lie in ruins until the beginning of the 1960s. In 1961, Baku's communist leadership finally passed a decision to clear away the ruins, even though many old buildings still could have been renovated. Three Armenian and one Russian churches were demolished and the town was built up with plain buildings typical of the Khrushchev era.^{[citation needed]}

Cultural life[link]

Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov (top left) with his family in Shusha. 1915

Because of historical specifics Shusha contains both Azerbaijani and Armenian cultural monuments, while the surrounding territories include also many ancient Armenian villages.^[51]

The town of Shusha is extremely popular with the musical traditions of Azerbaijani people. Shusha is home to one of the leading schools of mugham, traditional Azerbaijani genre of vocal and instrumental arts. Shusha is particularly renowned for this art.^[52]

Shusha is also well known for sileh rugs, floor coverings from the South Caucasus and parts of eastern Turkey. Those from the Caucasus may have been woven in the vicinity of Shusha. A similar Eastern Anatolian type usually shows a different range of colours.^[53]

Shusha was one of Armenian religious^[54] and cultural centers^[55] and predominately Armenian cities of Caucasus.^[51] The Eastern Armenian version of four Gospels (Holy Bible) was completed in 1830 in Shusha, and then was published in Moscow for the first time.^[56]

Demographics[link]

A Russian postcard showing an Armenian woman from Shusha.

Photograph from the 1900s by Constantin Zanis depicting an Azerbaijani girl from Shusha in silk national garments".^[70]

The highland portion of Karabakh, where Shusha was built, traditionally had an Armenian majority of the population. When discussing Karabakh and Shusha in the 18th century, the Russian diplomat and historian S. M. Bronevskiy indicated in his “Historical Notes” that Karabakh, which he said "is located in Greater Armenia" had as many as 30-40 thousand armed Armenian men in 1796.^[71]

According to first Russian-held census of 1823 conducted by Russian officials Yermolov and Mogilevsky, the number of Muslim families in Shusha was 1,111 (72.5%) whereas the number of Armenian families reached 421 (27.5%).^[31] Seven years later, according to 1830 data, the number of Muslim families in Shusha decreased to 963 and the number of Armenian families increased to 762.^[33][72]

George Keppel, the Earl of Albemarle, who in 1824 on his way back to England from India arrived to Karabakh from Persia, wrote that “Sheesha contains two thousand houses: three parts of the inhabitants are Tartars, and the remainder Armenians”.^[73]

A survey prepared by the Russian imperial authorities in 1823 shows that all Armenians of Karabakh compactly resided in its highland portion, i.e. on the territory of the five traditional Armenian principalities, and constituted an absolute demographic majority on those lands. The survey's more than 260 pages recorded that the five districts had 57 Armenian villages and 7 Tatar villages.^[32][74]

The 19th century also brought some alterations to the ethnic demographics of the region. Following the invasions from Iran (Persia), Russo-Persian wars and subjection of Karabakh khanate to Russia, many Muslim families emigrated to Iran while many Armenians moved to Shusha.^[33]

In 1851, the population of Shusha was 15,194 people^[57], in 1886 - 30,000,^[75] in 1910 - 39,413^[76] and in 1916 - 43,869, of which 23,396 (53 %) were Armenians, and 19,121 (44 %) were Tatars (Azerbaijanis).^[61]

By the end of the 1880s the percentage of Muslim population living in the Shusha district (part of earlier Karabakh province) decreased even further and constituted only 41.5%, while the percentage of the Armenian population living in the same district increased to 58.2% in 1886.

By the second half of the 19th century Shusha had become the largest town in the Karabakh region and the second largest town in the Caucasus after Tbilisi^{[citation needed]}. However, after the pogrom against the Armenian population in 1920 and the burning of the town, Shusha was reduced to a small provincial town of some 10,000 people. Armenians did not begin to return until after World War II. It was not until the 1960s that the Armenian quarter began to be rebuilt.

According to the last population census in 1989, the town of Shusha had a population of 17,000 and Shusha district had a population of 23,000. 91.7% of population of Shusha district and 98% of Shusha town were Azerbaijani.^[67]

Following the Armenian capture of Shusha in 1992, the ethnic Azerbaijani population of the town fled and the present population consists of roughly 3,000 Armenians,^[50] mainly refugees from other parts of Azerbaijan and some immigrants from Armenia and the Diaspora. As a result of the war, there are no Azerbaijanis living in the Shusha region today.^[67]

Gallery[link]

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Shusha

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Shusha.

• Battle of Shusha
• Nagorno-Karabakh
• List of Armenians from Shusha
• List of Azerbaijanis from Shusha

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Shusha: from A to Z
• Historical neighborhoods of Shusha
• Shoushi Foundation
• Shusha by Travel-images.com
• Armenian Guidebook Chapter on Shushi
• Armeniapedia entry on Shushi
• The Twentieth Spring - A portrait of Shushi 20 years after it was taken over by armenian forces (randbild | 2011)
• Shusha – the town of the dead. Photo-report.
• Shusha at GEOnet Names Server
• Shoushi Summer Camp

v t e Administrative divisions of Azerbaijan Districts (Raions) Absheron Agdam Agdash Aghjabadi Agstafa Agsu Astara Babek Balakan Barda Beylagan Bilasuvar Dashkasan Fizuli Gadabay Goranboy Goychay Goygol Hajigabul Imishli Ismailli Jabrayil Jalilabad Julfa Kalbajar Kangarli Khachmaz Khizi Khojali Khojavend Kurdamir Lachin Lankaran Lerik Masally Neftchala Oghuz Ordubad Qabala Qakh Qazakh Gobustan Quba Qubadli Qusar Saatly Sabirabad Sadarak Salyan Samukh Shabran Shakhbuz Shaki Shamakhi Shamkir Sharur Shusha Siazan Tartar Tovuz Ujar Yardymli Yevlakh Zangilan Zaqatala Zardab Cities Baku Ganja Khankendi Lankaran Mingachevir Naftalan Nakhchivan City Shaki Shirvan Sumqayit Shusha Yevlakh Names in italics indicate parts of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic

v t e Administrative divisions of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Cities Stepanakert (capital) Provinces (Մարզեր marzer) Askeran Hadrut Martakert Martuni Qashatagh Shahumian1 Shushi Provincial capitals Askeran Berdzor Hadrut Karvachar Martakert Martuni Shahumyan2 Shushi 1 Claimed by the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic but under Azerbaijani control. 2 Claimed by the Nagorno Karabakh Republic as the capital of the province of Shahumyan.

Coordinates: 39°45.5′N 46°44.9′E / 39.7583°N 46.7483°E / 39.7583; 46.7483

Shushā (Shamsi) Guppy (Persian: شوشا (شمسی) گوپی‎), née Shamsi Assār ^[1] (شمسی عصار)(D(24 December 1935, Tehran, Iran — 21 March 2008, London, United Kingdom), was a writer, editor and, under the name of "Shusha", a singer of Persian and Western folk songs. She had lived in London since the mid 1960s.

Early life[link]

Her father, Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammad-Kāzem Assār (آيت الله العظمي سيد محمد کاظم عصار), was a distinguished Shia theologian and Professor of Philosophy at University of Tehran. She was sent to Paris when she was only seventeen to study Oriental languages and philosophy. She also trained as an opera singer. In Paris she encountered artists, writers and poets such as Louis Aragon, Jose Bergamin, Jean Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. She was encouraged by Jacques Prévert to record albums of Persian folk songs, and subsequently chansons and old French songs.

She married the writer and explorer Nicholas Guppy in 1961. They had two sons, Darius and Constantine Guppy, and were divorced in 1976. At the time of her marriage moved to London, where she became fluent in English; she was already fluent in Persian and French. Guppy wrote articles for major publications in both Britain and America. She also began singing professionally.

Singer[link]

Guppy's first British release, in 1971, was an album of traditional Persian music, previously released in France. By now, influenced by the Folk Revival, she was writing and singing some of her own songs, as well as covering the works of many contemporary singer-songwriters. She gave successful concerts in Britain, America and continental Europe, and appeared on television and radio programmes. She gave concerts in Holland and Belgium in 1975 with Lori Lieberman and Dimitri van Toren.

She contributed music and voice-over to the 1976 documentary film People of the Wind.^[2][3] The following year the film was nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar and also for a Golden Globe.^[4] The film follows the annual migration of the nomadic Bakhtiari tribes in southern Iran. The soundtrack was later released in the USA. How much she contributed to the film is in dispute. According to Shusha Guppy herself: "What has saddened me, and frankly made me angry, is not the money — as I said I wanted to make the film and financial rewards were not my aim — but the fact that all the credits were taken from me on People of the Wind of which the idea, the production, and the text were mine."^[5]

Discography[link]

All are vinyl LPs except where noted. The years given are for the first British release.

• Persian Love Songs and Mystic Chants (1971)
• Songs of Long-time Lovers (1972)
• Shusha (1974)
• This is the Day (1974)
• Before the Deluge (1975)
• From East to West (1978)
• Here I Love You (1980)
• Lovely in the Dances: Songs of Sydney Carter (1981)
• Durable Fire (1983)
• Strange Affair (unknown)
• La Fortune (unknown)
• Refugee (1995 - CD on Sharrow Records)
• Shusha / This is the Day (2001 - reissue on CD)

Writer and editor[link]

Guppy promoted Persian culture and history, and was a commentator on relations between the West and the Islamic world. Guppy's first book, The Blindfold Horse: Memoirs of a Persian Childhood, was published in 1988. It was highly praised, winning the Yorkshire Post Prize from the Royal Society of Literature, the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize, and the Grand Prix Littéraire de Elle. The book describes a Persia before the excesses of Shah Reza Pahlavi led to his overthrow, describing a country with an Islamic way of life without dogmatism or fanaticism.

Her last book, The Secret of Laughter (2005), is a collection of Persian fairy tales from Iran’s oral tradition. Many had never previously been published in written form.

For twenty years, until 2005, she was the London editor of the American literary journal The Paris Review.

Bibliography[link]

• The Blindfold Horse: Memories of a Persian Childhood, William Heinemann Ltd, 1988, ISBN 978-0-434-30850-7; I B Tauris & Co Ltd, 2004, ISBN 978-1-85043-401-6.
• Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan: Vol 2, with Isabella L. Bird, Virago Press Ltd, 1989, ISBN 978-1-85381-055-8.
• A Girl in Paris, William Heinemann Ltd, 1991, ISBN 978-0-434-30852-1; I B Tauris & Co Ltd, 2007, ISBN 978-1-84511-380-3.
• Looking Back: A Panoramic View of a Literary Age by the Grandes Dames of European Letters, with Anita Brookner, Simon & Schuster Ltd, 1992, ISBN 978-0-945167-30-3.
• Three Journeys in the Levant: Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Starhaven, 2001, ISBN 978-0-936315-17-1.
• The Secret of Laughter: Magical Tales from Classical Persia, I B Tauris & Co Ltd, 2005, ISBN 978-1-85043-427-6.

Notes[link]

1. ^ The name Shamsi (شمسی) is an attributive adjective, referring to the word Shams, the Sun, and may be interpreted as of or pertaining to the Sun. According to Dehkhoda, Assār (عصار) has two distinct meanings. The first refers to the professions dealing with pressing grapes or pressing oil-seeds; thus Assār is one who holds one of these professions. In this sense, the word Assār has its root in the word Osāreh, which means Juice or Ooze. The second interpretation is King and Refuge, in the meaning of one who provides shelter. In this second sense, Assār has also been used as a collective name. (Based on information gleaned from Loghat'nāmeh-ye Dehkhoda.)
2. ^ http://[www.imdb.com/title/tt0075052/fullcredits#cast| "People of the Wind" crew and cast] Retrieved 25 December 2010
3. ^ "People of the Wind" Retrieved 25 December 2010
4. ^ "People of the Wind" awards Retrieved 25 December 2010
5. ^ Milestone Films promotion of "People of the Wind" Retrieved 25 December 2010]

See also[link]

• Mastan Ensemble
• Music of Iran
• List of Iranian musicians

References[link]

• Biographical details
• Shusha, Discography
• Roger Scruton, Shusha Guppy, Obituary, Monday, March 24 2008, The Guardian

Obituaries[link]

• Scruton, Roger (24 March 2008). "Shusha Guppy: Iranian singer, writer and composer who moved freely among intellectual circles". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/24/iran. Retrieved 2 September 2010. 
• Martin, Stoddard (24 March 2008). "Shusha Guppy: Singer and writer acclaimed for a memoir of her Persian childhood". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/shusha-guppy-singer-and-writer-acclaimed-for-a-memoir-of-her-persian-childhood-799896.html. Retrieved 2 September 2010.  Note: This obituary incorrectly refers to Shamsi as Shansi.
• "Shusha Guppy". The Daily Telegraph. 29 March 2008. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/29/db2902.xml. Retrieved 2 September 2010. "Shusha Guppy, who died on March 21 aged 72, was an Iranian-born writer, composer and singer, and a salonière of literary, cosmopolitan London" 

External links[link]

• Shusha Guppy at Allmusic
• Shusha Guppy, A paean to kingship, The Guardian, Monday 18 February 2008. [1].
  Note: This is Shusha Guppy's valedictory Comment in The Guardian. It concludes with the words: "Well, the doctors have told me that my cancer is terminal and so I am having to dictate what is certainly my last piece of journalism."
• Shusha Guppy, ASHA Foundation.
• Shusha Guppy speaks in the documentary film on Omar Khayyām, Intoxicating Rhymes and Sobering Wine, YouTube (1 min).
• Shusha Guppy on her return to Iran, Woman's Hour, BBC Radio 4, 16 March 2006. [2] (8 min 35 sec).
• Shusha Guppy, School of Illumination, Sunday Feature, 45 minutes, BBC Radio 3, Sunday 19 March 2006, [3].
  Note: At present BBC offers no audio recording or a transcript of this programme. The website presents however an extensive bibliography.
• Some folk-songs sung by Shusha Guppy in the 1970s: Iranian.
  Listen specifically to:
  Silver Gun (from Shiraz), Wheat Flower (a harvest song), The Rain (from the Gilan Province), The Stars in Heaven (from Shiraz), On Top of the Hill (from Shiraz), The Silken Handkerchief (from the Fars Province), Darling Leila (from the Gilan Province), I Have Come to Ravish My Heart (from the Lorestan Province), The Lor Youth (a Bakhtiari-Tribe song), Lullaby (from Gorgan), Girl from Boyer-Ahmadi Tribe (from the Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province), My Beloved is Short (from the Fars Province), The Water Pipe, You Must Come to Me (from Mamasani County), Darling Dareyne (from the Mazandaran Province), Masnavi (a mystic chant from Rumi's Masnavi).
• Shusha Guppy, What Rumi Means for Muslims Today, Heart and Soul Feature, BBC Radio World Service, Friday 27 June 2008 — rebroadcast from November 2007, [4] (26 min 30 sec).
• Shusha Guppy, 'The Book of Kings' published in Parnassus (magazine), Vol. 30.

Samvel Babayan (Armenian: Սամվել Բաբայան) (born March 5, 1965) was the Commander in Chief of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army from 1994 to 2000 and current leader of the Dashink political party in Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

Early life and military career[link]

Samvel Babayan was born on March 5, 1965 in Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh. In 1982, he finished Armenian secondary school # 7 named after Eghishe Charents in Stepanakert. From 1983 to 1985, he served in the military contingent of the USSR located on the territory of the former German Democratic Republic.^[1]

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict[link]

In 1988, Samvel Babayan enlisted in a paramilitary unit and rose to command his own unit and leading it professionally. From 1989 to 1991 he was the commander of the Stepanakert second Volunteers Company and a member of the Stepanakert underground central headquarters. Lieutenant General Samvel Babayan rose to prominence during the military phase of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in 1991-1994. Babayan carried out coordination of Armenian operations in Karabakh, participated in the development of the plan to capture Shusha and was the commander of the front of Lachin.^[1] As unified military command began to be established in Nagorno Karabakh in 1992-1993, Babayan became the Commander of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army in 1993, after his predecessor Serge Sargsian left to become Armenia's Defense Minister. Under his command, the Karabakhi military succeeded in winning a number of strategic battles against the Azerbaijani military and regained control over most of Nagorno-Karabakh as well as partially controlling 7 districts of Azerbaijan.

Arrest[link]

By December 1999, Babayan was forced to relinquish his position as the Self-Defense Forces Commander. Armenian president Robert Kocharyan's precarious position in post-October 27 political environment did not allow him to tackle the Babayan issue directly, leaving it to the unrecognized government of Nagorno-Karabakh under president Arkadi Ghukasyan and the new Karabakh Army leadership. On March 22, 2000, Babayan allegedly launched an assassination attempt on Arkadi Ghukasyan, leaving the president seriously wounded but alive.^[2]

At the February 26 session on the case of the March 22, 2000 assassination attempt against Arkadi Ghukasyan in Stepanakert, the sentences for the 16 defendants were read out loud. Babayan was sentenced to 14 years in prison.^[2]

Release and politics[link]

During the investigation and in jail, Babayan's health greatly deteriorated. He was said to suffer from hepatitis and other ailments which could not be treated in prison. On September 18, 2004, Samvel Babayan was released from maximum-security prison in Shusha due to health concerns, with the terms of release including a probationary period and continued disenfranchisement.^[2]

In November 2005, Samvel Babayan founded the Dashink political party with his supporters.

Personal information and titles[link]

Samvel Babayan has been the holder of such titles as Commander of Self-Defense Forces of Nagorno-Karabakh and Minister of Defense. Babayan has been awarded with the army ranks of lieutenant colonel (1992), colonel (1993), major general (1994) and lieutenant general (1996). He has been awarded with the Golden Eagle medal of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (1997) and has been declared a hero of Artsakh.^[1][2] He is married and has three children.^[1]

References[link]

See also[link]

• Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army

Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne performing in concert (March 23, 2008)
Background information
Birth name	Clyde Jackson Browne
Born	(1948-10-09) October 9, 1948 (age 63) Heidelberg, Germany
Genres	Rock, folk, country
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician, political activist
Years active	1966–present
Labels	Elektra, Adrenaline Music Group, Inside, Asylum
Associated acts	Warren Zevon, Eagles, David Lindley, Waddy Wachtel, Bonnie Raitt, Clarence Clemons, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Neil Young , Linda Ronstadt, Joan Baez, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Bruce Springsteen, Little Steven
Website	www.jacksonbrowne.com

Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone.

Coming to prominence in the 1970s, Browne has written and recorded several notable songs throughout his career including "These Days", "The Pretender", "Running On Empty", "Lawyers in Love", "Doctor My Eyes", "Take It Easy", "For a Rocker", and "Somebody's Baby". In 2004, he was both inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, and bestowed an Honorary Doctorate of Music by Occidental College in Los Angeles, California.^[1]

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Browne was born in Heidelberg, Germany, where his father, an American serviceman, was stationed. Browne's mother, Beatrice Amanda (née Dahl), was a Minnesota native of Norwegian ancestry.^[2] Browne has three siblings: Roberta "Berbie" Browne who was born in 1946 in Nuernberg, Germany (Nuremberg) and Edward Severin Browne who was born in 1949 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. His younger sister, Gracie Browne, was born a number of years later.^[2] Browne moved to the Highland Park district of Los Angeles, California, at the age of 3 and in his teens began singing folk music in local venues like the Ash Grove and The Troubador Club. He attended Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton, California, graduating in 1966.

Songwriter for others[link]

After moving to Greenwich Village, New York, in early 1966, Browne joined the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, performing at the Golden Bear (Huntington Beach, California) where they opened for The Lovin' Spoonful. The band later recorded a number of Browne's songs, including "These Days", "Holding", and "Shadow Dream Song".^[3] Browne also spent a short amount of time in his friend Pamela Polland's band, Gentle Soul. Before Browne's 18th birthday, he became a staff writer for Elektra Records' publishing company, Nina Music, reporting on musical events in New York City with his friends Greg Copeland and Adam Saylor. He spent the remainder of 1967 and 1968 in Greenwich Village, New York, where he backed Tim Buckley and German singer Nico of the Velvet Underground. In 1967 Browne and Nico were romantically linked and he became a significant contributor to her debut album, Chelsea Girl, writing and playing guitar on several of the songs (including "These Days"). After leaving New York City, Browne formed a folk band with Ned Doheny and Jack Wilce, and settled in Southern California.

Browne's first songs, such as "Shadow Dream Song" and "These Days", were recorded by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Tom Rush, Nico, Steve Noonan, Gregg Allman, Joan Baez, the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, the Byrds, and others. Browne did not release his own version of many of these early songs himself until years later.

Classic period[link]

Browne in a 1976 concert in Hamburg, Germany at the microphone with David Lindley, seen partially upstage left playing lap steel guitar in shadow

In 1971, Browne signed with Asylum Records and released Jackson Browne (1972), which included the piano-driven "Doctor My Eyes", which entered the Top Ten in the US singles chart. "Rock Me on the Water", from the same album, also gained considerable radio airplay, while "Jamaica Say You Will" and "Song for Adam" helped establish Browne's reputation. Touring to promote the album, he shared the bill with Linda Ronstadt and Joni Mitchell.

His next album, For Everyman (1973) — while considered of high quality — was less successful than his debut album, although it still sold a million copies.^{[citation needed]} The upbeat "Take It Easy", co-written with The Eagles' Glenn Frey, had already been a major success for that group, while his own recording of "These Days" reflected a sound representing Browne's angst.

Late for the Sky (1974) consolidated Browne's fan base. Browne's work began to demonstrate a reputation for memorable melody, insightful (and often very personal) lyrics, and a talent for his arrangements in composition. It featured a Magritte-inspired cover. Highlights included the title song, the elegiac "For a Dancer," "Before the Deluge" and the often-covered "Fountain of Sorrow." The arrangements featured the violin and guitar of David Lindley, Jai Winding's piano, and the harmonies of Doug Haywood. The title track was also featured in Martin Scorsese's film Taxi Driver. During this period, Browne began his fractious but lifelong professional relationship with singer-songwriter Warren Zevon, mentoring Zevon's first two Asylum albums through the studio as a producer (working closely with Waddy Wachtel and Jorge Calderón).

Browne's character was even more apparent in his next album, The Pretender. It was released during 1976, after the suicide of his first wife, Phyllis Major. The album features production by Jon Landau and a mixture of styles, ranging from the Mariachi-inspired "Linda Paloma" to the country-driven "Your Bright Baby Blues" to the downbeat "Sleep's Dark and Silent Gate". "Here Come Those Tears Again" was cowritten with Nancy Farnsworth, the mother of Browne's wife, after the untimely death of her daughter.

Browne began recording his next LP while on tour, and Running on Empty (1977) became his biggest commercial success. Breaking the usual conventions for a live album, Browne used new material and combined live concert performances with recordings made on buses, in hotel rooms, and back stage.^{[citation needed]} Running on Empty contains many of his most popular songs, such as the title track, "The Road" (written and recorded in 1972 by Danny O'Keefe), "Rosie", and "The Load-Out/Stay" (Browne's send-off to his concert audiences and roadies) although none had been recorded previously.

Activism and music[link]

In spring of 1978 Browne appeared at the site of the Barnwell, South Carolina nuclear reprocessing plant to perform a free concert the night before a civil disobedience action. He did not participate in the action. He likewise performed on the grounds of the Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant construction site in New Hampshire, where 1,414 people were arrested in the course of a multi-day occupation in April 1978;^[4] one of the two reactors at Seabrook were eventually constructed and has operated for over 20 years.

Soon after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, during March 1979, Browne joined with several musician friends to found the anti-nuclear organization Musicians United for Safe Energy.^[5] He was arrested protesting the Diablo Canyon Power Plant near San Luis Obispo. His next album, Hold Out (1980), was commercially successful — his only Number 1 record on the U.S. pop albums chart. The next year he released the single "Somebody's Baby" from the Fast Times at Ridgemont High soundtrack, which became his biggest hit, peaking at Number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. The 1983 Lawyers in Love followed, signaling a discernible change from the personal to the political in his lyrics. In 1985 he sang a duet with Clarence Clemons in a song called "You're a Friend of Mine".

Political protest came to the fore in Browne's music in the 1986 album, Lives in the Balance, an explicit condemnation of Reaganism and U.S. policy in Central America. Flavored with new instrumental textures, it was a huge success with many Browne fans, though not with mainstream audiences. The title track, "Lives in the Balance", with its Andean pan pipes — and lines like, "There's a shadow on the faces / Of the men who fan the flames / Of the wars that are fought in places / Where we can't even say the names" — was an outcry against U.S.-backed wars in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala. The song was used at several points in the award-winning 1987 PBS documentary, The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis, by journalist Bill Moyers, and was part of the soundtrack of Stone's War, a 1986 Miami Vice episode focusing on American involvement in Central America.

During the 1980s, Browne performed frequently at benefit concerts for leftist causes he believed in, including Farm Aid; Amnesty International (making several appearances on the 1986 A Conspiracy of Hope Tour); post-Somoza, revolutionary Nicaragua; and the Christic Institute. The album World in Motion, released during 1989, contains a cover of Steve Van Zandt's "I am a Patriot," a song which he has performed at numerous concerts.

Browne also performed alongside Roy Orbison in A Black and White Night in 1988 along with Bruce Springsteen, k.d. lang and many others. Originally airing on Cinemax, a live album and video recordings were also released.

1990s[link]

In 1993, four years after his previous album, Browne returned with I'm Alive, a critically acclaimed album with a more personal style that did not have any successful singles but still sold respectably — indeed, the ninth track from the album, "Sky Blue and Black", was used during the pilot episode of the situation comedy Friends. In 1994, Browne collaborated with Kathy Mattea to contribute "Rock Me on the Water" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization.^[3]

During 1995, he performed in The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True a musical performance of the popular story at Lincoln Center to benefit the Children's Defense Fund. The performance was originally broadcast on Turner Network Television (TNT), and issued on CD and video in 1996. He sang a duet with Jann Arden, "Unloved", on her 1995 album Living Under June. Browne's own album, Looking East (1996), was released soon after, but was not as successful commercially.^[3]

2000 to the present[link]

Browne released his album The Naked Ride Home in 2002, with a performance on Austin City Limits, featuring the recording with older familiar songs.

During 2003, Browne guest-starred as himself in The Simpsons episode "Brake My Wife, Please", performing a parody of his song "Rosie" with lyrics altered to reference the plot involving Homer and Marge.

In 2004, Browne was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Bruce Springsteen gave the induction speech,^[6] commenting to Browne that although the Eagles were inducted first, he said, "You wrote the songs they wished they had written".^{[citation needed]} Browne had written an uncounted number of hit songs that many artists, including the Eagles and Springsteen himself, had recorded over the span of his career. The previous year, three of Browne's albums — For Everyman, Late for the Sky, and The Pretender — had been selected by Rolling Stone magazine as among its choices for the 500 best albums of all time.

Jackson Browne campaigning for Presidential candidate John Edwards at a fundraising event in 2008

A liberal Democrat, Browne appeared in several rallies for presidential candidate Ralph Nader in 2000, singing "I Am a Patriot" and other songs. He participated in the Vote for Change tour during October 2004, playing a series of concerts in American swing states. These concerts were organized by MoveOn.org to mobilize people to vote for John Kerry in the presidential election. Browne appeared with Bonnie Raitt and Keb' Mo', and once with Bruce Springsteen. During late 2006, Browne performed with Michael Stanley and J. D. Souther at a fundraiser for Democratic candidates in Ohio. For the 2008 Presidential Election, he endorsed John Edwards for the Democratic Presidential Nomination and performed at some of Edwards' appearances. After Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination, Browne endorsed him.^[3] Browne also performed briefly at the Occupy Wall Street presence at Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan on December 1, 2011, to show his support for their cause.^{[citation needed]}

Solo Acoustic, Vol. 1, was released in 2005 on Inside Recordings. The album consists of live recordings of 11 previously released tracks and "The Birds of St. Marks", a song that does not appear on any of Browne's studio albums. This album was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2007 in the category of Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album. A live followup album, Solo Acoustic, Vol. 2, was released on March 4, 2008.^[3]

Browne is part of the No Nukes group which is against the expansion of nuclear power. During 2007, the group recorded a music video of a new version of the Buffalo Springfield song "For What It's Worth".^[7][8]

Browne cameoed in the 2007 film, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.^[9]

Browne's studio album, Time the Conqueror, was released September 23, 2008 via Inside Recordings. The album reached the Billboard 200 album chart at #20, which was his first top 20 record since releasing Lawyers in Love in 1983. In addition, the album peaked at #2 on the Billboard Independent Album chart.^[10]

During August 2008, Browne sued John McCain, the Ohio Republican Party, and the Republican National Committee for using his 1977 hit, "Running on Empty", in an attack advertisement against Barack Obama without his permission.^[11] In July 2009, the matter was settled under an undisclosed financial agreement with an apology from the McCain campaign and other parties.^[12]

During August 2008, he appeared on the ALMA Awards in a taped interview honoring Trailblazer Award recipient and long-time friend, Linda Ronstadt.

On 31 May 2008, Jackson Browne performed at the Artist for the Arts Foundation benefit at Barnum Hall, Santa Monica High School, Santa Monica, California. Performing live, alongside Heart, Venice ("Crazy On You") and over 70 members of the Santa Monica High School (SaMoHi) Orchestra and Girls Choir ("Bohemian Rhapsody"), the benefit helped to provide funds for the continuation of music education in public schools. The event was filmed and recorded by Touring Video and Post by On the WAVE Productions. Browne again performed there with Heart and other musician guest stars in 2009.^[13]

In January 2011, Browne won the 10th Annual Independent Music Awards in the Best Live Performance Album category for Love is Strange, performed by himself and David Lindley.^[14]

Browne contributed a cover of Buddy Holly's "True Love Ways" for a 2011 tribute album, Listen to Me: Buddy Holly.

Personal life[link]

Browne and Hannah, 1988

Browne has been married twice and has two children. His first wife was actress/model Phyllis Major (1946–1976). The two began their relationship around 1971, and married in late 1975, as memorialized in the song "Ready or Not". Their son, model/actor Ethan Zane Browne was born in 1973 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and grew up in Los Angeles, CA.^[15] Jackson and six month old Ethan appeared together on the cover of "Rolling Stone" magazine in May 1974. Ethan Browne has worked as a model and had small parts in two movies: Raising Helen and Hackers. Browne was devastated when Major committed suicide by consuming an overdose of sleeping pills just a few months after they married, in March 1976, at the age of 30.

Browne was married in January 1981 to Australian model Lynne Sweeney with whom he had a second son, Ryan Browne, born on January 28, 1982, who has been a bass player and singer in the band Sonny and the Sunsets since 2007.^[16][17] Browne and Sweeney were divorced in 1983, when he began dating actress Daryl Hannah. The relationship with Hannah ended in 1992. It has been said that the song "Not to Blame", by Joni Mitchell, was written about the relationship between Browne and Hannah or, perhaps more likely, inspired by Mitchell's understanding of Browne's relationship with Major, Hannah, and others. He has been with artist and environmental activist Dianna Cohen,^[18] and a co-founding member of the Plastic Pollution Coalition, since the mid 1990s.

Environmental activism[link]

This section requires expansion.

Browne was one of the leaders of the anti-nuclear movement and founded Musicians United for Safe Energy with Bonnie Raitt in 1979. He was also an active member of the Abalone Alliance and the Alliance for Survival.^[5][19] According to environmental activist Ed Begley, Jr., “He’s got this big wind turbine, and his ranch is completely off the [power] grid”, Begley said. “He’s done all of it himself.”^[19][20][21]

Browne campaigns against the unnecessary use of water in plastic bottles and takes steps to reduce usage on his tours. He is part of the movement "Plastic Free Backstage".^[5][22][23]

In April 2008, the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association (SIMA) gave Browne the honor of "Environmentalist of the Year".^[3]

Browne received the Duke LEAF Award for Lifetime Environmental Achievement in the Fine Arts in 2010 for his environmental activism and efforts to make his tours more "green".^[5]

Save Our Shores (SOS), an ocean advocacy group in California, honored Browne with their Ocean Hero Award on February 23, 2011. SOS and mayor of Santa Cruz, CA, Ryan Coonerty, proclaimed the date "Jackson Browne Day" in the City of Santa Cruz to honor Browne's social, environmental and anti-plastic activism, and as a founding member of the Plastic Pollution and an initiator of the REFUSE Disposable Plastics Campaign.^[24]

Browne also attended the TEDx Great Pacific Garbage Patch conference, performing a new song, "If I Could Be Anywhere", which laments mankind's destruction of the earth and giving hope to activism.

Charity[link]

In April 2012 Browne performed for Artists for the Arts (AFTA) benefit along with Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket and the band Venice. The benefit was to keep Arts and Music in public schools funded and raised over $100,000.00 at that event. This was Jackson Browne's fifth appearance out of the nine annual shows that have taken place. Harry Rabin of On the Wave Productions produced the show's live HD 12 camera shoot for the benefit. Marty Carrillo MC'd along with Cynthia Fox of KLOS. The band Venice was the main act and performed all supporting music for the guest artists along with a student orchestra and choir from the Santa Monica High and Malibu High school districts. The concert was held at Barnum Hall and was a sold out event.

In 2008, Browne contributed to the album Songs for Tibet, an initiative to support Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, and to publicize the human rights situation in Tibet. The album was issued on August 5 via iTunes and on August 19 in music stores around the world.^[25]

Browne covered John Lennon's "Oh My Love" to benefit Amnesty International's campaign to alleviate the crisis in Darfur. The song appears on the album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur, which was released on June 12, 2007 and features many other prominent artists performing other John Lennon covers, such as R.E.M., Jack Johnson, U2, Avril Lavigne, Green Day, and The Black Eyed Peas.

Browne performed live and recorded The Beatles song medley "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight" in 1991 with Jennifer Warnes for the charity album For Our Children to benefit the Pediatrics AIDS Foundation. Browne and Warnes again performed it live for the Tucson, AZ benefit concert.^[26]

Browne performed and sang the role of the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True, a 1995 musical performance for charity alongside Roger Daltrey, Natalie Cole, Tim Allen, and other stars. The celebrity cast performed a reader's theatre and songs styled performance of the MGM film The Wizard of Oz"" at the Lincoln Center as a benefit for the Children's Defense Fund. VHS and CD recordings were released of the concert in 1996 by Rhino Records.

Browne covered Lowen & Navarro's "Weight of the World" on Keep The Light Alive: Celebrating The Music of Lowen & Navarro. The proceeds of the album benefit The Eric Lowen Trust, ALS Association Greater Los Angeles, and Augie's Quest.

Browne also held a benefit concert for the Rory David Deutsch Foundation which is dedicated to providing funding for brain tumor research and treatment.

In October 2010 Browne performed at both days of the 24th Annual Bridge School Benefit Concert, a yearly fundraiser established by Neil Young. The Bridge School assists children with severe physical impairments and complex communication needs. Browne also appeared at the 2010 NAMM Conference in Anaheim, California with Yoko Ono and Quincy Jones in support of the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus.^[3]

On March 10, 2011 Jackson Browne with David Crosby, Graham Nash, Alice Cooper, and others performed a benefit concert in Tucson, Arizona benefiting The Fund For Civility, Respect, and Understanding, a foundation that raises awareness about and provides medical prevention and treatment services to people with mental disorders. The concert also benefited victims of the January 8, 2011 shootings in Tucson, AZ.^[27]

Browne has continued to provide exclusive music tracks for various charity and benefit albums including Safety Harbor Kids Holiday Collection (where he sang the Johnny Marks holiday song "Silver and Gold" with longtime friend Lowell George's daughter, Inara George). Browne provided a live version of "Drums of War" for The People Speak Soundtrack. Other charity albums he has contributed to include: Acordes Con Leonard Cohen (song: "A Thousand Kisses Deep"), From Wharf Rats to Lords of the Docks Soundtrack (song: "Step By Step"), Shrink (the Kevin Spacey film Soundtrack) (song: "Here"), Keep the Light Alive: Celebrating the Music of Eric Lowen and Dan Navarro (song: "Weight of the World"), and 1% For The Planet: The Music, Vol. 1 (a live version of "About My Imagination"), as well as many benefit concert and other appearances.^[3]

Awards[link]

On March 14, 2004, Browne was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Bruce Springsteen,^[28] and on June 7, 2007 Jackson Browne was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.^[3] In 2004, Jackson was named an honorary Doctorate of Music by Occidental College in Los Angeles, for "a remarkable musical career that has successfully combined an intensely personal artistry with a broader vision of social justice."^[29] For "promoting peace and justice through his music and his unrelenting support for that which promotes nonviolent solutions to problems both nationally and internationally", Browne received the Courage of Conscience Awards from The Peace Abbey in Sherborn, Massachusetts.^[30] In 2007, he was awarded the Chapin-World Hunger Year Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award.^[29]

In 2008, Browne received the NARM Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award.^[29]

In 2002, Browne was given the John Steinbeck Award, given to artists who are an example of the environmental and social values that Steinbeck believed in.^[29]

Discography[link]

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Bego, Mark (2005), Jackson Browne: His Life and Music, Citadel, ISBN 978-0-8065-2642-3, http://books.google.com/books?id=TSoOOD-MidAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Jackson+Browne:+His+Life+and+Music#v=onepage&q&f=false 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jackson Browne

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Jackson Browne

• Official website
• Wilson & Alroy's reviews of Jackson Browne recordings
• All Music Guide Overview of Jackson Browne, including album reviews
• Jackson Browne at TED Conferences
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Jackson Browne at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Jackson Browne in libraries (WorldCat catalog)