The project Echoes of Prohibited Romance is the result of the artist Farhad Farzali’s long-term research. It builds on the Azerbaijani song Qal Sənə Qurban—a pan-ethnic anthem that has travelled through many cultural contexts and countries and has been adapted into numerous languages, including Armenian, Turkish, Arabic, and Greek, while resonating across many other communities. Using Qal Sənə Qurban as a starting point is not accidental: Farzali approaches music as a universal, unifying, and humanitarian language of communication. Based on the original composition, the artist has created a new work that incorporates fragments of cover versions of the song in different languages. These voices form, in essence, a multinational choir—an evolving collective body in which cultural translation becomes both material and theme. The project unfolds as a multi-sensory experience in space, thematizing the paradoxes of cultural adaptation. The installation consists of five trays, each fitted with a transducer (turning every tray into a loudspeaker). All trays are connected to an amplifier and a sound card linked to a computer. On the computer, a specially developed algorithm—trained on five vocal performances in Arabic, Azerbaijani, Armenian, Greek, and Turkish—processes the material and produces a single voice. From this unified voice, Farzali constructs a new, self-contained language: a composite speech-song made of fragments, phonetics, and musical gestures drawn from the different versions of Qal Sənə Qurban. What emerges is a “hyper-cover” — a cover at once of all the covers, performed in a language that belongs to none of them individually, yet carries traces of each. The voice performs the song and narrates its journey across cultures, simultaneously speaking in five languages and in this newly formed cryptic language. Through the installation, a unique world is created: the universe of a song.

Farhad Farzali is a sound artist exploring the intersection of traditional and marginal cultures, popular aesthetics, and contemporary music. His work documents neo-folklore in Azerbaijan and beyond. Exhibited globally, he has showcased and performed at the Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival (2014), Venice Biennale (2019), and Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah (2023). His works are part of Yarat Contemporary Art Space and other major museum collections in Azerbaijan. Сurrently lives in Berlin.

Aiganym Mukhamejan (b. 1999) is based in Amsterdam and is a multimedia artist who employs ironic selfportraiture
to reflect on Kazakhstan’s evolving cultural and political identity. Her work often engages with
themes of tradition and modernity, feminist perspectives, and the socio-cultural transformations occurring
in contemporary Kazakh society.