The Mugam Festival or Shusha Festival is an annual cultural and musical festival that is held in Shaki, Azerbaijan. The festival features traditional Azerbaijani music known as mugam.

One of the major pioneers of this festival was Uzeyir Hajibeyov

Uzeyir Hajibeyov

Uzeyir bey Abdul Hussein oglu Hajibeyov was an Azerbaijani and Soviet composer, conductor, publicist, playwright, teacher, translator, and social figure from Azerbaijan. He is recognized as the father of Azerbaijani classical music and opera...

 who was a People's Artist of the USSR

People's Artist of the USSR

People's Artist of the USSR, also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to citizens of the Soviet Union.- Nomenclature and significance :...

 in 1938. Hajibeyov dedicated his life to preserve the traditional music of Azerbaijan.
Another pioneer was Rashid Behbudov

Rashid Behbudov

Rashid Behbudov was an Azerbaijani singer and actor. He sang in Azerbaijani, Russian, Persian, Turkish, Hindi, Armenian, Urdu and Bengali among other languages....

, also the winner of People's Artist of the USSR

People's Artist of the USSR

People's Artist of the USSR, also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to citizens of the Soviet Union.- Nomenclature and significance :...

, who participated in every festival.
The Mugham Festival was founded and is traditionally celebrated in the Azerbaijani city of Shusha

Shusha

Shusha , also known as Shushi 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...

. The last Mugham Festival in Shusha took place in 1988. Because of the conflict in the Karabakh

Karabakh

The Karabakh horse , also known as Karabakh, is a mountain-steppe racing and riding horse. It is named after the geographic region where the horse was originally developed, Karabakh in the Southern Caucasus, an area that is de jure part of Azerbaijan but the highland part of which is currently...

 region, Shusha has been occupied by Armenia

Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

n forces since 1992 and all Azeris have fled the city. Today the festival lives on and has been held in Shaki since November 1994. Every year thousands of people participate in this festival.
The Children's Mugham Festival, which is also held in Shaki, has emerged from the Mugham Festival. During the Children's Mugham Festival, many talented children, mainly refugees from the occupied regions of Azerbaijan, get the chance to share their music and sing to a large crowd.