PSYCHOSEMANTICS OF THE PENNAME “AZAFLI”: THE LATENT MEANING OF SOCIAL PROTEST

Abstract

In the article the psycho-semantic essence of the penname “Azafli” carried by Mikayil Azafli, one of the prominent representatives of the Azerbaijani ashiq art of the 20th century, is studied through the prism of psychoanalytic folklore studies. The main purpose of the study is to reveal the multi-layered semantic structure of the penname “Azafli”, which is not only an indicator of geographical affiliation, but also a carrier of social protest, metaphorical-symbolic self-expression and Sufi-mystical thinking. In the article it is said that social protest in ashiq creativity is expressed not in the form of direct protest, but through indirect and symbolic models legitimized by the cultural system and molded into aesthetic molds.
The carried-out analysis shows that in ashiq poetry the motif of complaining about time, period and fate is more a poetic expression of a collective social reaction than an individual dissat-isfaction. In this context, the penname “Azafli” was formed in close connection with the ashiq’s hard fate, prison life and attitude towards social injustices, bringing to the fore the semantics of “suffering” and “hurt”.
Within the framework of the aforementioned conceptual approach, the metaphorical-symbolic essence of mystical-mystical concepts such as “poverty”, “illness”, “foolishness”, “mad-ness” that appear as penname in ashiq creativity is systematically explained and the latent layer of meaning of the penname “Azafli” is revealed within the framework of social protest.
As a result, in the study it is concluded that the penname “Azafli” contains mystical-mystical semantics, which carry symbolic meanings such as love, infatuation, foolishness, poverty, illness, mystics, madness and on the other hand, it contains social protest, which stems from the nature of creativity and contains the metaphorical-symbolic embodiment of psychological self-expression - a protest against God, father, authoritarian power, norms and rules. Thus, the concept of “Azaflı” is a multilayered artistic and philosophical model in Azerbaijani ashiq art that synthe-sizes both social protest, divine love and spiritual suffering.