(Azerbaijan) When Aygun Baylar sings the demanding repertoire of Azerbaijani muggam, there is something beyond the sheer power of her voice that one is struck with. There is an emotional punch to her delivery; a total immersion in the music that transcends technique. In addition, her smokey tone mitigates the hard edges of the trademark "yodeling" of much Azeri and Persian folk music. Typically, the singer, or "khanende", will also play the drum, or "Daf", as Aygun does here. She is accompanied by Toghrul Asadullayev on Kamanche (spike fiddle) and Rovshan Gurbanov on Tar (lute) who both played with precision and fire. This performance, taken from the Sharq Taronalari Festival in Samarkand is excerpted from a longer suite that Baylar presented, "Semai Shams" being the central song in the suite. Every ornament and phrase was being judged during this performance, and it won her First Prize in the competition.