ashik

thumb|Ashik Ağalar Mikayılov playing the saz thumb|Ashugh Jivani (center, playing the kamani) with instrumentalists right|200px|thumbnail|Soviet Union|Soviet stamp from 1962 devoted to [[Sayat-Nova's 250 anniversary]]

An ashik (; ) or ashugh (; ) is traditionally a singer-poet and bard who accompanies his song—be it a dastan (traditional epic story, also known as hikaye) or a shorter original composition—with a long-necked lute (usually a bağlama or saz) in Azerbaijani culture, including Turkish and Iranian Azeri and non-Turkic cultures of South Caucasus (primarily Armenian and Georgian). In Azerbaijan, the modern ashik is a professional musician who usually serves an apprenticeship, masters playing the bağlama, and builds up a varied but individual repertoire of Turkic folk songs. thumbnail|right|200px|An ashik performance in Tabriz