Gara Abulfaz oghlu Garayev, also spelled as Qara Qarayev or Kara Karayev, was a prominent Soviet Azerbaijani composer. Garayev wrote nearly 110 musical pieces, including ballets, operas, symphonic and chamber pieces, solos for piano, cantatas, songs, and marches, and rose to prominence not only in the Azerbaijan SSR, but also in the rest of the Soviet Union and worldwide.

Uzeyir bey Abdulhuseyn bey oghlu Hajibeyov was an Azerbaijani composer, musicologist and teacher. He is recognized as the father of Azerbaijani classical music.