Murad Magomedovich Kazhlayev (15 January 193123 December 2023) was a Russian and Lak composer and conductor. He was a People's Artist of the USSR (1981), (2016), and laureate of international premiums and contests. He was also Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the , a professor and academician at Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.
Murad Kajlayev was born on 15 January 1931 in Baku to a Lak family.
He graduated from Baku State Conservatoire from the composition class of . He was expelled from there for his ardour for practicing non-academic musical genres but soon he was reclaimed. He worked as a teacher at a musical school named after Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, in Makhachkala, as a chief conductor of the Dagestan Radio Symphonic Orchestra (1957âÂÂ1958), artistic director of the Dagestan Philharmonic Hall (1963âÂÂ1964) and secretary of administration of the Union of Soviet Composers (from 1968). He is the composer of the current anthem of Dagestan used since 2016.
Kajlayev died on 23 December 2023, at the age of 92.
His father was Magomed Davudovich (1894-1963; otolaryngologist, Doctor of Medical Sciences), his mother was Yelena Mikhailovna (1908-1983; phoniatrician).
He was married to Valida Islamovna Kajlayeva. His son is Hadjimurat Kajlayev (born 1962).