After nearly 19 years of communicating online, I finally managed to meet Thomas Goltz, the American writer and journalist best known for his Azerbaijan Diary, Chechnya Diary, and Georgia Diary books. I also managed to interview him for the BBC’s Azerbaijan Service on his latest project, On Aggregate: Champions Without a Home, the story of Azerbaijan’s Qarabagh-Aghdam football team which has been unable to play home games since 1993 when their city was captured by Armenian forces during the conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh.
CATEGORY RESULTS
Woodstock Without Borders: One Caucasus Festival
I’ve been meaning to attend the annual One Caucasus festival since it started three years ago, but this year’s event, held 25-28 August in the Georgian village of Tserakvi, was the first time that I have. Naturally, I put together two video reports, in Azerbaijani for the BBC’s Azeri Service, embedded further down this page, and in English for Meydan TV, directly below.
DiHaj in Tbilisi
Last month saw a return visit to Tbilisi by Azerbaijani Experimental/Immersive Doom Pop band, DiHaj. Scheduled to play at the annual Tbilisi Open Air Festival, DiHaj also performed at the birthday party of veteran Georgian rocker Lado Burduli and at Vake Park’s Backstage 76. Great band.
DiHaj on BBC Azeri
Last month saw the annual Caucasus Music Awards held in Tbilisi, arguably the cultural centre of the South Caucasus, and featuring bands from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Because of time I couldn’t do as much reporting as I’d like, but did get a chance to interview Azerbaijani Experimental Doom Pop band, DiHaj for the BBC’s Azerbaijan Service.
The Armenia-Azerbaijan Karabakh Escalation Viewed from Georgia
Following the recent escalation on the Line of Contact (LoC) separating Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in and around the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh, BBC Azeri recently published my piece on the view from Georgia. In particular, it focuses on opinions expressed at a meeting of the Thinking Citizens platform, an Azerbaijani and Georgian-Azeri initiative.
BBC Azeri: Azerbaijani Carpets Rewoven
Last week BBC Azeri published my video report on reWoven, a sustainable development project to revive and sustain the art of traditional carpet weaving among Georgia’s ethnic Azeri minority. I had interviewed Ryan Smith, reWoven’s founder, over a month ago during an exhibition of some of the carpets made as part of the project, but only got to visit one of the villages where some of the weavers live last weekend.
#NKPeace: BBC Azeri Interview with U.S. OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Ambassador James B. Warlick
As tensions escalate on the Line of Contact (LoC) separating Armenian and Azerbaijani forces still locked in deadlock over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh, the BBC’s Azerbaijan Service last month published my interview with the U.S. Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassador James B. Warlick.
Jazz Without Borders
Cross-border projects in a conflict-riven region come in many forms, but perhaps the most overlooked has arguably been those in the area of culture. There have been some notable exceptions such as the CIS Youth Symphony Orchestra that performed in Yerevan and Baku as well as elsewhere, but otherwise most cultural events featuring both Armenian and Azerbaijani musicians perform in neighbouring Georgia.
Tbilisi Jam! Fest 2015
Two weeks ago saw Tbilisi Jam! Fest 2015 held close to Lisi Lake. Featuring metal bands from the U.S., Europe, and Israel, the event also saw another instalment of the Wacken Open Air (W.O.A) Metal Battle Caucasus in which groups from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia competed to represent the region in the German music festival.