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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Last Friday wasn’t just my birthday, but also the day I ventured out into the regions of Georgia with the Sayat Nova Project, a Kickstarter-funded initiative to record the minority musical dialects of the Caucasus. I’ve already posted quite a few entries on the project as it documented ethnic Armenian, Azeri, and Avar traditional music last year.
Last week saw bands from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia compete in the semi-finals of a Metal Battle Caucasus to determine which three bands would perform at the final next month. The winner will get to perform at the Wacken Open Air Festival to be held later this year in Germany.
one of the stand-out moments of 2013 was being stranded in Doha for 24 hours on my way back from Abu Dhabi where I had been invited to speak on countering violent extremism online at an intergovernmental seminar organised by the U.S. Government’s Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSSC), Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), and the Hedayah Centre.
A new generation of ethnic Azeri Ashiqs is forming in Georgia, with Nargile Mehtiyeva at the forefront of the tradition. Regularly performing at festivals in Turkey, Mehtiyeva is also resurrecting the tradition of female Ashiqs among the younger generation.