Apr 17, 2016

DiHaj on BBC Azeri

DiHaj, Caucasus Music Awards, Tbilisi, Georgia © Onnik James Krikorian 2016

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.

More photos of all or most of the bands performing can be found on my Facebook page.

DiHaj, Caucasus Music Awards, Tbilisi, Georgia © Onnik James Krikorian 2016

Tbilisoba 2024

Oct 17, 2024

Earlier this month, Tbilisi celebrated Tbilisoba, the city’s annual harvest festival. Over the years it has changed significantly and seems smaller than before. I first covered the event in 2011 but the best so far remains 2014 when there was more representation of traditional Georgian folk dance and music as well as by ethnic minorities such as the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities. This year, that was held relatively far away from Tbilisi’s Old Town and Rike Park with very little publicity or in some media any at all. Nonetheless, those that attended appeared to enjoy themselves sufficiently and I managed to photo stories.

Can Armenia and Azerbaijan finally reach an agreement by COP29?

Oct 17, 2024

As this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Baku draws closer, negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan appear to be drifting further apart. Despite hopes that the opposite would be true, a lack of clarity and confusion instead continues to reign. Does the draft Agreement on Peace and Establishment of Interstate Relations contain 17 points or 16? Initially, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had announced that consensus had been reached on 13 points while 3 were partially agreed and there was no agreement at all on a fourth.