Rüstəm Quliyev’s story is one of tragedy.  First, he was born in the Nagorno-Karabach area of Azerbaijan (contested by Armenia as recently as last year, where a small war was fought over the territory).  The fighting was so bad in Quliyev’s youth that he had to flee.

He would move to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, where his music blossomed into a mix of local Azeri music, psych, progressive rock, and whatever else his rapacious appetite for music all over the world could be fit into each composition.  His releases could be bought as far afield as Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, and Turkey.

Sadly, he died in 2005 after a short bout with cancer, but his work lives on in the scores of cassettes he sold throughout the Caspian Region, and this wonderful CD lovingly curated by Les Disques Bongo Joe out of Switzerland.