From the damn-near-perfect record label Canary Records’ Bandcamp site: “Keçaçioğlu Muhammad was the stage name of Muhammad Mashadi Khalil oglu who was born June 18, 1864 in the city of Shusha in the mountainous region of the Russian Empire known to the overwhelming Armenian majority of its residents for centuries Continue Reading
Azerbaijan
Sayat Nova Project – Kazbek: Field Recordings from the Caucasus 2012 – 2014
From the Sayat Nova Project Bandcamp site: “Originally issued in September 2014 on Winebox Press in an edition of 70 copies. This collection acts as something of a Bootleg Series companion to the Mountains of Tongues LP and features material from the same sessions as well as more recent recordings Continue Reading
Rare Soviet Oriental Jazz & Groove Mix Compiled and Mixed by Sasha Svistunov
Once upon a time, I had a decent working knowledge (at least for an American expat) of Soviet Jazz. It keeps popping back into my life, and I still find it a joy to listen to even 30 years down the road. Thanks to Shasha Svistunov for compiling some real Continue Reading
Various Artists – Azerbaijani Love Songs
Music from Azerbaijan comes in many forms, but one of the genres not well-covered on disc outside of the country is its rich tradition of love songs. Caucaso Records, a Baku-based record label, has begun the process to fix this issue.
Akshin Alizadeh – Reasons
We have here a slab of R&B and modern soul courtesy of Akshin Alizadeh, the wunderkind originally from Azerbaijan who records for Cold Busted Records out of Oregon. It’s strangely radio-friendly, but the funk is pleasant on this single
Nigar Marjanova (Ника Марджанова) – Summertime
Now and again I stumble onto something pleasant, even if there is no CD or download available (yet) of the artist’s music. Nigar Marjanova (see her Youtube channel here) is a jazz singer out of Baku, Azerbaijan, a country known for producing some rather fine musicians (think of Vagif Mustafazade Continue Reading
Rüstəm Quliyev – Azerbaijani Gitara
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 Continue Reading