Rocking and rapping in Azerbaijan

Music in all three republics continues to be dominated by those singers
and musicians who are subordinate to nationalist or predominant
political interests. But rock and rap bands are starting to speak out,
especially in Azerbaijan

10.09.2009 From Yerevan, Onnik Krikorian

Alternative music in the former Soviet Union has always been synonymous
with rebellion and hopes for change, but in recent years in the South
Caucasus, few musicians have spoken out against the regimes in place.
This has been particularly true in Armenia and Azerbaijan where music
has more often than not taken on a nationalist leaning. All three
countries illustrated that quite clearly this year during the more
controversial than usual Eurovision Song Contest.

However, if some musicians in Georgia have been known to use their
public profile to ridicule both government and opposition politicians
alike, and while there is at least one musician in Armenia who has taken
a stand following last year’s disputed presidential election, the fusion
of politics and music seems most prolific in Azerbaijan. Since last
year, this has become most obvious in the form of rap music with at
least two bands openly campaigning for democracy and human rights in the
country.

For the 2008 presidential election in the oil-rich authoritarian
country, Shirband wrote a song to accompany a civic initiative to
promote a virtual imaginary candidate, Shiraslan, and to attract the
protest vote. True, the incumbent, Ilham Aliyev, emerged victorious with
a staggering 87 percent of the vote, but the point was made. Even if
music had rarely been used to push for democracy and human rights,
precedents were somehow being set in Azerbaijan.

For the third anniversary of the OL! Azerbaijani Youth Movement founded
by recently detained video blogger Adnan Hajizade, Shirband had already
composed and recorded a rap anthem, `OL Azad’ (Be Free). Since then,
other songs such as `Fuck’ decry corruption and authoritarianism in the
country while their latest, `Davam edir 37,’ is dedicated to Hajizade
and Emin Milli currently being tried for "hooliganism" in what many
consider to be a politically motivated trial to silence critical voices
among progressive youth.

Hajizade’s girlfriend and another prominent member of the OL!
Azerbaijani Youth Movement, Parvana Persiani says the song contrasts the
situation in today’s Azerbaijan with that in the former Soviet Union at
the time of Stalin’s purges. "1937 continues even more strictly,’ she
says, paraphrasing the song’s lyrics. `It’s more serious with the oil
and gas. Youth are being arrested and we can always feel these black
jeeps following us…"

The situation is very different in neighbouring Armenia where the last
rap band which many hoped might speak out for disenfranchised and
disenchanted youth in the country not only supported a pro-government
party run by the country’s main oligarch during the 2007 parliamentary
election, but also wrote a song for its campaign. Meanwhile, with the
notable exception of Mher Manukian and one anti-war song by the
Gyumri-based Bambir, rock musicians in Armenia have steered clear of
politics.

Joining their rap counterparts in Azerbaijan, however, two rock bands
have not been afraid to lend their names to emerging progressive youth
movements by writing anthems for the Dalga (Wave) youth group. `There is
fire burning in our souls, there is protest on our tongues, let the
tired faces smile, tomorrow is in our hands, let our students and youth,
be a beacon for ancient East, let us arm ourselves with love, so that
victory is ours,’ the lyrics of one song – `Dalga’ by OZAN — translate as.

Formed in 2005, band member Nurlan Kerimov says that while the rock
music scene in Azerbaijan remains quite small, it is growing. `OZAN is
always on the side of progressive youth,’ he says, adding that the band
is currently composing a song about Hajizade and Milli. `We have very
good relations with progressive youth and idea of anthem for Dalga was
ours. I believe rock music can change the minds of youth.’

Of course, the authorities are also well aware of the potential for
change that alternative music brings with it. Last month, for example,
one Azeri newspaper reported that fans of another rap band, H.O.S.T
Alliance, were being intimidated by national security service agents in
the Azeri exclave of Nakhichevan. Fifteen youth were detained for eight
hours by National Security Ministry operatives and instructed not to
listen to the band’s music which they reportedly claimed was `subversive.’

The band too has not been spared from unwanted attention from the
authorities. Although it released its first album in 2007, H.O.S.T
Alliance has not been able to sell it openly in Azerbaijan. Instead, the
music has been distributed freely from person to person. H.O.S.T
Alliance too has also been detained and warned not to write any more
`anti-State’ songs while the police are known to demand fans they
encounter delete the band’s music off their mobile phones.

Even so, like Shirband, OZAN, Qara Dervish and others, it continues to
compose and perform music, with fans making their own videos for
uploading to YouTube. Indeed, if contemporary youth culture and
progressive pro-democracy movements are anything to go by, Azerbaijan
remains ahead of the two other South Caucasus republics. And while the
situation in the country is considered more authoritarian than its
neighbours, it remains to be seen when similar trends take hold in
Armenia and Georgia.

Indeed, if contemporary youth culture and progressive pro-democracy
movements are anything to go by, Azerbaijan remains ahead of the two
other South Caucasus republics. While the situation in the country is
considered more authoritarian than its neighbours, it remains to be seen
when similar trends take hold in Armenia and Georgia.

And while music in all three republics continues to be dominated by
those singers and musicians who are subordinate to nationalist or
predominant political interests, alternative music in the South Caucasus
might yet result in a significant paradigm shift among a new generation
of youth 18 years after independence was declared from the former Soviet
Union. For now, however, and especially combined with alternative
methods of distribution such as the Internet and mobile phones, all eyes
are on Azerbaijan.
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