Hip-Hop From The Land Of Fire: Baku Beat - Ara Günlər

Last week I posted a track featuring and produced by Baku Beat, which was my first introduction to them.  I've been digging up some more from them and really enjoy the old school sound that they have.  They have a Jurassic 5 sound to them with easy beats and a revolving role call of members contributing their verses.  Ara Günlər has that posse cut feel, a nice and easy jam that bounces along.

Props to RapRock.Az

Baku Beat - Ara Günlər (which means 'Some Days' or 'These Days')



Previous on Hip-Hop From The Land Of Fire: Caspian Clan ft. Baku Beat

How To Get Your Internet Working in Azerbaijan

So, you've all been hearing about my utility woes throughout the past few weeks.  Its as if the utility companies collectively decided to play an April Fools joke on Josh that took weeks of preparation.  I now have internet back at my house (cue angelic chorus) and am slowly accustoming myself to a digital lifestyle again.  This has been a crazy process, but its incredibly demonstrative of the way things get done in Azerbaijan.  I thought it might be an enjoyable read for those of you back home to get a sense of how this country works.

A month ago my internet stopped working.  Usually when this happens it means I need to pay my bill.  That didn't fix it, but because the next day was a national holiday I couldn't do anything about it.

The next day I contacted the person in charge of internet setup in Khachmaz, Rasim.  To put it nicely, Rasim is not a hard worker.  Even amongst other phone department employees its somewhat of a joke that Rasim is never in the office.  Anytime you call him he'll tell you he can help you the next day, since there is no way he can change his tea-drinking schedule today.  He asked if I paid, I said I did.  He asked, which bank; I told him.  He said he will check, I said okay.

The next day I call him back, and he informs me that the bank said I paid.  'Thanks Rasim, I know.'  This happens to be while I'm at the local internet center where my friend Rashad works and he tells me I just need to reset the router, which he can do.  The next day I bring it to the internet center and Rashad resets it.  When I get back home I plug it in, nothing happens.

By this time its a day before I leave for vacation and I permit myself to throw my hands in the air before I peace out from Azerbaijan and enjoy one wonderful week with my family.  Getting back I steel myself for solving this internet problem and find I have about 5 more waiting for me (hooray!).

We are now at a point beyond telephones, and come Monday I head over to the internet office myself to try and get thigns done.  The man at the window says I need to speak with Rasim and calls him to ask where he is (because, of course, he's not in the office).  Rasim says he'll be there at 5.  At 5 I head back to the office, the friendly man asks if Rasim is here.  I say 'he said he'll be here'.  He laughs and says 'Rasim always says he'll be here'.

Once Rasim did come he tells me the router needs to be reset (which I've already done).  Unsurpringly the internet doesn't work when I get home.  My friend Elvin comes over and asks how this problem is coming along.  He then asks if my phone is working and picks it up.  It's staticy.  When we call it from our cell it says the number is unassigned.  Finally! We have identified the problem-its my phone number.

The next day I take my paid March bill to the phone company.  The woman takes my phone number and tells me she'll take care of it.  When I ask her what's the problem she reinstates, ' we will fix it'.  Nothing happens.  The day after I return and say nothing happened and my phone still doesn't work.  They said that someone came to my home but I wasn't home.  I say that I was home all day and they must have gone to a wrong address.  (We both know that what actually happened is that no one came ot myhome).

Generously, a second, nicer woman calls me over.  She asks what my phone number is, I tell her and she dials it, it works.  'Why doesn't it work from my phone?'  'They've recently changed the area code and you need extra numbers to dial it from a mobile.'

So, its good that the phone works (which I never use), but this brings me no closer to fixing the internet.  At this point my frustration level is approaching cartoon levels.  I know there is some incredibly simply solution to make this work.  I know there is some button some person needs to press to get my internet working.  I just need to figure out who.

Its time to get real.  I ask my friend Sabina if she will be my translator/muscle for this.  We call the Baku office directly.  They explain the reason my phone is working but my internet is not is because there are micro-cuts in my telephone line and it needs to be replaced.  Now, micro-cuts sounds like a pretty BS excuse to me but I've got no other options.

We head back to the phone company and tell them what the internet office told us.  The woman calls the person responsible for fixing telephone lines.  The related conversation of this phone call went something like this: 'When will you be over' 'I'll tell them later' 'Just tell them now' 'No, later.  After she hangs up she shrugs her shoulders and says 'You know how this country is'.

Sabina wisely says she'll follow up herself.  The guard tells us he's at a 'meeting'.  Now, we all know he's not at a meeting, he's at an early lunch.  We tell the guard we will be back tomorrow morning to speak with him.  The next day, he's in another 'meeting' (read: he hasn't come to work yet).  We stalk his door until he shows up and plead our case.  He calls for different people and soon, Sabina, myself, Rasim, and two other men are in a taxi heading to our house to replace my phone line.

At my house, Rasim looks at the router, then looks at the splitter.  A splitter is a small box that has a phone jack on one end and two phone jacks on the other; it allows a phone and a modem to be plugged into one line.  Rasim mutters 'If this works Josh, I'm going to kill you'.  He swaps the modem cord for the phone cord and the phone cord for the internet cord on the double jack end.  Within moments the internet comes back on.  I slap my head and groan.  I am so frustrated with the simplicity and ease of this solution.  Why couldn't ANYONE have pointed this out in any of my numerous interactions with them.

This is how problems get solved in Azerbaijan.  In America we have a history of throwing money at the problem, in Azerbaijan, its time.  Convenience and efficiency just aren't valued here in the way they are in America and most problems are solved by simple dogged determination and persistence, which are to be found in people here at astronomical levels.

When I first got to school, I was amazed to hear some of the ridiculous reasons teachers would give for why they weren't in school.  But after living here for 19.5 months I finally understand it.  I too have missed an entire week of class simply trying ot get my internet fixed.

More Pics from Prague

More pics uploaded from Prague. Check them out HERE

Stacked graves at in the Jewish Quarter 

The fairy tale village of Chesky Krumlov seen from the castle

Hip-Hop From The Land Of Fire: Caspian Clan ft. Baku Beat - True or Not True

I'll be honest, ever since RapRock.Az's site redesign I've basically ditched it as my primary source of finding new Azeri rap.  But, as of yet, it hasn't been a big problem with AzRap.Az posting some great leaks and promos.  And I give them props for the new Caspian Clan track published.

I'm trying to get more into Caspian Clan recently based on Uran's strong mixtape and the strong one-offs they've been releasing.  I really like this team up with Baku Beat, who contribute their characteristic upright bass thump, it gives it a nice old school sound.  Check it out below.

Caspian Clan ft. Baku Beat - True or Not True



Previous on Hip-Hop From The Land Of Fire: A-Team

Now I Can Focus on Getting Internet

I just finished a very stressful week.  The smooth landing I experienced returning from America last August was not repeated in my arrival back to Azerbaijan from Europe.  Arriving home I found my water pipes were broken, my gas was off, my phone had been disconnected and my internet had stopped working.  These aren't things that you can simply call to fix, they take multiple trips and different trouble shooting sessions.  As of now, only my gas is working (though the plumber is coming for a third time tonight).

Furthermore, this past week involved a massive amount of preparation for Kelly's and my first Training of Trainers Workshop, preparing strong English Teacher to teach trainings on Interactive Teaching Methods.  Much of the work had been done, but we were a little shocked to find that instead of the 10-15 teachers we assumed each workshop would have, we would have potentially 40 teachers.  We were on pace to go way over budget on our first training that was completely untested.

Between my apartment and the training it was enough to ensure that I didn't get a good night of sleep all week.  And it was a relief to leave Khachmaz for Mingechevir, knowing that I would be able to get away from my home for a couple of days and get the training over with.  Problems continued to be texted at me on the noisy 7 hour bus trip and I started making plan Bs, Cs, and Ds in my head.  Kelly and I greeted each other in Ming with a simple 'I can't wait to get this over with'.

But the training went great.  The teachers were active.  There seemed to be a real enjoyment and excitement about this workshop; rather than learning about specific methods, something most of these teachers are familiar with, they were learning a new set of professional skills that would allow them to help weaker teachers.  When we asked who thought they could hold a training in the next month, 11 teachers raised their hands, with many others asking if it was acceptable to hold a training in the next two months.

I've had enough experience in Azerbaijan to know it's unreasonable for me to expect 11 trainings, but I was thoroughly impressed with the caliber of these teachers and am confident that more than 3 teachers (our stated goal) will hold a training as a result of this workshop.  Yes we are now certainly over budget and we have to make some substantial changes to our training agenda, but the workshop itself was a complete success.

Kelly and I suspected that this could be a project Azerbaijanis would receive really well.  Instead of targeting the mediocre teachers, trying to get them better, we're targeting the exceptional teachers, preparing them to help make their fellow teachers better.  But all of this was just assumption until our first workshop.  I'm really pleased about the initial response and am excited to see what results from this over the next two months.