Qaya

With the news that Azerbaijan has triumphed at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Running Scared” performed by Ell and Nikki, voted Europe’s favorite, I was reminded of a previous Azerbaijani purveyor of cheesy pop, Gaya, a fabulous singing quartet, who were one of the most successful in Soviet-Azerbaijani during the 1960s and 1970s. Qaya mixed modern beats with traditional Azerbaijani music, and their songs could easily sit (if not win) in today’s Eurovision; or piped anesthetically through shopping malls department stores.

With thanks to Iya Vinogradova