Springs being restored by local villagers in Duzbilici, Shabran. The village was once surrounded by several springs, but most have fallen into disrepair. According to Amirdjan Gardashov, 68, the local population lacked both the resources and skills to maintain them or to build new springs. It’s estimated that 40–45 percent of the irrigation infrastructure is in need of renovation.

  Wedding traditions in Azerbaijan have been carried out in several stages, since ancient times up till the present day. Depending on the ethnic group and regional context, these traditions have changed over time. For instance, several stages before the celebration of the main wedding have developed: the presentation of the marriageable girl in question, a "notification" sent, the matchmaking, the engagement, the Kebin (Religious registration of the marriage), the henna night, wedding, rituals after the wedding, and so on.

Yuxu (The Dream) rock band - was one of the most unforgettable Azerbaijani music bands at the end of the ‘80s and beginning of the ‘90s in Sumqayit. Because of the city’s terrible environmental problems and horrifying concentrated industrial use of chemicals, Sumgayit was often referred to as the “Soviet’s Pride, Azerbaijan’s Hell”. The city was known for its extremely diverse and rebellious population, as well as for its high poverty rates. For these reasons, Sumgayit had favorable conditions for the emergence of rock music.      

Ismayil Meqchiyev: "If the tanbur (a string instrument) will become world-famous, it will forget me."

For a country like Azerbaijan that officially touts religious tolerance and multiculturalism, the Baha’i faith might seem a natural fit – practitioners recognize Mohammad, Jesus Christ, Moses, Buddha, Krishna and Zoraster as all manifestations of God.

He’s 34 years old, an Azerbaijani man with a wife, child and full-time job, yet claims that his parents “rarely let me go anywhere alone or even catch the bus.”   He suffers from emotional dysregulation disorder, and, finally, after decades, he’s learning to cope with the world on his own terms. But it is not an easy process.  

The unresolved conflict means fear for those living close to the border: peace is an abstract, and potentially dangerous concept as it can lead to being accused of being “non-patriotic.”

In socially conservative Azerbaijan, most families prefer that their mothers, wives and daughters seek medical care from female gynecologists.

In Azerbaijan, there is a saying that men should be "just a bit more handsome than an ape." But a growing number of Azerbaijani men are challenging that stereotype.