amanda rivkin, photographer

Newsletter went out yesterday:

“BTC Pipeline” by Amanda Rivkin on Emphas.Is

Thirty days have passed since I began my efforts to raise $4,250 through the photojournalistic crowdfunding platform Emphas.Is to return to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline route this winter.  I am happy to announce that the goal is very much within reach and I have less than $500 to go until I meet my goal!

With crowdfunding, it is all or nothing – you meet or exceed your goal and get the money, or you fall short and you do not.  Therefore, it is imperative to keep the goal reasonable and even on the low side or risk not achieving anything.  For this reason, any additional funds beyond the stated goal will be used to expand the project and hopefully include some of the conflict zones that have helped to define the pipeline’s geography from Nagorno-Karabakh to South Ossetia and Abkhazia to Turkey’s internal conflict with its Kurdish other in the east.

Once called the most significant post-Cold War victory, BTC is the first pipeline to deliver oil and natural gas from a former Soviet Republic to the West whilst bypassing Russia and Iran.  Rewards for contributors include limited edition books and prints, so please know you will be rewarded as well!

Here is the project page:  “BTC Pipeline by Amanda Rivkin” on Emphas.Is

Direct Link: http://www.emphas.is/web/guest/discoverprojects?projectID=342

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The Economist: Eastern Approaches blog “Caspian Dreamin’”

Rounding out the past few weeks is a small feature I wrote for The Economist’s Eastern Approaches blog entitled, “Caspian Dreamin’” about two American Peace Corps volunteers and their viral hit song, “Baku State of Mind,” a parody version of the Jay-Z and Alicia Keys hit, “Empire State of Mind”. The duo was invited to try out to represent Azerbaijan next May at the Eurovision Song Contest, to be held in Baku, and in a small update to The Economist blog, both ended up doing so together in the end, performing a rendition of Justin Bieber’s “Baby” for the four member judges panel at Ictimai Television Studios in Baku last week.

Here is The Economist story: “Caspian Dreamin’”

Here is the YouTube video: “Baku State of Mind”

Thank you as always for your support for my work! Look forward to updating you about my travels this coming winter along the BTC pipeline route!

Very warm regards from the Baku,

Amanda Rivkin

The Economist just published a nice little follow up I wrote to my last personal blog post, “Best Boy Band in the ‘Baijan Prepares to Top 100,000 Hits on YouTube,” entitled, “Soft Diplomacy – Caspian Dreamin’,” on their Eastern Approaches blog that is sure to set the Dreamers over the 100,000 benchmark for YouTube views. Here, have a read:

Soft diplomacy
Caspian dreamin’

Oct 31st 2011, 12:53 by A. R. | BAKU

WHILE the Eurovision song contest is not typically an arena in which America can compete, an unlikely hit song parodying “Empire State of Mind”, the famous Jay-Z and Alicia Keys tune, is presenting a chance for the country to participate in the contest. It is also an opportunity to witness American “soft diplomacy” at work.

The song, called “Baku State of Mind”, features retooled lyrics about the Azeri capital such as “where oil flows like honey, nothing sweeter than my money”. More surprisingly, it was written by two American Peace Corps volunteers, Brad Kessler and Tim McNaught, known to Azeri audiences as The Caspian Dreamers.

They now have a hit on their hands. On YouTube, the video-sharing site, a clip of the two performing the song boasts nearly 100,000 views—which is a lot for an Azeri act. Even most YouTube videos starring Emin Agalarov, a self-styled popstar, who has the advantage of being the husband of the Azeri president’s daughter, Leyla Aliyeva, and the son of a Russian oligarch, don’t reach that many views. But not just Azeris are in a state of mind to enjoy the song. Recently a taco dinner at the home of a senior American diplomat was interrupted so guests could enjoy the song.

A few weeks ago, the National Eurovision Committee officially invited the Caspian Dreamers to represent Azerbaijan in next year’s Eurovision song contest, which will be held in Baku (Eldar Gasimov and Nigar Jamal, better known as Ell and Nikki, won last year’s contest in Düsseldorf, Germany, with their song “Running Scared”). Should the Americans win the try-outs, and perhaps even the contest itself, it would be a welcome “bottom-up” counterpoint to the top-down orchestration prevailing in Azerbaijan (which has staged an elaborate, continent-wide public relations blitz around the contest).

Alas, it is not clear whether the duo will actually compete. With try-outs set to begin sometime in the next few weeks, only one of the Caspian Dreamers has agreed to do so and submitted the necessary paperwork.