For much of the last decade, Azerbaijan has been cultivating an electronic music community. What began as a handful of dedicated promoters, DJs and partygoers has gradually developed into a scene with multiple collectives, diverse musical identities and a growing appetite for international exchange. At the heart of that evolution sits FOMO, a venue that has quickly become one of Baku’s defining spaces for the underground sound. Earlier this year, Trommel joined FOMO for our first collaboration in the city, taking the opportunity to speak with the people behind the club about its journey.
Although electronic music has existed in Azerbaijan for many years, the infrastructure surrounding it remained limited for a long time. “Around twenty years ago there was a small drum & bass community, some psychedelic music and a strong rock scene,” explains Cestlek, a DJ and longstanding figure within Baku’s underground community. “But electronic music didn’t really have the opportunity to grow back then.”
Eleven years ago, a small group of friends decided to change that. “We opened the first club here dedicated to electronic music, iN Club. There was nothing before,” he recalls. “At the beginning we were just students, growing up day by day, visiting a lot of festivals around the world.” With the travel and discovery of new experiences, their ambitions gradually expanded. “At that time we had limited resources, but years later FOMO opened up new opportunities to take things further.”
Today, Baku has multiple communities exploring different corners of electronic music. “The diversity has become much bigger,” FOMO’s Art Director and Head of Bookings Rustam explains. “Before, you had underground music coming strictly from the iN guys and the rest was commercial. iN Club were, and still are, very good at that, but there wasn’t much choice. Now there are promoters focused on House, Minimal, Techno, Afro House and many other musical directions.” He believes FOMO has played an important role in creating that diversity. “We helped set the playground where people could develop their own ideas. Now everyone can create something, build their own community and find an audience.”
For Cestlek and Mozzy, another Azeri talent, that sense of community has always been a central point. Both divide their time between DJing and promoting, helping shape the city’s underground from several directions at once. “I’ve been working with music for more than twenty years,” says Cestlek. “Music and my family are the two most important things in my life. My music probably says more about me than I can.”
Mozzy’s journey has followed a similar path. “I’ve been DJing for more than a decade, as well as promoting and making parties,” he says. “We’ve worked on a lot of cool projects together and now we’re hosting Trommel here, which means a lot to us.” Mozzy, together with Chestlek, is one of the driving forces behind iN’terpretation, a collective born from the growing community at iN. The party series has become a staple in the region, inviting international artists and local selectors across multiple venues.
When discussing musical influences, Cestlek and Rustam find it equally challenging to narrow down a top pick of names, neither limiting themselves to a single style. Ricardo Villalobos and Craig Richards remain constant references for Cestlek, while artists like Nils Frahm and even early psychedelic projects such as Infected Mushroom and Goa Trance DJ Mad Maxx, shaped his wider musical outlook. “Although, I don’t like separating artists too much,” he says. “I take little parts from all of them and bring them into my own sound.”
Rustam’s influences reflect a similarly broad perspective. While Villalobos remains one of electronic music’s defining innovators, he also points towards Richie Hawtin, Laurent Garnier and Innervisions’ Trikk as artists who fundamentally changed the way scenes could develop. “They all created their own vision. They set their own rules and people follow, because they believe in something original.”
Looking ahead, FOMO’s ambitions continue to grow alongside the wider Azerbaijani scene. During Formula One weekend in September, the team are expanding outside the venue with a series of large-scale waterfront events, before returning to the club for afterparties. “It’s our first real step towards something bigger,” Rustam says. “And of course, we aim to have our own festival one day. Until then, we’ll keep growing and building our community.”
It seems the next chapter is imminent, with the foundations already set. As more international artists begin looking beyond the region’s better-known destinations, Baku is emerging as another city well worth paying attention to. At FOMO, that future already feels well underway.
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