Wednesday evening, October 31, the Houston Baku Sister City Association and the Raindrop Turkevi jointly hosted a gathering to welcome Alim Qasimov and other musicians from Azerbaijan to the city of Houston .  The artists are currently on tour in the United Sates together with a group of total seventeen musicians from the Central Asian region.  The tour called “Spiritual Sounds of Central Asia, Nomads, Mystics and Troubadours” is an initiative of  the Aga Khan Cultural Trust and provides the North American audiences with a unique opportunity to hear traditional music from Azerbaijan , Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , Tajikistan and Qaraqalpakstan/Uzbekistan.  Besides the legendary Alim Qasimov the other artists from Azerbaijan include Alim’s daughter Fargana Qasimova, Rauf Islamov, Rafael Asgarav, Natig Shirinov and Ali Asgar Mammadov, all members of distinguished musical lineages. 

Houston Baku Sister Cities Association and Raindrop Turkevi held an iftar dinner for Azerbaijani and Turkish Community. As you may know, for the Muslims in our society, this is the holy month of Ramadan which entails fasting, praying, and helping people in need. Besides, teaching one self-control, strength of will and insight into the plight of the poor, it is also a wonderful time to get together for the socalled IFTAR ritual to break the daily fast with friends and family. 
In keeping with this tradition, the board members of the Houston Baku Sister Cities Association organized that wonderful night. (September 29,2007,HOUSTON,TEXAS) 

Seventeen musicians from Central Asia, a culturally dynamic and rapidly changing region, will share their mastery of traditions at once ancient and contemporary in an 11-city North American tour beginning on October 12th. The tour, “Spiritual Sounds of Central Asia: Nomads, Mystics, and Troubadours,” will provide North American audiences with a rare opportunity to hear music from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Qaraqalpakstan (an autonomous region in Uzbekistan). Concerts will feature a panoramic range of vocal and instrumental music that showcases some of Central Asia’s finest performers.

The artists, several of whom are making their North American debuts, will include the legendary Azerbaijani vocalist Alim Qasimov, whom the French newspaper Le Monde hailed as “one of the most beautiful voices of our era,” and his daughter Fargana;

The weekend of September 8 and 9, 2007 became memorable for Houston, America's fourth largest city and home to more than 4 million people, for an outstanding festival of Turkic people. The multiparty celebration was made possible by the Turkish Raindrop Foundation, a non-profit organization established in Houston with a mission to build bridges between different cultures through educational and cultural exchange. As co-sponsors of this event, the Houston-Baku Sister Cities Association (HBSCA) actively participated in this festivity of Turkic Cultures and Children's Festival representing Azerbaijan. Supported by Azerbaijani students of different Texas universities, HBSCA volunteers represented our country at a traditionally decorated booth displaying general information materials, souvenirs, arts and cultural artifacts, mostly provided by Azerbaijani Government institutions.

The Honorable Bill White, Mayor of Houston at the HBSCA request has declared May 28, 2007 the Azerbaijani National Day.

Since the 1970's, Houston and Baku are Sister Cities and in 2006, they celebrated their 30th Jubilee. During his Presidency (1953-1961), President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed a "people-to-people" network between the United States and other countries in an effort to diminish the chance of future world conflicts. That's when Houston's Mayor Louis Welch took the first steps to create a bond between two of the world's oil capitals - Houston and Baku. The official relationship - the Houston-Baku Sister City Association (HBSCA) - was established in April 1976 shortly after which the first official visitors from Baku came to Houston....read more.... 

In May 2007,  four representatives from Azerbaijan visited two small cities in the Houston Metropolitan area to see American style democracy in action.

On May 12-19, 2007 upon invitation of the Open World Leadership Center and the Center for International Exchanges at the Academy for Educational Development, a delegation of four representatives of different municipalities and regions from Azerbaijan recently visited two small cities in the Houston Metropolitan area to see American style democracy in action.

United Nations Association Houston International Choir performs Azerbaijani song.

The UNA International Choir, inaugurated in 1999, performs music in its original languages from all parts of the world, from all historical periods, and in all styles and genres. In recognition of HBSCA activity the Choir has included an Azerbaijani song in its Spring Concert Music from Asia on May 6, 2007 at Hobby Center in Houston.