Elkhan Zeynalli, also known by his stage name Qaraqan (Azeri for ‘blackblood’), is a famous Azeri songwriter, musician, writer, first prize winner of National Book Award 2010.
In 2007 being a first year student he became a founder and leader of H.O.S.T. – the most famous hip-hop group in Azerbaijan for the past ten years. The first demo album of the group was released on internet and received thousands views right away. Starting as just a music community H.O.S.T. grew into a big movement of creative youth. H.O.S.T. has released two albums: Proloq 2007 (eng. Prologue) and Qarada qırmızı 2008 (eng. Red in black), and performed on big stages of Azerbaijan Republic. There was a generation of young people calling themselves “HOSTed”, which means those who follow the ideas described in the songs of H.O.S.T. group – propaganda of intelligence, justice, free thinking and personality.