Jinj

TRANSCRIPT

SEVANA
So my name is Sevana Tchakerian, I'm born and raised in Paris, France. I lived nine years in Armenia, I'm Armenian and French. My parents are ethnically Armenian but my mom is born in Iran. My dad is born in Lebanon. My grandparents are born in Azerbaijan – now Turkey. It's a very big mix. Yes.

GOR
Gor. my name is Gor Tadevosyan. I was born in Armenia, in Vanadzor. Since I was a child, I knew I was going to be a musician one day. I grew up listening to Armenian music and that heritage is reflected in my current music. 

SEVANA
I like to think that as Armenians, we are part of the same fruit, like a pomegranate, but all the little grains are around the world. 

Even if God is born in Armenia, He is a descendant of genocide survivors, as well, who came from the Ottoman Empire and then they migrated, the survivors, to Greece and then Armenia. This theme of over -adapting from one empire to another, from one republic to another, from one war to another – we are always adapt, constantly adapt. And musicians write about these things. 

And when you're a kid you don't realize certain things. And for me. it went very well, you know. At home we were speaking Armenian. And up until I was three, I didn't speak French. So I know that a lot of immigrant parents face the same issue in France when the kids go to kindergarten. They're like: “No, you should speak with them in French. They cannot be integrated as French people, French kids, if they don't speak French at home.” And we have a lot of Armenian diasporic friends in France who adapted and the kids my age they don't speak Armenian. But my family was like: “No, we will keep on speaking Armenian because it's your mother tongue.” But they made sure that I was not behind at school so I think I navigated it pretty pretty easily. I think my parents did a good job because I feel French and I feel Armenian. When I'm in France, I feel Armenian. And when I'm in Armenia. sometimes I feel French, because we are different sometimes in the way we see the world or the sometimes the way we think but the soul is the same but the way of thinking is different.

 It really depends on the person you have in front of you, but sometimes people don't accept you. You're asked: “Why do you speak Armenian? Why do you speak Armenian with your parents? Why do you speak Armenian with your sister?” But for us language was very important. And with language comes the opening to the music as well. Armenian folk music is tied to life, and there are three themes that are very common. It's the themes of love, of course, the themes of nature, and exile. And this is linked to our history,

So I went to Sorbonne to do musicology. I was in the classical... but I've never been a classical person. For me, it was more  playing with people, improvising, And then my friends and I started playing more folk. When I graduated, I was working at the Philharmonia of Paris, but I felt like I'm in a square, and then that summer I volunteered in Armenia in a music festival, and it was the exact opposite of not square, no structure at all. So it's another extreme, but that's what I needed.
So then I moved to Armenia. 

Like, you know when you grow up in the diaspora, you have this idealized image of what Armenia is. You put the poster of the Mount Ararat, which is a symbol of Armenia. But no, it's a real place with people and it's not an idealized place. 

First, I was developing a music education curriculum program for village schools there. So that's what was my first activity. So I went a lot into the field, villages worked with the Ministry of Education. But then of course I got to meet the musicians then other proposition came like this  And when the war happened, I was already there. I said, no, I'm gonna stay. And that's how also I met Gor, you know? I mean, we met really when we started working together. 

GOR
Everything started in 2020 when there was a war in the region of Artsakh, home to indigenous Armenians, and a lot of families had fled the war zone to come to Armenia. It was a very difficult period for us all. At that moment, everyone stood up to defend the border. All the men were volunteering to go to the war front, and I did as well. But because I was in the army choir, we weren't the priority to go to war because we're not used to being on the front lines. One day, Sevana called me and said, "Okay, there's all these influx of people coming from Artsakh fleeing a war zone in Yerevan. We should go and do a music workshop for them." And from that day, we started playing together. But not only playing, also being friends. We were improvising with the resources we had to do like art therapy workshops. And this music was not just therapy for them, it was therapy for us as well.

SEVANA
My mom wanted me to go back. My mom was calling me come back. But I'm like, “No. No, Mom.” Because Yerevan. it's four hours away. And we didn't have the direct bombing. But she was like, “Sevana, I know you. Don't you dare go go to the front lines or go to the war zone!” But no, we were working mainly with the families, but it was very impressive because all the country was mobilized to help in any way they can.

So when I say on stage that music is our weapon, actually, directly, I have a story that connects me to Gor. Because Gor said that he went to volunteer for war. And two times, actually. We were doing workshops – and then we were in a music school doing workshops.  And then I'm like, Where's Gor?” And they're like he left and he's going to volunteer for work twice. He did this twice! And he didn't say bye to me! And I was like, “Are you crazy? What's happening?” And at some point I know him I was like, “Okay do whatever you want to do? Do what you want to do. If you want to do it, go to the war. But honestly, I think you would be more useful playing music for the kids than like holding a gun and trying to shoot because that's not you. Yeah, your weapon actually is music.” Like that's what we do. And especially with these kids who are away from their fathers, from their brothers – because all the men are doing war. We also need to have male figures to visit them. And I think Gor knew this was very important, it was very important that he was there. And I just said like this, I tried to be very detached, like, “Yeah, I think it would be really better.” But I think you also realized that yes, it would be better that he plays music.

GOR
Yeah, we are. We are like family.

SEVANA
 Yeah, we are like family. 

We are trying to do the best we can do for our country and for our community. We are musicians. I like to talk about my country. I like to bring people to dance together under the beats of my country.

GOR
There are a lot of points we have in common. But also for us, it was important to blend it with the contemporary genres we grew up with as well. And also make sure that we can transmit the folk music from our ancestral culture to the younger generation by making it relatable to them. Give it a new breath and make it current.  That's how we can pass it on to future generations. 

SEVANA
And we always talk, what is our sound? We're always searching for our sound. Is it more techno? Is it more rock?  It's an everyday, like the more we play it's everything. But one thing we know, the common thing is that the Armenian components, through the singing, or through the zurnah – the flute, through the percussion, through the melodies, there will be our common ground which is Armenian folk. 

Actually, last year I came to France. I was supposed to stay two or three weeks and then there was bombing again. And after everything, we went through with Gore. I was like, I want to go back because I know if we go back, we're going to get into this world again. And it took a really big toll on our mental health as well. We had a very chaotic life. and I didn't want to.

 I started therapy and I didn't want to go back again in that. And my therapist, who is from Armenia, and I was talking to her about this and I said you know I feel a little guilty that I don't want to come to Armenia now and she was like well it makes sense that maybe if you're trying to find inner peace you should play/stay for now in a country where there is peace also. So I felt like I needed to take a little distance. For me now, being in France, I think it's important to have distance so I can be even stronger to find a better way to help or to be present for my country.

 For me, and not just for me, for a lot of Armenians in the diaspora, that's where we really realize that you're different from the people in the country you're in, because normal people cannot understand. So even if some of them can check on you because they see especially the stories on Instagram you post they're checking on you. “Are you okay?”  It really brought us Armenians from the diaspora closer because we're leaving the same like schizophrenic thing. You're really afraid of losing your country, but at the same time you're in another country and you have to... like I don't know... You go to buy your bread or you go to supermarket and it's “Hi, Hello.” Or everyone is talking about mundane things. 

But this the situation we are in we feel so helpless that we are a small country between two countries who want to unite. We were talking the other day and I told the guys like, “Can you imagine if there was no genocide we wouldn't exist? Because we all exist because of like our parents wouldn't have been this, or there, and there, and they wouldn't have met. You know, like it's destiny kind of. So, everything is the way it should be. We come from a very small corner of the world, but when we play music from the soul, it can touch everyone from the U.S. to Japan to Senegal. Also, as musicians, our goal is also to create bridges with the world, with other musicians, to bring people together, bring a piece of our land somewhere. And also to absorb what's there. Meet other musicians, meet the audience, and become inspired from the world to also bring fresh air to our culture. 

RON
And the music helps?

GOR+SEVANA
We want it to help.

RON
Is it helping you? 

GOR + SEVANA
It saves us.