Jinj

Hyphenated: Music + Identity

Sevana Tchakerian was born and raised in Paris, a child of the Armenian diaspora. She began taking music lessons at three and eventually received a master's degree from the Sorbonne in musicology. But while her studies were in western classical music, she always had a deep connection to traditional Armenian folk. In 2015, she moved to Armenia to run music workshops for rural children. Five years later, war broke out and she decided to stay on and met her musical partner, Armenian guitarist/producer Gor Tadevosyan. While continuing to do workshops together, now for child refugees fleeing the war zone, they founded Jinj. Mixing western music and Armenian folk, they dubbed their sound: “Armobeat.” But what exactly is “Armobeat?” Sevana says it's not really a definition, but rather a name to give them the freedom to explore what they are, whatever that may be.... but always grounded in melodies from a country struggling to be free. (Gor's English voice generated by ElevenLabs.)

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