Future Folk #3: “AR-MANIA”
With the concert “AR-MANIA”, the FUTURE FOLK concerts curated by the electroacoustic composer Tasos Stamou continue at KET. Shushan Kerovpyan (vocals, u-bass) and Tasos Stamou (electronics, live sound processing) retrieve memories, sounds and stories from the rich tradition of Armenian music.
Dedicated to the traditional music of the future, the monthly FUTURE FOLK concerts are a meeting point between traditional folk and contemporary experimental music. A researcher of sound, Tasos Stamou invites soloists from different musical traditions and creates an on-stage conversation with them, combining their music with live electronic processing.
Exploring lesser-known aspects of traditional music, such as mysteries and rituals, which often remain on the margins of contemporary revivals, FUTURE FOLK also functions as a living workshop.
◍ Tasos Stamou has dedicated his musical career to the connection between tradition and contemporary creation. His trilogy (Musique Con Crete, DAD and Antiqua Graecia), which reflects this approach, has received international acclaim.
◍ Born in Paris to a family of musicians, Shushan Kerovpyan was introduced from an early age to the traditional music of Armenia and the Middle East. She grew up listening to the rehearsals of her parents, Aram and Virginia Kerovpyan, who sang Armenian folk music and Armenian chants. Influenced by these sounds, she has carried these traditions in her own way, either in their original form or in combination with other musical influences such as American folk, blues, soul music, as well as the sounds of Latin America, Southern Europe and the Mediterranean.
Shushan participates in the bands Collectif Medz Bazar (French-Armenian-Turkish ensemble), Djiv Djiv (oriental rhythms), Watermelon Stories, Akn Ensemble (Armenian church music), Kerovpyan Ensemble (Armenian traditional and troubadour music) and other musical groups in France and Greece.