Zanazan Sounds | ԶԱՆԱԶԱՆ

Welcome back to Zanazan Sounds!

We are absolutely thrilled to return back to our podcast programming with Darone Sassounian following the release of his compilation album titled Silk Road: Journey of the Armenian Diaspora 1971-1982.

Darone is a DJ, selector, and producer from Los Angeles. He runs the indie artist management and booking label, Rocky Hill. Darone focuses on bringing an array of sounds into the world - ranging from styles introduced to him at an early age, to sounds he sought after later on.

Speaking with AI Trustee Tatiana der Avedissian, the pair discuss Darone’s early influences and musical practices, define the term “selector” and investigate the art of DJing - a selfless offering curated through vibe, atmosphere and dedication to the audience.

Darone released his full length compilation; "Silk Road: Journey of the Armenian Diaspora (1971 - 1982)" via Terrestrial Funk on February 22, 2021. Compiled by Darone Sassounian, who spent three years tracking down the records and artists through crate digging across LA, the Middle East and Europe; fulfilling a calling to lift his people’s voice, a people that have always faced the threat of erasure. The music was made a generation after the Armenian Genocide, a testament to perseverance. The seven tracks featured are incredibly inventive and unique in their interpretations of Western seventies sounds.

Listen to the album here: https://spoti.fi/37s9ktv

Read about Darone's digitisation journey here: https://bit.ly/3v1GxET

Follow Darone on Instagram @rockyhillrecords and on Facebook @daronesassounian and @rockyhillrecords

Celebrating our 20th anniversary this year, we’re releasing an exclusive podcast series speaking with founders, friends, performers, language tutors and the staff of AI!

In the second episode of Unwritten Future, trustee Arda Eghiayan speaks with Shake Major Tchilingirian (01:15), Vergine Gulbenkian (10:28) and Vanessa Galbraith (26:46) while Programme Manager Nik Matheou interviews former PHD Supervisor, AI Chair of Trustees and current Calouste Gulbenkian Professor of Armenian Studies in Oxford, Theo Maarten van Lint (17:32).

The guests in this episodes have been on the board of AI, volunteered at the earliest events, hosted workshops, participated in events and continue to be present members of our community. Arda and Nik discuss cross-continent coincidences, bringing one's grandmother to workshops, the opening of Tower Bridge to retrace the route of a medieval Armenian trading ship, and the lack of necessary dialogue between Armenian and Azeri communities for a more peaceful and hopeful future.

The Armenian Institute is a London based charity dedicated to making Armenian culture and history a lived experience through innovative programmes, educational resources, workshops, lectures, exhibits and performances. This year we present Zanazan: an umbrella title covering our upcoming media output, from online and print publications to podcast series.

Zanazan Sounds is a project that aims to explore shared histories, learn about contemporary Armenian worlds and create new ones. Zanazan (meaning “variety” in Armenian) is also the title of our latest online publication where photo essays, articles and poetry from around the world can be found.

To get involved with AI you can find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you’d like to reach out, or to discuss anything you’ve heard in this series, feel free to email us anytime at [email protected]

Celebrating our 20th anniversary this year, we’re releasing an exclusive podcast series speaking with founders, friends, performers, language tutors and the staff of AI!

In Part 2 of Inspired Past, trustee Arda Eghiayan speaks with Dr. Vazken Khatchig Hadjitavitian (1:16), Armenag and Hasmig Topalian (9:42), Dr. Razmik Panossian (21:55), Nouritza Matossian (30:17) and Sara Calian (37:27). 

Since its founding in 2001, AI has blossomed with the support of its community from early volunteers to co-founders. In this episode, we hear stories of the earliest events and problem solving in blackouts to the realities of rejecting house guests before our initial library books had a proper home.

The Armenian Institute is a London based charity dedicated to making Armenian culture and history a lived experience through innovative programmes, educational resources, workshops, lectures, exhibits and performances. This year we present Zanazan: an umbrella title covering our upcoming media output, from online and print publications to podcast series.

Zanazan Sounds is a project that aims to explore shared histories, learn about contemporary Armenian worlds and create new ones. Zanazan (meaning “variety” in Armenian) is also the title of our latest online publication where photo essays, articles and poetry from around the world can be found.

To get involved with AI you can find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you’d like to reach out, or to discuss anything you’ve heard in this series, feel free to email us anytime at [email protected]

As a young child, Ara Dinkjian was told by his father, famous singer and musician Onnik Dinkjian not to touch the oud hanging on the wall of his parents’ bedroom. 5-year-old Ara was intrigued and did precisely the opposite, trying to teach himself to play.

Now, he’s one of the best oud players in the world, a composer, researcher and ethnomusicologist  and in his own words, "the luckiest person in the world."

We are also very lucky at the Armenian Institute as not only we have the immense honour of working and collaborating with him for The Notes That Bind Us concert, but also sat down with him to talk about the magical influence of music on the Armenian American communities after the Genocide. Ara is in conversation with our trustee Richard Anooshian, who has his own very deep personal connection to the New York Armenian music scene through his choreographer father, Arsen Anooshian – who taught Ara dance (although he still chose oud!). The conversation is led by the Armenian Institute’s director Tatevik Ayvazyan.

The Armenian Institute is a London based charity dedicated to making Armenian culture and history a lived experience through innovative programmes, educational resources, workshops, lectures, exhibits and performances. This year we present Zanazan: an umbrella title covering our upcoming media output, from online and print publications to podcast series.

Zanazan Sounds is a project that aims to explore shared histories, learn about contemporary Armenian worlds and create new ones. Zanazan (meaning “variety” in Armenian) is also the title of our latest online publication where photo essays, articles and poetry from around the world can be found.

To get involved with AI you can find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you’d like to reach out, or to discuss anything you’ve heard in this series, feel free to email us anytime at [email protected]

Celebrating our 20th anniversary this year, we’re releasing an exclusive podcast series speaking with founders, friends, performers, language tutors and the staff of AI!

In the first episode of Unwritten Future, trustee Arda Eghiayan speaks with Chair of AI Dr. Rebecca Jinks (1:17), Levon Chilingirian (9:01), Gigi Young (18.02) and Laurence Djololian (24:32) who have been key figures throughout the years from attending events, volunteering, performing and working on our board and committee. We hear about their most memorable events, thoughts on AI’s progression and birthday messages.

The Armenian Institute is a London based charity dedicated to making Armenian culture and history a lived experience through innovative programmes, educational resources, workshops, lectures, exhibits and performances. This year we present Zanazan: an umbrella title covering our upcoming media output, from online and print publications to podcast series.

Zanazan Sounds is a project that aims to explore shared histories, learn about contemporary Armenian worlds and create new ones. Zanazan (meaning “variety” in Armenian) is also the title of our latest online publication where photo essays, articles and poetry from around the world can be found.

To get involved with AI you can find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you’d like to reach out, or to discuss anything you’ve heard in this series, feel free to email us anytime at [email protected]

Celebrating our 20th anniversary this year, we’re releasing an exclusive podcast series speaking with founders, friends, performers, language tutors and the staff of AI!

In the first episode of Inspired Past, trustee Arda Eghiayan speaks with Dr. Hratch Tchilingirian (1:15), and Dr. Pamela Young (36:50), while staff members Olivia Melkonian and Dr. Nik Mattheou speak with Dr. Susan Pattie (12:50) and Dr. Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian (25:51). Each member played a pivotal role in the establishment of the AI, as well as its creative sustainability to this day. We hear about the initial focus groups that often took place around kitchen tables, to the formation of language courses, the Armenian Diaspora Survey and the recent move to our new library and office space based in Farringdon, London.

The Armenian Institute is a London based charity dedicated to making Armenian culture and history a lived experience through innovative programmes, educational resources, workshops, lectures, exhibits and performances. This year we present Zanazan: an umbrella title covering our upcoming media output, from online and print publications to podcast series.

Zanazan Sounds is a project that aims to explore shared histories, learn about contemporary Armenian worlds and create new ones. Zanazan (meaning “variety” in Armenian) is also the title of our latest online publication where photo essays, articles and poetry from around the world can be found.

To get involved with AI you can find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you’d like to reach out, or to discuss anything you’ve heard in this series, feel free to email us anytime at [email protected]

In the second episode of Treasures From The Library, our librarian Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian explores the nuanced value in Oliver Baldwin’s Six Prisons and Two Revolutions, which lends itself as an account of Armenia at the turn of the 1920s. A newly independent and hopeful state still fearful of nearby powerful regimes, Baldwin’s eye-witness reports describe the socio-political context of the time and provide great insight that can be corroborated in Leon Surmelian’s memoir I Ask You, Ladies and Gentlemen.

The Armenian Institute is a London based charity dedicated to making Armenian culture and history a lived experience through innovative programmes, educational resources, workshops, lectures, exhibits and performances. This year we present Zanazan: an umbrella title covering our upcoming media output, from online and print publications to podcast series.

Zanazan Sounds is a project that aims to explore shared histories, learn about contemporary Armenian worlds and create new ones. Zanazan (meaning “variety” in Armenian) is also the title of our latest online publication where photo essays, articles and poetry from around the world can be found.

We aim to publish twice a month, taking a different angle each week as we explore our three podcasting strands: Discover, Treasures From The Library and Uncover. You can follow our social media accounts for updates in between episodes.

To get involved with AI you can find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you’d like to reach out, or to discuss anything you’ve heard in this series, feel free to email us anytime at [email protected]

Returning to the conversation, AI's librarian Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian continues the discussion with Dr. Shushan Karapetian, Deputy Director of University of Southern California's Institute of Armenian Studies, to confront the realities of preserving heritage and native languages amongst bi-lingual schools across Los Angeles. The pair reflect on these newfound methods, and idealise environments that create space and encouragement for more than one language.

Shushan Karapetian is Deputy Director of the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, where she leads the Institute’s research and scholarship initiatives, deepening the integration with entities both on and off campus and expanding the scope of academic programming. She received a PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from UCLA in 2014, where she taught Armenian Studies courses for ten years. Her dissertation, “‘How Do I Teach My Kids My Broken Armenian?’: A Study of Eastern Armenian Heritage Language Speakers in Los Angeles,” received the Society for Armenian Studies Distinguished Dissertation Award in 2015. In 2018, she was the recipient of the Russ Campbell Young Scholar Award in recognition of outstanding scholarship in heritage language research. She also serves as associate director of the National Heritage Language Resource Center at UCLA. Shushan researches, teaches, and writes about the Armenian experience, particularly focusing on competing ideologies at the intersection of language and the construction of transnational identity.

The Armenian Institute is a London based charity dedicated to making Armenian culture and history a lived experience through innovative programmes, educational resources, workshops, lectures, exhibits and performances. This year we present Zanazan: an umbrella title covering our upcoming media output, from online and print publications to podcast series.

Zanazan Sounds is a project that aims to explore shared histories, learn about contemporary Armenian worlds and create new ones. Zanazan (meaning “variety” in Armenian) is also the title of our latest online publication where photo essays, articles and poetry from around the world can be found.

We aim to publish twice a month, taking a different angle each week as we explore our three podcasting strands: Discover, Treasures From The Library and Uncover. You can follow our social media accounts for updates in between episodes.

To get involved with AI you can find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you’d like to reach out, or to discuss anything you’ve heard in this series, feel free to email us anytime at [email protected]

Nana Shakhnazaryan, a journalist interested in conflict studies, opens up about her very personal experiences in conversation with AI Director, Tatevik Ayvazyan. Escaping the pogroms in Baku left Nana’s family unable to settle in either Armenia or Moscow, and eventually ended up in New York. The pair discuss growing up Armenian in culturally diverse Brooklyn and Nana’s deep connection to Karabakh and Armenia, as well as the heartbreaking realities of discrimination both in Baku and Moscow, but also within Armenian communities.

Nana Shakhnazaryan is a researcher and writer working at the intersections of media literacy and conflict studies.

The Armenian Institute is a London based charity dedicated to making Armenian culture and history a lived experience through innovative programmes, educational resources, workshops, lectures, exhibits and performances. This year we present Zanazan: an umbrella title covering our upcoming media output, from online publications to podcast series.

Zanazan Sounds is a project that aims to explore shared histories, learn about contemporary Armenian worlds and create new ones. Zanazan (meaning “variety” in Armenian) is also the title of our latest online publication where photo essays, articles and poetry from around the world can be found.

We aim to publish 2-3 episodes a month, taking a different angle each week as we explore our three podcasting strands: Discover, Treasures From The Library and Uncover. You can follow our social media accounts for updates in between episodes.

To get involved with AI you can find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you’d like to reach out, or to discuss anything you’ve heard in this series, feel free to email us anytime at [email protected]

Armenian Institute's librarian Gagik Stepan-Sarkissian talks with Dr. Shushan Karapetian, Deputy Director of University of Southern California's Institute of Armenian Studies to discuss the plethora of experiences that exist within bilingual individuals, seen often amongst global Armenian communities. The varied experiences of heritage and native Armenian speakers prove themselves cyclical, a cycle Shushan strongly believes must be changed for the betterment of language practice and preservation.

Shushan Karapetian is Deputy Director of the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, where she leads the Institute’s research and scholarship initiatives, deepening the integration with entities both on and off campus and expanding the scope of academic programming. She received a PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from UCLA in 2014, where she taught Armenian Studies courses for ten years. Her dissertation, “‘How Do I Teach My Kids My Broken Armenian?’: A Study of Eastern Armenian Heritage Language Speakers in Los Angeles,” received the Society for Armenian Studies Distinguished Dissertation Award in 2015. In 2018, she was the recipient of the Russ Campbell Young Scholar Award in recognition of outstanding scholarship in heritage language research. She also serves as associate director of the National Heritage Language Resource Center at UCLA. Shushan researches, teaches, and writes about the Armenian experience, particularly focusing on competing ideologies at the intersection of language and the construction of transnational identity.

The Armenian Institute is a London based charity dedicated to making Armenian culture and history a lived experience through innovative programmes, educational resources, workshops, lectures, exhibits and performances. This year we present Zanazan: an umbrella title covering our upcoming media output, from online publications to podcast series.

Zanazan Sounds is a project that aims to explore shared histories, learn about contemporary Armenian worlds and create new ones. Zanazan (meaning “variety” in Armenian) is also the title of our latest online publication where photo essays, articles and poetry from around the world can be found.

We aim to publish 2-3 episodes a month, taking a different angle each week as we explore our three podcasting strands: Discover, Treasures From The Library and Uncover. You can follow our social media accounts for updates in between episodes.

To get involved with AI you can find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you’d like to reach out, or to discuss anything you’ve heard in this series, feel free to email us anytime at [email protected]