Meet the DJ and production school reshaping Armenia’s electronic music scene
It’s two hours after midnight and Yerevan’s House of Writers club is in full swing. The intimate main room is dark enough to leave you disoriented, so it doesn’t take much to lose ourselves in the complex rhythms emanating from a finely tuned Funktion-One. It’s DJ Mag’s first taste of the Armenian underground we’ve spent the last three nights hearing so much about, and it couldn’t feel more unique. The space comes with a small tea room where the bedraggled and wide-eyed alike stare into an intricately patterned old carpet. An ornately tiled ceiling presents excerpts from centuries-old poetry, prose referenced again through a mural hand-chiselled into stone walls.
Literature and history are everywhere in the Armenian capital. Our home for the week is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities on the planet, while the national alphabet is amongst the earliest forms of written language in the world. In what is, for most Westerners, a poorly understood corner of the Caucasus, storytelling has always been about cultural preservation.
Its narratives run deep, from its ancient kingdom to its period of soviet dictatorship. It’s a far-reaching story punctuated by trauma, from genocide committed by Turkey in the early 20th century, still not widely recognised as such by the international community, to the longstanding Nagorno-Karabakh territorial conflict with neighbouring Azerbaijan. An Azerbaijani military offensive in September 2023 ultimately led to the mass displacement of over 100,000 ethnic Armenians from the breakaway state, prompting accusations of crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.
Amidst all of this, Yerevan’s music culture has remained active, and the people making it radiate resilience and self-determination.
Back in the room, local talent kazmir00’s throbbing, curveball selections descend into a ghostly conclusion before a futurist spoken-word acapella marks Hopdop’s arrival in the booth. A deep, driving, polished techno epic ensues, and the dancefloor response is immediate. Also Also known as Davit Sukiasyan [ա երսյան], he’s central author of a new chapter in the city’s nightlife. Understanding the crowd’s impassioned reaction means leafing back to the start of our trip.
