Yerevan Blues
In a parallel reality — well beyond the news, commercials, TV shows, sitcoms, consumerism, work, politics, wars and pandemics — some people keep on establishing another life. Its noise is always low enough to defeat the city cacophony. To battle this, one should re-establish itself as an actor, who catches the intonations of his times, should then internalize them and present the artistic distortion of reality to those who would understand it. The memory — from scenes to sounds —stays woke, and yet at the same time it allows one to resist the musts from above (of course, by paying the price with isolation). The ‘you must’ is the blackest black, from which The Voice clearly makes itself heard. And The Voice tells people stories on ‘another way out’ that are set together in an unnatural and suprematistic order. Just like the radio, it is always there, one would or would not listen to it.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What’s the point to this all?
Institutional Memory (or voluminous archives of sounds, stories, and intonations)
What’s the motivation?
The (almost) hygienic resistance to ridiculousness.
What does one get?
Becoming the owner of all times, plus the angst.
What does one lose along his way?
The patience.
This is Yerevan Blues, the diaries of Tigran, who keep telling his stories written while looking at evening windows. He catches memorable intonations and various personal narratives, intersecting perfectly and surprisingly in the eyes of the few, creating a net, which can be interpreted as alternative reality.
Samvél Khachatryan
Samvél Khachatryan is an author, translator and sound artist based in Armavir, Armenia. He holds a master’s degree in Political Science and International Affairs from the American University of Armenia. Following his debut novel, “26 Baghramian Avenue”, Sam is currently working on his second novel, “Yerevan Blues”. His ambient/experimental records are closely interlinked to his texts, as both introduce personal narratives on memory, drama, and music. His recent record, “Radio “Yerevan Blues””, is set to be played in public in parallel with the publication of the novel. As a translator, Samvél has translated three books, the latest of which, the short story by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, was published in August 2022 (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).
Samvél’s motto is “As ignorable as it is interesting (listen to the quiet voice!)”. This oblique strategy is definitive to ambient music, which is not suitable for mainstream consumption, but gives the audience a chance to pay closer attention to atmospheric sounds (and words) for richer experiences.
