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ARMENIAN-AMERICAN ARTIST DEBUTS 'PUSHKIN STREET' IN ARMENIA
by Lilly Torosyan
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2013/02/28/armenian-american-artist-debuts-pushkin-street-in-armenia/
February 28, 2013
Raffi Joe (Wartanian) is quite the Renaissance man-a Fulbright
research fellow, multi-platform writer, musician, actor, activist,
and now a recording artist with his debut album, "Pushkin Street,"
which features 11 original songs that he wrote himself. The "gypsy
zest" style has been described as a fusion of Armenian, funk, folk,
Greek, gypsy jazz, blues, Latin, and flamenco music.
Raffi Joe (Wartanian) "In writing an album that was honest, I simply
wrote and recorded from a place of freedom and stylistic liberation,"
Wartanian told the Armenian Weekly in an interview. "I aimed to write
what felt honest and true. I did not set out to write a blues album
or a rock album or a funk album. I set out to write a 'me' album."
"My life and exposure to the arts has been a crossroads of traditions,
values, and identities," he explained. As a Baltimore native,
Wartanian encountered the many musical styles of the city, including
blues, jazz, bluegrass, soul, funk, and rock. During his childhood
summers in Beirut, he came across Armenian, Greek, Arabic, and French
music. Wartanian described his mother's love for Armenian popular
songs, and his father's preference for classical music and the opera
(in particular, the Anoush Opera) as having a profound effect on him.
"I tend to associate places and people with musical genres in terms
of how they were transmitted to me," he said.
As a researcher and actor with Golden Thread Productions in San
Francisco, Wartanian lived in a house with one of the city's top
gypsy jazz guitarists, while working with a fellow actor deep in
the Greek music scene. This experience, he said, "really expanded my
musical palette."
Each song in "Pushkin Street" is inspired by a different story in
the singer's life.
Each song in "Pushkin Street" is inspired by a different story in
the singer's life. "Millard County Jail" and "Gluten Free Blues"
both reflect a bicycle ride Wartanian took to raise funds for cancer
research, and were originally written as a wedding present to his
friends. "Crowds in the Streets" ruminates on the Occupy Movement and
the Arab Spring. "Stumped" was written while sitting on a stump in
Baltimore's Roosevelt Park one day after work. "Abraham Lincoln Log"
is about overcoming the fear of dogs. The rest, he says, are love
songs or philosophical songs.
The inspiration behind the album was the journey of assembling all of
the melodies, chord progressions, and lyrics he had written over the
course of many years, and persevering despite the obstacles. "Millard
County Jail" is his grandmother's favourite track off of the album.
"She loves that song and would sing the melody to me throughout
the gruelling recording process, insisting that I never give up,"
Wartanian said.
Yerevan's Pushkin Street is where he found a "thoroughfare of boundless
musical imagination and progressive development." After studying
flamenco guitar in Seville, Spain, the musician travelled to Yerevan,
where he performed live music at two clubs on Pushkin Street.
"I felt incredibly welcomed and inspired by those two performances,
and wanted to pay homage to that evening, to my Armenian roots, and
to the masterful writer after whom the street is named," he explained.
Wartanian has since performed a dozen times in Armenia.
A graduate of Johns Hopkins University, Wartanian began studying
classical piano at the age of seven before moving on to guitar. He
has never shied away from an opportunity at broadening his musical
abilities, explaining that "some people have the ability to play one or
a handful of genres and never get bored. Personally, I love trying to
fuse these rich musical traditions together." He is currently studying
flamenco guitar and oud with teachers at the Komitas Conservatory of
Music in Yerevan.
The old African proverb, "To go fast, go alone. To go far, go
together," reminds Wartanian of the significant role his family,
friends, and colleagues have played in this journey thus far, teaching
him "a lot about the power of collaboration with producers, promoters,
musicians, artists, business leaders, and great thinkers," he said.
"Pushkin Street" is available for purchase on iTunes, Bandcamp,
Soundcloud, and other major online distributors.
For more information about "Raffi Joe" Wartanian, visit his website
at http://raffijoemusic.com.
by Lilly Torosyan
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2013/02/28/armenian-american-artist-debuts-pushkin-street-in-armenia/
February 28, 2013
Raffi Joe (Wartanian) is quite the Renaissance man-a Fulbright
research fellow, multi-platform writer, musician, actor, activist,
and now a recording artist with his debut album, "Pushkin Street,"
which features 11 original songs that he wrote himself. The "gypsy
zest" style has been described as a fusion of Armenian, funk, folk,
Greek, gypsy jazz, blues, Latin, and flamenco music.
Raffi Joe (Wartanian) "In writing an album that was honest, I simply
wrote and recorded from a place of freedom and stylistic liberation,"
Wartanian told the Armenian Weekly in an interview. "I aimed to write
what felt honest and true. I did not set out to write a blues album
or a rock album or a funk album. I set out to write a 'me' album."
"My life and exposure to the arts has been a crossroads of traditions,
values, and identities," he explained. As a Baltimore native,
Wartanian encountered the many musical styles of the city, including
blues, jazz, bluegrass, soul, funk, and rock. During his childhood
summers in Beirut, he came across Armenian, Greek, Arabic, and French
music. Wartanian described his mother's love for Armenian popular
songs, and his father's preference for classical music and the opera
(in particular, the Anoush Opera) as having a profound effect on him.
"I tend to associate places and people with musical genres in terms
of how they were transmitted to me," he said.
As a researcher and actor with Golden Thread Productions in San
Francisco, Wartanian lived in a house with one of the city's top
gypsy jazz guitarists, while working with a fellow actor deep in
the Greek music scene. This experience, he said, "really expanded my
musical palette."
Each song in "Pushkin Street" is inspired by a different story in
the singer's life.
Each song in "Pushkin Street" is inspired by a different story in
the singer's life. "Millard County Jail" and "Gluten Free Blues"
both reflect a bicycle ride Wartanian took to raise funds for cancer
research, and were originally written as a wedding present to his
friends. "Crowds in the Streets" ruminates on the Occupy Movement and
the Arab Spring. "Stumped" was written while sitting on a stump in
Baltimore's Roosevelt Park one day after work. "Abraham Lincoln Log"
is about overcoming the fear of dogs. The rest, he says, are love
songs or philosophical songs.
The inspiration behind the album was the journey of assembling all of
the melodies, chord progressions, and lyrics he had written over the
course of many years, and persevering despite the obstacles. "Millard
County Jail" is his grandmother's favourite track off of the album.
"She loves that song and would sing the melody to me throughout
the gruelling recording process, insisting that I never give up,"
Wartanian said.
Yerevan's Pushkin Street is where he found a "thoroughfare of boundless
musical imagination and progressive development." After studying
flamenco guitar in Seville, Spain, the musician travelled to Yerevan,
where he performed live music at two clubs on Pushkin Street.
"I felt incredibly welcomed and inspired by those two performances,
and wanted to pay homage to that evening, to my Armenian roots, and
to the masterful writer after whom the street is named," he explained.
Wartanian has since performed a dozen times in Armenia.
A graduate of Johns Hopkins University, Wartanian began studying
classical piano at the age of seven before moving on to guitar. He
has never shied away from an opportunity at broadening his musical
abilities, explaining that "some people have the ability to play one or
a handful of genres and never get bored. Personally, I love trying to
fuse these rich musical traditions together." He is currently studying
flamenco guitar and oud with teachers at the Komitas Conservatory of
Music in Yerevan.
The old African proverb, "To go fast, go alone. To go far, go
together," reminds Wartanian of the significant role his family,
friends, and colleagues have played in this journey thus far, teaching
him "a lot about the power of collaboration with producers, promoters,
musicians, artists, business leaders, and great thinkers," he said.
"Pushkin Street" is available for purchase on iTunes, Bandcamp,
Soundcloud, and other major online distributors.
For more information about "Raffi Joe" Wartanian, visit his website
at http://raffijoemusic.com.