Armenian A Cappella Concert - Trio Zulal

Zulal, which means “clear water” is an a cappella trio that transforms Armenia’s village melodies into modern arrangements that pay tribute to the music’s ancient roots. Armenian artists of the 20th and 21st century have overtly referenced traditional themes and subjects in their art, while trying to push the boundaries of technique and allowed expression in the face of political restrictions. In their music, the singers of Zulal similarly seek to revere the old while highlighting in their contemporary way the ideas of womanhood, displacement, and the longing for the homeland that the music inevitably conjures.

Learn more about Zulal at https://www.zulal.org/

Teni Apelian's love for Armenian folk music has guided her musical explorations. Her love for the a cappella genre began at Carnegie Mellon where she sang in the school’s Jazz Choir and earned a Masters in Arts Management. A trip to Armenia in 2000 eventually led her to the members of Zulal in a most circuitous way. In addition to arranging, recording and performing with Zulal, Teni enjoys teaching Armenian folk music in the classroom setting. Zulal has brought life and breath to Teni’s foremost passion and she considers herself lucky to share the creative process with two friends who are now truly sisters.

Anaïs Alexandra Tekerian, originally from San Francisco, discovered her joy of folk when she was a member and then director of the Yale Slavic chorus. A singer and theater artist now living in New York, she has performed in many plays and has written three works for the stage. Her most recent play, Lost Spring, co-created with artist Kevork Mourad, premiered (in French) at the Mucem in Marseille and at the Morgenland Festival in Germany in 2015. Celebrating her Armenian heritage through song with Zulal is a constant source of joy and inspiration.

Yeraz Markarian was first introduced to a cappella at Barnard College at Columbia University where she began singing as a "bass". A native New Yorker, she has a background in marketing and a PhD in clinical psychology. Yeraz's passion for Armenian folk music began at an early age, when she performed with the Hamazkayin's Armenian Children's Choir of New York at Lincoln Center at the age of six. Yeraz is proud to take part in discovering, arranging and performing Armenian folk music, and is overjoyed that what began as an innocent conversation among friends has led to the creation of Zulal.

Topographies of Dissent presents a selection of works by Armenian artists from the Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Nonconformist Art from the Soviet Union, revealing the paradoxes of Armenian history in the Soviet era through the art of its time. Divided into five sections—National Landscape: Land, Identity, Dream; Facets of "Formalism"; Abstraction; The 3rd Floor Group: Pop Art, Hyperrealism, and Neo-Dada; and Dystopias of the Evil Empire, the exhibition reflects the unprecedentedly liberal culture which blurred the boundaries of “official” and “unofficial” art. Contrary to its Soviet counterparts, the Armenian art of the Soviet era developed underground organically, building upon the work of the pre-Soviet Armenian artists who synthesized national traditions and independent thinking with the global avant-garde. The Armenian nonconformists were perceived as being aligned with national modernism, until toward the end of the Soviet era, the 3rd Floor movement broke from the restrictions of national and artistic canons. This exhibition is made possible by the leadership support of the Avenir Foundation Endowment Fund, with additional support from the Dodge Charitable Trust – Nancy Ruyle Dodge, Trustee. Generous support for bilingual text was provided by Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All program. Learn more at https://zimmerli.rutgers.edu/art/exhibition/topographies-dissent-armeni…

Artwork featured: Armine Galents, Katoghike Church in Talin, Armenia, 1983. Oil on canvas. Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Nonconformist Art from the Soviet Union.