Lena Chamamyan
Lena Chamamyan لينا شماميان | |
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Background information | |
Born | Damascus, Syria | 27 June 1980
Genres | Pop, jazz, folk |
Occupation(s) | Singer |
Instrument(s) | Vocals, piano |
Years active | 2005–present |
Lena Chamamyan (
Personal life
Lena was born in
Her grandfather, Hovhannes Chamamyan, worked as a tailor in Aleppo and was a member of the
Lena grew up with her identity split between her father's and her mother's community. As a child, she attended an Armenian Catholic school in the old city of Damascus, where she has stated that she had a hard time finding her place, as the children considered her only half-Armenian.[3]
Chamamyan is multilingual and speaks four languages fluently:
.Musical career
Early years
Lena's interest in singing began at a young age. As a child, she sang in an Armenian church in the winter and in a Syriac church in the summer. Lena began studying basic music theory and solfège at the age of nine. Her first instrument was the xylophone.
Lena owes much of her early musical education and experience to her maternal grandmother and to her father. Her grandmother introduced her to classical singing and traditional
While finishing a degree in
Lena entered the
During her studies, Chamamyan also entered the Radio Monte Carlo's Middle Eastern music competition, the first of its kind, which she won in 2006. She graduated from the conservatory in 2007. At that time, she had already become one of the most famous female Arabic singers in the Middle East. In 2010, the Gulf-based Arabian Business Magazine ranked her as one of the 500 most influential figures in the Arab world.
In 2011, following the eruption of the
Later years
Following her relocation to Paris, Chamamyan's music continued to develop. While in France, she began to study jazz piano, and she began writing and composing her own music. Her music continued to take inspiration from folk music and especially from her Syrian-Armenian roots. In her 2013 album, Ghazl El Banat, Chamamyan's musical style came to maturity as she showed her full range of musical talent, which includes writing, composing, producing, playing instruments, and singing.
Chamamyan has performed throughout Europe and the Middle East, from London to Geneva and from Cairo to Beirut, even performing in the Gulf countries and Turkey. In 2014, she took part as a jury member and special guest in "Tsovits Tsov – ArmVision 2014", an international contest for Armenian music at the Kremlin Theatre in Moscow, which gathered Armenian musicians from all over the world.[6] This led Chamamyan to a collaboration with French-Armenian songwriter and jazz pianist André Manoukian. Together they produced in 2015 a version of Moutn Er (Black Sky), an Armenian poem by Hovannes Toumanian, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide.[7]
Her fourth album, LAWNAN (Two Colors), came out in 2016, born out of a three-year collaboration with Turkish composer and kanun player Göksel Baktagir. Chamamyan has described the album as "a pure partnership between people who chose to unite [in] music...despite the pain of life divid[ing] us, about love and longing for home, about the exile inside and outside".[8]
Chamamyan has also shown an interest in social issues. In October 2012, she pulled out of the Salam Orient Festival in Vienna, along with several other artists, after being informed by BDS activists that the festival was being sponsored by the Israeli government.[9] She has been active with Syrian refugees in Germany and has been vocal in her support for them.[10] Her 2019 single, "I am Syrian", describes the experience of a Syrian living in exile.
Musical style
Chamamyan's music is known for its fusion of Arabic and Armenian folk songs together with Western classical music and modern styles, such as jazz. In her style of singing, she has stated that she was strongly influenced by Lebanese singer Fairuz, who revolutionized Arabic singing styles with her extensive use of her "head voice".[11]
Throughout her musical work, Chamamyan sings mainly in Arabic and Armenian. Chamamyan has stated in interviews that the multilingual nature of her music is significant and important to her, and she hopes to perform in more languages in the future, such as English, French or Greek. Lena remains close to her Armenian roots, both cultural and musical, and includes an Armenian folk song in each of her albums and concerts. Chamamyan is known for her style of combining folkloric music with modern styles and arrangements, crossing genres and creating a new fusion of both the traditional and the new. She has stated that she keeps an open mind when it comes to musical style. She sees music as a universal language and takes inspiration from all sorts of musical genres, including the Portuguese Fado and the Spanish-Andalusian Flamenco.[12]
Discography
Albums
- Hal Asmar Ellon (2006)
- Shamat (2007)
- Ghazl El Banat (2013)
- LAWNAN (2016)
Singles
- Khayt El Kassab (2015)
- Shwey W Byehda El Omer (2015)
- Sareri Hovin Mernem (2016)
- Yakhi Ana Souriyeh (2019)
- remember (2020)
Soundtracks
- Nizar Qabbani (2005)
- Grandma's Tattoos (2011)
- Love in Damascus (2017)
- Han3esh w nshof (2020) for Egyptian TV series "Ella Ana"
References
- ^ "Review: Lena Chamamyan at St George's Hall for the Liverpool Arab Arts Festival". Liverpool Echo. 18 June 2013.
- ^ "Award-winning Syrian artist Lena Chamamyan in London". Arab News. 23 April 2017.
- ^ "Lena Chamamyan". The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
- ^ "Lena Chamamyan". The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
- ^ "Lena Chamamyan & Fuat Güner". YouTube.com. TRT 2. 26 September 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
- ^ "Tsovits Tsov unites global Armenian talent through its musical heritage". Music of Armenia. 24 November 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
- ^ "Lena Chamamyan – Moutn'er". youtube.com. 25 April 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
- ^ "LAWNAN". Lenachamamyan.org. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
- ^ "Three more Arab performers pull out of Austrian music festival due to Israel embassy sponsorship". Electronic Intifada. 13 October 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
- ^ "الفنانة السورية لينا شامَميان: اللاجئ إنسان فقد حياته مرتين". DW Arabic. 19 August 2016. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
- ^ "Lena Chamamyan & Fuat Güner". YouTube. 26 September 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
- ^ "A chat with Lena Chamamyan". The Muser Blog. 18 September 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2021.