Caught somewhere between east and west lies a tiny landlocked country of ancient rock, traditions, and song. Thousands of miles away, Zarougian was raised next to the vast Atlantic Ocean, nestled between two distinct musical styles. Her childhood was a soundtracked by a mixtape of sixties and seventies folk legends and the Armenian folk songs her grandparents passed down like water from the mountains. “I call the genre ‘Armenian Cowgirl’” says Zarougian, “because the themes are often about the stories of my ancestors, through my own interpretation of the American music I love.”
Press “play” on Nayri, the debut full length from songwriter Laura Zarougian, and you’re greeted by a voice as timeless as the culture of her Armenian ancestors. Her voice, ethereal and shimmering, is imbued with an inner glow. World weary yet proud, Nayri, like the artist herself in many ways, is a balancing act of two worlds: heavy and light, opaque and gin clear. All of this very well captured on her latest single “Cairo,” which we are please to premiere today!
Laura comments “My father was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt. What I know of Cairo is from the stories – the ones my father told me and the ones that were withheld. My family has a relationship to a way of life that is stuck in time. There is a complication of belonging to a place that no longer exists.”