The Shoghaken Folk Ensemble

The Shoghaken Folk Ensemble, an Armenian musical group, performs and records Armenian folk and troubador music. The ensemble was founded in 1995 in Yerevan. It has since performed in Armenia, France (including a 2006 performance at the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris), Germany, Estonia, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and the U.S. (including an eighteen-concert 2004 tour and an appearance at the 2002 Folklife Festival as part of the Silk Road project organized by Yo Yo Ma). The music of the Shoghaken Ensemble is featured on the soundtrack of the film Ararat. In 2008, Shoghaken gave concerts during their second major tour of the US and Canada; the tour coincided with the release of the ensemble’s latest CD, Shoghaken Ensemble: Music From Armenia.

The group includes the singers Hasmik Harutyunyan and Aleksan Harutyunyan. Its members play traditional Armenian instruments including the duduk, the zurna, the dhol, the kanon, the kamancha, and the shvi.

Members:
Gevorg Dabaghyan: solo duduk, zurna
Hasmik Harutyunyan: female singer
Aleksan Harutyunyan: male singer
Grigor Takushyan-dham duduk (drone)
Vardan Baghdasaryan: kamancha
Karine Hovhannisyan: kanon
Kamo Khachaturian: dhol
Levon Tevanyan: shvi, tav shvi, blul, pku and parkapzuk