The Three Extremes of Armenian Rock Music

“Some of the guys from my college class gave me a guitar for my birthday and things just took off.” This is how Narek, a 4th year student at Yerevan’s Medical University, describes how the story all began. “ Some of my guitar-playing friends gave me some pointers and I was soon playing on my own.”

One day Narek met Zakar at the Student Council where he’d often hang out. Zakar, who would always be in a state of confusion, coming and going aimlessly, took Narek on as a bass player in his group. It all started for Narek about three years back as well when they played a gig at the Medical University’s auditorium. Despite all the mistakes they made the audience really dug their music. “ It was the instruments that brought us together, we never really sat down and decided to form a group. We needed a flute player and then met up with Anushavan. We were missing a gutarist and teamed up with Vagner “ recounts Zakar, one of the founding members of the group Synkope.

Synkope is a medical term that means ‘a pause of the heart’. The guys in the group recount that they’ve played under a variety of names before coming up with this appellation. Once, they had to change the band’s name five minutes before going on stage when they found out that another group with the same name already existed. “ They’d ask me what type of music do we play and I’d tell them, a mixed bag of stuff. When asked what instruments we play, I’d give the same answer, a mix of instruments. It was the same with the group’s line-up, a mix of guys and girls. That’s how we formed this mixed group “ relates Zakar.