ARTS
Ihe 0thGF ffind ol $oul The Hokis Phenomenon By HRATCH TCHILINGIRIAN
okis Volume Meg, the newly released Armenian rap-popR&B-hip-hop CD, comes with a warning: Parental Advisory. Explicit Content. The waming is not just a marketing stunt. "We have to lie to Armenian dads if we want to sleep with guys, starts the female voice in one song, called Overprotective Dad.
room equipped with sophisticated hardware and computers. The experiment excited Bozadjian and Cholakian, who also wrote a song for Chaparian. Bozadjian even rapped in one of the Armenian song$ which became a hit in Lebanon. "We got lots of
Defecation - to put it politely - on a denier's grave in a song called Genocide is another one. This is perhaps the most politically incorrect Armenian music ever heard. It is the work of a group of twentysomething British Armenians. However, the themes present contemporary realities of Armenian dispersion and its socio-cultural and political transformations, especially in the West, as seen by third-
says Bozadjian.
! I Il I I
generation Diaspora Armenians. The songs speak of the experiences of young Armenians
growing up anywhere in the Diaspora murtship problemg sexuality, politicg social life, rebellion, Armenian language and cultural differences. "Everything is based on our experience, even the interludes in between the songg the telephone calls to
-
LosAngeleq'
says Harry Harout Bozadjian, 27, songwriter and one of the producers of the CD. Interspersed between the songs are 11 actual phone conversations between British-
Armenian comedian Kev Orkian (Kevork Kapikian) and unsuspecting Armenian businesses and individuals in the Diaspora's most'multicultural' community - Los Angeles. In one random phone call to an
elderly Armenian
-
chosen from LAs - Kev wants to
good feedback, so we decided to do something more substantial,"
This was the beginning of the Hokis album. They contacted young Armenians in Britain who are involved in music to participate in the project. A versatile group of some 20 (mostly amateur) musiciang singers and songwriters emerged, including a female singer from Boston. They named the album project Hokis after the very successful Hokis social parties organized by the British-
Armenian youth organization, called RBO (Red, Blue, Orange - the colors of the flag.) RBO was set up in 1996
by f,rst generation British Armenians who were fed up with Armenian community politics. Some 120 young people showed up at their first function. Since then, their mailing list has grown to over 400,which includes many'alienated' young Armenians. "There are groups and organizations in the community who want to do culture and politics," says Ara Bozadjian, one of the organizers of RBO. "But we don't want to force anything on anyone. We are strictly a social group, we don't hold cultural or political eventg" he adds "Social is a safe and comfortable context for people to come together. Besideg we want to create the same
kind of atmosphere as English social outings, but with an Armenian flavor," he explains.
RBO provides a place for
to
Armenian phone directory
young Armenians
marry Rita, the daughter the old man does not
together without'being hit on the head' that they are Armenian. Here, there are
have.
"This album represents what Diaspora life is all about," adds Armen Cholakian, 27, co-producer and songwriter.That includes the confusion over Eastern and Western dialects spoken in the Diaspora, featured in a song called Ku Hyerent lYour Armenian) about a young man who attempts to chat up a young woman over the phone. Bozadjian and Cholakian own Duke Avenue Records (DAC). They conceived the idea for a CD, when Meher Chaparian,
L6, a singer from Beirut recorded two songs at DAC's new studio, a vault-like
come
no expectations or responsibilities attached to'being
Armenian.'Yet RBO
has
taken on the responsibility of promoting and marketing
the Hokis CD. Clever personalized e-mails are being sent to Armenian communities worldwide, and the hype around the CD is also channeled through the group's website: www.hokis.co.uk.