Haig Yazdjian: Music of the Eastern Mediterranean | Haig Yazdjian | TEDxUniversityofNicosia

Along with Anastasios Poulios / Georgios Kontogiannis Haig Yazdjian is an oud soloist, an ambassador of the oud, a composer and a singer. Haig has created five groundbreaking albums, released worldwide through one of Greece’s most prestigious Record Labels (Libra Music). Haig Yazdjian was born in Syria of Armenian parents. In the early 1980s, he immigrated to Greece and, in just a few years, established himself as a leading soloist, a reputation that led to numerous collaborations with prominent composers and leading singers. Haig’s Armenian compositions, Middle Eastern expressions and his own compositions accelerated his popularity and charted him as one of the most promising composers in the region. Today, Haig tours in Greece and Europe along leading Greek composers and singers. Remarkably, he performs with the same set of musicians he started out with. Together, they have become a cohesive creative force who still play at least once a week in the same small den they began performing in, the ‘infamous’ Café Asante in Athens. COLLABORATIONS Over the years, Haig Yazdjian has collaborated with the most prominent Greek composers and singers, as well as with soloists of international stature. Among them: Nikos Xydakis, Eleftheria Arvanitaki, Savina Yannatou, Maria Farantouri, Dimitra Galani, Elli Paspala, David Lynch, Loreena MacKennitt, Michalis Nikoloudis, Melina Kana, Eleni Vitali, Dave Spillain, Omar Farouk Tekbilek, Djivan Gasparyan, Theodossii Spassov, Enver Izmaylov, Ara Dinkjian, Derya Turkan, Yinon Muallem, Glen Velez, Elisa Vellia and many others. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx