Want to travel during this period of confinement? A group from the Lille metropolitan area is doing a lot of talking all over the country at the moment: Ladaniva is composed of two musicians who offer a mixed and joyful world music.
Born just before the first confinement, Ladaniva did not have time to scour the scenes of the region, but is already recording million views on the internet. France Bleu Nord tells you its story.
Jacqueline Baghdasaryan est Armenian. She grew up in Belarus, and she was 18 when she arrived in France with her mother. Both live in a home in Tourcoing, where the rules are strict: curfew at 9 p.m. But the young girl, a musician at heart, quickly takes the path of Lille conservatory.
Meeting in a bar in Old Lille
One evening, in 2015, his friends took him to a bar in Old Lille where the stage is open to musicians. A place where Louis Thomas regularly performs, trumpeter, pianist, guitarist, among other instruments. He remembers Jacqueline being on stage when he arrived: “I said: ‘who is this one?’, and voila!“. Jacqueline says:”I didn’t even know what a jam was, I dared to sing the first thing that came to my mind, and that was the start of my adult life!“.
After this musical love at first sight, the duo connects collaborations, and end of 2019 Ladaniva was born, from the name of a famous car created in the USSR in the 70s. It’s an all-terrain group, which takes us on a journey around world music. In Armenia, of course, in Balkans, in India, in the Maghreb: Ladaniva’s music mixes folk traditions, jazz and sounds of today.
Born in confinement
A few months later, it is confinement. The group had very little time to perform on stage and make themselves known. So he invests in social networks, with videos of his songs: the counters go wild, millions of views from all over the world. “We were born into this Covid and blockade story“, recognizes Jacqueline,”but yet we manage to have good visibility“.
It’s so virtual, it’s hard to realize
Louis adds: “when we saw the statistics advance, we were astonished. It’s so virtual, we have a hard time realizing the impact we have on people. We are just two of us making music in a room!“
I wish everyone to have this chance
Jacqueline Baghdasaryan is 24 years old today, she would never have dared dream of such success: “Before, I was a little ashamed to tell people that I was a refugee. I’m sure a lot of people have this complex, because they have no papers, no house. One day, you meet one person, after another, you bounce back little by little. It’s beautiful, and I wish everyone that luck“.
Selected for Printemps de Bourges
Ladaniva, which has already performed for several virtual festivals, has just been selected for the Printemps de Bourges, in June 2021, hoping it takes place, and in front of the public. Do concerts, “this will be the real birth of Ladaniva“, exclaims Jacqueline. In the meantime, the group has just released a new title, its first in French.
Click here to learn more about Ladaniva
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