Hamasyan has spent much of the past year back in Armenia, which has made him all the more fascinated by its traditional music. “Folk is like the first form of expression. Nowadays, if you’re a musician, you’re supposed to be cool or special or something,” he says. “But, back in the day, everybody was a musician. Every action, every ceremony, was accompanied by music. You watch women churning butter and there’s a folk song that accompanies each movement in that process. You go to parts of rural Armenia and you see people singing and harmonising, spontaneously. It’s amazing, like watching the birth of music itself.” (The Guardian)