Sirusho
Sirusho 
| |
|---|---|
 ' | |
| Birth name | Siranush Harutyunyan |
| Other names | Սիրանուշ Հարությունյան |
| Name in Armenian | Սիրուշո |
| Birthplace | Yerevan |
| Birth date | 7 January 1987 |
| Profession | Singer |
| Languages | Armenian |
| Ethnicities | Armenian |
| Dialects | Eastern Armenian |
| Spouses | Levon Kocharyan |
| http://www.sirusho.am | |
Siranush Harutyunyan (born on January 7, 1987 in Yerevan, Armenia), known simply as Sirusho (Armenian: Սիրուշո), is an Armenian pop singer. She began her music career singing live in Canada, in the Armenian diaspora music scene, when she was seven years old and, at the age of nine, she received an Armenian Music Award for her song "Lusabats". Her first studio album, Sirusho, was released in 2000, and its follow-up, Sheram, in 2005. In the same year, she was awarded The Future of Armenian Music, Best Album and Best Female Performer awards in the first Armenian National Music Awards.[1] The BBC describes her success as making her a "national treasure" in Armenia,[2] and its news service has gone on to report that she is popular in both Armenia and "throughout the Armenian diaspora throughout the world".[3] She currently studies diplomacy in Yerevan State University, having majored in international relations.[1]
Sirusho also sings in the Greek language and, in April 2009, released her first Greek single "Erotas" in Armenia, Greece and Cyprus. The song is an up-tempo dance record with heavy Greek laiko musical influences which is apparent from the dancing and dress in the music video.[4] Sirusho performed this, and her other Armenian singles, live at the 2009 Tashir Armenian Awards ceremony.[5]
Sirusho reached international recognition after becoming the Armenian spokesperson for the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest and the Armenian representative for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest held in Belgrade, Serbia.[6] She co-wrote and performed the song "Qélé, Qélé", with the Armenian hook and music composed and produced by H.A. Der-Hovagimian. The song finished in fourth place behind the Greek entry "Secret Combination". It became very popular in Greek-speaking areas, especially the 'Yerevan Remix' in Greek clubs, and was frequently played on London Greek Radio in the United Kingdom, and in an episode of the Greek and Cypriot X Factor television series.[7]
Biography
1987-2004: Early life and career beginnings
Sirusho was born on January 7, 1987, in Yerevan, Armenia, in a family of artists. Her father, Hrachya Harutyunyan is a renowned actor and director while her mother, Syuzan Margaryan, is a reputable singer widely popular in the country. They both are Honored Artists of Armenia.
Sirusho's first encounter with singing and music was when she was ten months old. At the age of two she began singing full songs. One of the songs that Sirusho performed as a child was "Lusabats", an Armenian folk song written at the start of the 20th century by Komitas. At the age of 7 Sirusho began to write her own music, as well as lyrics in Armenian and English. She was 8 years old when she greeted her first big crowd.
In one of her interviews she said, "I have never been one of those children who dreamed of becoming a singer. I was a little kid and people would ask me to sing at events. Every time after I sang, I would see the amazed looks on their faces and I couldn't figure out the reason. I mean, I thought I wasn't doing a hard thing, I was just singing the way I felt the music."
At the age of 9 one of the songs she composed brought her an award at the Contest of Young Talents. When Sirusho was ten, she successfully competed in a contest with older participants, finishing in the first place. She released her first studio album "Sirusho" when she was 13, gradually becoming one of the most favored performers in the Republic of Armenia. Some of the best Armenian composers have written the music for songs she has written lyrics for. She has toured in many countries, including Canada, Belgium, Egypt, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Lebanon, Poland, Russia, Iran, Jordan, Spain, Syria, Turkey, United States, and elsewhere.
2005-07: Sheram and Hima
After performing soul and pop music for most of her music career, Sirusho decided to work on an album presenting Armenian folk gusan songs by Gusan Sheram. It was titled Sheram and was released to the public in the same year. The album also included the lead single "Shorora" which eventually became a national hit. In 2005, Sheram was awarded the Best Album of the Year award at the Armenian National Music Awards. Sirusho herself was given the Best Female Artist of the Year award, becoming one of the youngest performers to get this award. During her acceptance speech, she concluded, "I have worked and toured a lot this year, and even in a few hours after this event, I’ll be flying to the U.S. for concerts, and I want to thank you all for giving me wings for all the future "flights" of my life." In a few days, her single "Heranum em" ("I'm Leaving"), written by herself, was released to the radio, soon becoming a huge hit, possibly her biggest at the time.
In 2006, the Armenian music industry suffered the loss of Varduhi Vardanyan, one of the most renown artists in the country at the time. Varduhi has been a very close person to Sirusho ever since she was born. After this, Sirusho dedicated a song to her, titled "Mez Vochinch Chi Bazhani" ("Nothing Will Part Us"). It gained high popularity and peaked in most national chart rankings. Also in 2006, Sirusho received the award for Best Female Artist of the Year at the Annual Armenian-Russian Diaspora Music Awards held in Moscow, Russia.
In 2007, Sirusho released her third album, titled "Hima". It included the song dedicated to Varduhi, the title track, a collaboration with pop singer Sofi Mkheyan, as well as many other tracks written and produced by Sirusho herself. The album proved to be a breakthrough in Armenian music, unleashing a fresh wave of mixing soul and R&B with folk instruments such as duduk, dhol, zourna, and others. She was also announced as the Best Female Artist of the Year at the Armenian Music Awards, held by the Armenian-American Diaspora at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, CA, USA.
2008-09: Eurovision Song Contest, aftermath and continued fame
Sirusho received her fourth Best Female Artist award at the 2008 Armenian National Music Awards, where she had obtained her first award in 2005, and had promised to continue her "rise". She has received several other awards for her songs and music videos during this year.
Sirusho was chosen to represent Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with Canadian-Armenian music composer and producer H.A. Der-Hovagimian's song Qele Qele. The song entered the first semi-final on May 20 and advanced to the final which took place on May 24, 2008 in Helsinki.
Even though she finished 4th in the final with 199 points, she was awarded the maximum amount of 12 points the most times of all the contestants (8), with the winner, Russia's Dima Bilan receiving 12 points six times.
During the official after-party following the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, the four winners of the Marcel Bezençon Award 2008 were announced and prizes were given out. A newly introduced award was presented this year, the Fan Award by Swedish website Gylleneskor.se.[8] Readers of the site had the opportunity to vote online for their favorite 2008 artist under the age of 25. Thousands of votes were cast and the winner was Sirusho with Qele Qele.
On April 1, 2009, Sirusho released the song "Erotas", also known as "Erotas Ksafnikos" (Sudden Love), sung entirely in the Greek. The song is an up-tempo dance song with heavy traditional Greek laiko influence. It was composed by singer Hayko and written by Natalia Germanou.[4] Sirusho performed the song live at the 2009 Tashir Armenian Awards ceremony in April that year.[5] Erotas went on to become a number one hit on the Armenian Singles Chart.[9]
Sirusho stirred up some controversy when she was the spokesperson for Armenia during the voting at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 final. When she revealed the votes from the country she showed a photo off We Are Our Mountains a number of times causing heated reactions from Azerbaijan. [10]
On June 6, 2009 Sirusho married former Armenian president Robert Kocharyan's son Levon Kocharyan.
In 2009 Sirusho also recorded a song dedicated to peace along with the participants of Eurovision 2008, Boaz Mauda and Jelena Tomasevic, representing Israel and Serbia, respectively. Time To Pray was released in May. Its lyricist is the president of Israel, Shimon Peres. The song was performed in multiple countries, including Russia and Serbia.
2010-present: Havatum em and fifth studio album
In February 2010, Sirusho performed at the Armenian national selection for Eurovision Song Contest 2010, singing her new song Havatum em (English: I Believe). Havatum em was written by Sirusho. At the end of February she was invited to Malta as a special guest to perform at the Maltese Eurovision selection. During the visit she was also a guest on most popular local TV shows and took part in the Maltese annual charity, performing Havatum em.
Sirusho's fourth official studio album, Havatum em, was released in summer 2010 along with new singles from it. The record includes previously released songs Erotas, the title track, Time to Pray, other new songs, as well as the songs that she had written for the Armenian national final for Eurovision 2008. During an interview in Malta with esctoday.com, Sirusho was asked whether she would return to the Eurovision Song Contest, and she said that if people and her fanbase want her to go, she will return to represent Armenia again. On 11 June 2011 Sirusho will had a live concert in Lyon, France.
On September 9, the first single from Sirusho's upcoming studio album, "I Like It", was released to iTunes. The official music video made its debut on November 11. The album is scheduled for a 2012 release.
Discography and Awards
Albums
- Sirusho (2000)
- Sheram (2005)
- Hima (2007)
- Havatum Em (2010)
- TBA (2012)
Singles
- 2005 - "Shorora"
- 2005 - "Sery mer"
- 2006 - "Mayrik"
- 2006 - "Heranum em"
- 2007 - "Hima"
- 2007 - "Arjani e" (featuring Sofi Mkheyan)
- 2007 - "Mez Vochinch Chi Bajani"
- 2008 - "Qélé, Qélé"
- 2009 - "Erotas"
- 2009 - "Time to Pray" (featuring Boaz Mauda and Jelena Tomasevic)
- 2010 - "Havatum Em"
- 2011 - "I Like It"
List of Awards
2003 - "The Future of Armenian Music" at the Armenian National Music Awards, Yerevan
2004 - "Best Female Artist" at the "Krunk Awards", Yerevan
2005 - "Best Song" - "Sery mer" at the "Voske Qnar Awards", Yerevan
2005 - "Best Album of the Year" - "Shorora" at the Armenian National Music Awards, Yerevan
2005 - "Best Female Artist of the Year" at the Armenian National Music Award, Yerevan
2005 - "Best Female Artist" at the Annual Armenian-Russian Diaspora Music Awards (Tashir 2005), Moscow
2006 - "Best Female Artist of the Year" at the Annual Armenian-Russian Diaspora Music Award (Tashir 2006), Moscow
2006 - "Best Music Video" - "Mayrik" at the Annual MCLUB AMVA Awards, USA
2007 - "Best Female Artist of the Year" at the Armenian Music Awards (Anush), USA
2007 - "Best Video" - "Hima" at the "Top 10 Awards", Yerevan
2007 - "Princess of Armenian Music", Yes Magazine Awards, Yerevan
2007 - "Best Song" - "Heranum em" at the "Voske Qnar Awards", Yerevan
2008 - "Best Video" - "Qele Qele" at the "Top 10 Awards", Yerevan
2008 - "Eurovision Fan Award" at the Eurovision Song Contest, Belgrade
2008 - "Best Female Artist of the Year" at the Armenian National Music Awards, Yerevan
2009 - "Best International Armenian Singer" at the Annual Armenian-Russian Diaspora Music Award (Tashir 2009), Moscow
2010 - "Best Song" - "Havatum Em" at the Armenian National Music Awards, Yerevan
2010 - "Best-Selling Album " - "Havatum Em" at the Armenian National Music Awards, Yerevan
2010 - "Best Singer" & "Best Media Star" at Luxury Awards
2010 - "Special award for spreading the Armenian music in Europe" at the Annual Armenian-Russian Diaspora Music Award (Tashir 2010), Moscow
Notes and references
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirusho - Creative Commons source of this article
See also
External links
- Template:Official website
- Sirusho Music Videos
- Armenian Music Awards Website
- Pictures of Sirusho in London
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sirusho.am
- ↑ "Eurovision 2008 - Armenia", BBC, 2008
- ↑ "Eurovision vote 2008: Top 10", BBC News, 25 May 2008
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Shegrikyan, Zaven (2009-04-01). "Armenia: Sirusho's video in greek released!". ESCToday. http://esctoday.com/news/read/13624. Retrieved 2009-04-01.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Sirusho - Erotas Ksafnikos (Tashir Armenian Awards 2009)", ESCToday
- ↑ Eurovision Song Contest - Armenia
- ↑ "X Factor Greece-Cyprus Clip", Youtube
- ↑ http://www.gylleneskor.se/artikel/winners-marcel-bezencon-awards-2008
- ↑ n:Past Eurovision contestants give advice to this year's performers, speculate on who will win
- ↑ Krikorian, Onnik (2009-05-16). "Ethnic rivalry wins over kitsch in the Caucasus". Frontline Club. http://frontlineclub.com/blogs/onnikkrikorian/2009/05/festering-wounds-overshadow-eurovision-in-the-south-caucasus.html. Retrieved 2009-09-17.