Ladaniva (; stylized in all caps, named in reference to the off-road SUV

Lada Niva The Lada Niva Legend, formerly called the Lada Niva, VAZ-2121, VAZ-2131, and Lada 4×4 (), is a series of four-wheel drive, small (hatchback), and compact (wagon and pickup) Off-road vehicle, off-road cars designed and produced by AvtoVAZ sinc ...

) is a French-Armenian

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

group originally from

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

. The duo, founded in 2019, consists of Armenian singer Jaklin Baghdasaryan and French multi-instrumentalist Louis Thomas. Their musical style is inspired by music from around the world, particularly traditional

Balkan music Balkan music is a type of music found in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe. In its broadest sense, it encompasses a variety of music styles across the countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo ...

maloya Maloya is one of the two major music genres of Réunion, usually sung in Réunion Creole, and traditionally accompanied by percussion and a musical bow. Maloya is a new form that has origins in the music of African and Malagasy slaves and Indian ...

and

Armenian folklore The culture of Armenia encompasses many elements that are based on the Geography of Armenia, geography, Armenian literature, literature, Armenian architecture, architecture, Armenian dance, dance, and Music of Armenia, music of the Armenians, A ...

. They represented in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2024 The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 was the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Tattoo (Loreen song), Tattoo" by Loreen. Organised by the European Br ...

with the song "

Jako Jako AG is a German sportswear company based in the Hollenbach district of Mulfingen, Baden-Württemberg. The company was founded by Rudi Sprügel in 1989 in Stachenhausen. Jako provides kits for teams playing association football, handball, ...

History

Ladaniva was formed in 2019 in

as a result of the collaboration between singer Jaklin Baghdasaryan and multi-instrumentalist Louis Thomas. Baghdasaryan, born in 1997 in

Yeghegnadzor Yeghegnadzor ( ) is a town and urban municipal community in southern Armenia, serving as the provincial capital of Vayots Dzor Province and the Yeghegnadzor Municipality. It is located at a road distance of south of the capital Yerevan, on th ...

, Armenia, grew up in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

, Belarus, before emigrating to France with her mother in 2014. She has been singing since her early childhood and, based in

Tourcoing Tourcoing (; ; ; ) is a city in northern France on the Belgian border. It is designated municipally as a commune within the department of Nord. Located to the north-northeast of Lille, adjacent to Roubaix, Tourcoing is the chef-lieu of two ca ...

, enrolled at the

Conservatoire de Lille The Conservatoire de Lille is a music school in Lille, France. Founded in 1803, it was originally set out as a music conservatory, later branching out into theatre and dance in the second half of the 20th century. The conservatory took the place ...

. Thomas, born in 1987 in Lille and an accomplished jazz musician from a family of musicians, also attended the conservatory. One evening in 2018, they met by chance during a jam session in a music bar in Vieux-Lille, l'Intervalle. In March and April 2020, while many countries hit by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

were in lockdown, Ladaniva published two music videos, "Vay Aman" and "Zepyuri Nman", which met with great success, particularly with the Armenian community. Later, in September 2024, they published their music video "Kef Chilini", which reached 18 million views in a few months. In 2023, Ladaniva released their first album, which is self-titled, produced and distributed by PIAS. Ladaniva Eurovision Song Contest 2024 final dress rehearsal 02

Ladaniva Eurovision Song Contest 2024 final dress rehearsal 02

On 9 March 2024, Ladaniva were officially announced as the for the

. On 13 March, "

" was revealed as their entry for the contest. They placed third out of 16 in the second semi-final on 9 May 2024 with 137 points and eighth out of 25 in the Grand Final on 11 May 2024 with 183 points, Armenia's best result since .

Musical style

Ladaniva's repertoire is inspired on one hand by traditional songs from Armenia, Russia, Romania and the Balkans, and on the other hand by music from Latin America, Africa and Reunion Island.

Accolades

Ladaniva was awarded a

Music Moves Europe Award The Music Moves Europe Award, also known as the MME Award, is an annual prize recognizing the success of ten emerging artists or groups who reached audiences outside their own countries with their first internationally released album in the pas ...

via the Public Choice Award in 2022.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ladaniva Armenian world music groups French musical duos French world music groups Musical groups established in 2019 2019 establishments in France Armenian-language musical groups Eurovision Song Contest entrants