Azniv Korkejian, known by her stage name Bedouine (born July 16), is a Syrian-American musician. She has lived in a number of cities and countries, including

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, and

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

History

Early life

Korkejian was born in

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

, Syria. Her family moved to

where they lived until she was ten. Her family is Armenian. She was educated at an American school in Saudi Arabia and was exposed to the music of

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

as well as traditional

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

n and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

music. The family moved to the US after winning a green card lottery and lived first in

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

and then later in

, Texas, where she went to high school. She studied sound design in

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

, Georgia. She lives in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

''Bedouine''

Bedouine released her first self-titled full-length album in 2017. The record includes sounds from her memories of her grandmother's home in Syria, specifically on "Summer Cold" and a song written in Armenian "Louise" (which translates to "light” and is written as Լոյս in Armenian). In an interview with Sound of Boston, Korkejian discussed writing the song in

Western Armenian Western Armenian ( ) is one of the two standardized forms of Modern Armenian, the other being Eastern Armenian. It is based mainly on the Istanbul Armenian dialect, as opposed to Eastern Armenian, which is mainly based on the Yerevan Arme ...

, the dialect her family speaks: “I was pretty shy about it because, like I said, my Armenian is kind of broken. But, I ran it by my cousin and kind of had his green light, and I got to a point where I just thought, even if it’s not perfect it’s okay because it’s still my experience.” The album art of her debut album features a photograph taken of Bedouine on the black-and-white tiled floor of the console room outside Gus Seyffert's studio, where she recorded the album.

''Bird Songs of a Killjoy''

In March 2019, Bedouine announced her second full-length album, ''Bird Songs of a Killjoy'', which was released June 21, 2019. The twelve tracks contain several references to birds, and Azniv's label Spacebomb quoted her as feeling "self-conscious about how I go on and on about birds on this record...But I have to step back and take a breath. These songs are just where I landed, and that's OK." The album was produced by Gus Seyffert.

''Waysides''

Bedouine released her third full-length album, ''Waysides'' on October 22, 2021. The album was announced August 18, 2021 with the single "The Wave", which was written about the death of Bedouine's close friend and her resulting grief. Korkejian did not write new material for the album, instead she selected and finished tracks from among her old demos, the oldest dating back 15 years, the newest from 2017. She’s described the process as “like spring cleaning, letting go to start anew”. All tracks were produced either by the singer herself or Gus Seyffert, who worked on both ''Bedouine'' and ''Bird Songs of a Killjoy''.

Tours

Headline tours * US Tour (Fall 2019) * UK/EU Tour (Fall 2019) Support tours *

Fleet Foxes Fleet Foxes are an American indie folk band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 2006. The band currently consists of Robin Pecknold (vocals, guitar), Skyler Skjelset (guitar, mandolin, backing vocals), Casey Wescott (keyboards, mandolin, backin ...

(US Tour, Summer 2017) *

Matthew E. White Matthew E. White (born August 14, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, producer and arranger. He has worked as a collaborator, producer, and arranger for acts including Bedouine, Natalie Prass, Cocoon, Foxygen, Justin Vernon, Hiss Golden ...

(UK Tour, Fall 2017) *

Michael Kiwanuka Michael Samuel Kiwanuka (born 3 May 1988) is a British singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is currently signed to Polydor Records. His debut album '' Home Again'' (2012) went gold in the United Kingdom, while his second album ...

(UK Tour, Fall 2017) * José González (US Tour, Winter 2018) * Real Estate (US Tour, Winter 2018) *

Waxahatchee Waxahatchee is an American indie music project, formed in 2010 by American singer-songwriter Kathryn Crutchfield (born January 4, 1989), known professionally as Katie Crutchfield, following the breakup of her previous band P.S. Eliot. The ban ...

Hurray For The Riff Raff Hurray for the Riff Raff is an American band formed in New Orleans in 2007 by Alynda Segarra, a singer-songwriter from the Bronx, New York (state), New York. As Segarra's project, the group originally performed different styles of folk music w ...

(US Tour, Spring 2018) *

Kevin Morby Kevin Robert Morby (born 2 April 1988) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter. A former member of Woods (band), Woods and The Babies, Morby has released seven solo studio albums: ''Harlem River (album), Harlem River'' (2013), ''Still Li ...

(US Tour, Summer 2018) *

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

(US Tour, Fall 2018) *

Father John Misty Joshua Michael Tillman (born May 3, 1981), better known by his stage name Father John Misty, is an American musician. He is known for his satirical lyrics and eccentric performance style. Tillman began his career in Seattle in the early 2000s. O ...

(UK/EU Tour, Fall 2018) * José González (EU Tour, Summer 2019) Festivals * Best Kept Secret (2018)
Clandestino
(2018)
Likeminds
(2018) *

Nelsonville Music Festival The Nelsonville Music Festival is an annual four-day music festival located at Snow Fork near Nelsonville, Ohio. The event in Southeastern Ohio takes place in July and features a variety of musical genres and includes local, regional, national and ...

(2018) *

Newport Folk Festival The Newport Folk Festival is an annual American folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the Newport Jazz Festival. The festival was founded by music promoter and Jazz Festival founder Geor ...

(2018) *

Pickathon Pickathon is an annual, three-day music festival taking place the first weekend of August at Pendarvis Farm in Happy Valley, Oregon. Founded in 1999, the festival initially grew out of Portland, Oregon, Portland's Bluegrass music, bluegrass and ...

(2018)
Waking Windows
(2018) * WOMAD (Australia) (2018) *

Calgary Folk Music Festival The Calgary Folk Music Festival (also known as "Calgary Folk Fest", or CFMF) is a Canadian music festival held on the fourth weekend of July each year at Prince's Island Park (Calgary), Prince's Island Park, Calgary, Alberta. The four-day event fe ...

(2019)
Huichica Music Festival
(2019)

Discography

Studio albums * ''Bedouine'' (2017,

Spacebomb Records Spacebomb Records is an independent record label based in Richmond, Virginia, co-founded by Matthew E. White in 2012. The label has released notable albums by Matthew E. White, Natalie Prass, and Bedouine. The label's first release, White's own ' ...

) * ''Bird Songs of a Killjoy'' (2019, Spacebomb Records) * ''Waysides'' (2021,

self-released Self-publishing is an author-driven publication of any media without the involvement of a third-party publisher. Since the advent of the internet, self-published usually depends upon digital platforms and print-on-demand technology, ranging fr ...

) Singles * "Come Down In Time" (2018, Spacebomb Records) * "The Hum" (2020, Spacebomb Records) * "All My Trials" (2020,

Mexican Summer Mexican Summer is an independent record label founded in 2009 by Keith Abrahamsson and Andres Santo Domingo. Based in Brooklyn, the label has released recordings from artists including Best Coast, Kurt Vile, Ariel Pink, Allah-Las, Weyes Blood, ...

) * "Thirteen" (2020, Spacebomb Records) * "That You Are" (2024, Hozier)

References

{{Authority control Syrian musicians American people of Syrian descent 21st-century American musicians Musicians from Aleppo Spacebomb Records artists Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Living people