Bedouine's first album in five years, Neon Summer Skin, will arrive at the top of June. The early singles "Long Way To Fall" and "Always On Time" have been as thoughtful and tender as we've come to expect from Azniv Korkejian. Today, she's released a third song from the album under special circumstances.
Today is Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. It's a significant occasion for Korkejian, a Syrian-American from an Armenian family. She wrote the Neon Summer Skin track "Canopies" about her mother's experience growing up in an orphanage founded for survivors of the Armenian Genocide. On the album, it's introduced by a recording of her mom discussing that experience. The song's final lyrics: "Of all of the stones to leave unturned/ On the sea shores of Lebanon/ To my kin and my sin/ Nears inconsolable tears.
In honor of the holiday, Bedouine has put "Canopies" up for sale to raise money for the displaced people of Lebanon. In a post on Instagram, she shared some background on the song:
This holiday serves as a healthy reminder that life is a gift. It's scary how easy it is to forget that. My great grandparents, and to a degree my grandparents, all suffered greatly and survived against all odds to make life possible for everyone that came after them. I'm talking escaping death chambers and hundreds of miles on foot kind of odds. This year I learned a little bit more about their experience and feel more connected to them and the world in general. Being part of a diaspora, it's easy to feel "not enough this" or "not enough that" when it comes to culture or ethnicity. The funny thing is that, ultimately, that is the immigrant experience; Not belonging neatly in any one place because, in truth, they belong everywhere.
Buy "Canopies" here.
