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Bedouine's self-titled debut album is out now.Polly Antonia Barrowman / Courtesy of the artist
Azniv Korkejian, who makes music under the moniker Bedouine, draws on '60s folk and '70s country — compelling influences, but not necessarily the music that surrounded her early on in life. Born in Aleppo, Syria, to Armenian parents, Korkejian spent her early childhood in Saudi Arabia. After her family won the green-card lottery, she moved to the U.S. at the age of 10, living in Massachusetts, Texas and Kentucky before winding up in California as an adult.
That itinerant upbringing informs the song "You Kill Me," from her eponymous debut album, where she sings, "Some nights I get into the car and drive / Nowhere really could keep me satisfied." Moving around as a young girl did prime Korkejian to be a wanderer — but it wasn't without its pains, she tells NPR's Melissa Block.
"I felt really connected to Saudi Arabia growing up," she says. "I lived in an American compound, which is essentially a gated village. And it was really devastating to leave." Moving from that "controlled environment" to an open, unwalled space in Massachusetts left her "really confused," Korkejian recalls — especially when trick-or-treating on Halloween, when she didn't know where to go and where to stop.
"There was a part of me that felt like as long as I'm not [in Saudi Arabia], it doesn't really matter where I am," she says. "And it did, I think, shape my sense of detachment that I had for most of my teens and 20s."
Elsewhere on Bedouine, Korkejian sings about the war in Syria. She still cherishes vivid memories of her early life in Aleppo, like when her extended family would converge on her grandmother's house.
"In our culture, oftentimes the grandmother is the nucleus of the family," Korkejian says. "Every time we go visit her and stay with her, it's packed tight, it's close quarters, but it's like a slumber party. Being close was the priority." Although Korkejian still has family in Syria, many of them have also left for Armenia.
Korkejian wrote the song "Summer Cold" after reading that weapons the U.S. was funneling to the Syrian opposition were landing in terrorists' hands. "It's loose, this song. It doesn't hit you over the head with the topic," she notes. "But I wrote it because every time I would read the news, it just gave me this really nauseating feeling. And I guess I started to address Syria like it was a friend of mine I couldn't recognize anymore."
Despite its somber subject matter, "Summer Cold" comes to an end with a soothing coda of natural sound — what Korkejian describes as "a foggy memory of waking up on her grandmother's street." The scene, as she recounts it, is beautifully tranquil: "It was the beginning of the day and you'd hear the porcelain accents of teacups and men playing backgammon in the alleys, and donkeys walking across selling gasoline. It's one of my favorite memories of waking up there."
Web intern Karen Gwee contributed to this story.
MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
Azniv Korkejian makes music under the name Bedouine. It sounds like it's been piped in from another time.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ONE OF THESE DAYS")
BEDOUINE: (Singing) Always looking for your next climb. The things I want don't take time.
BLOCK: Her songs drawn on '60s folk music and '70s country. It's not the music that surrounded her early on. Korkejian was born in Aleppo, Syria, to Armenian parents and spent her early childhood in Saudi Arabia. She moved to the U.S. when she was 10 after her family won the green card lottery. She lived in Massachusetts, Texas and Kentucky before winding up in California as an adult. She still holds onto vivid memories of spending time with her extended family in Aleppo.
AZNIV KORKEJIAN: In our culture, oftentimes, the grandmother is the nucleus of the family. And just every time we'd go visit her, we'd stay with her. And it's packed tight. You know, it's close quarters. But it's like a slumber party for adults. I mean, we were just – being close was the priority. And all of my aunts and my cousins – they'd just intermittently drop in.
BLOCK: I want to ask you about one of the songs on the album, which connects with Syria – and we'll talk about that. It's called "Summer Cold."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SUMMER COLD")
BEDOUINE: (Singing) Catching a summer cold all through the evening. You say, what have they done to offend?
BLOCK: And, Azniv, I don't think I would've known if I hadn't read a bit about this song that you wrote this about the war in Syria and in particular about the U.S. arming the Syrian opposition. How did this song come about?
KORKEJIAN: Well, I wrote that song after reading that the weapons that we were funneling to the opposition were getting into the hands of terrorists. And it's loose, the song. I mean, you – it doesn't hit you over the head, the topic. But I wrote it because it gave me – every time I would read the news, it just gave me this really nauseating feeling.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SUMMER COLD")
BEDOUINE: (Singing) I don't want anything ever to do with them.
KORKEJIAN: And I guess I started to address Syria like it was a friend of mine I couldn't recognize anymore.
BLOCK: At the very end of this song, you have a coda of street sounds.
(SOUNDBITE OF BEDOUINE SONG, "SUMMER COLD")
BLOCK: We're hearing horse hooves and whistles and honks and bells. What's going on here?
KORKEJIAN: That is sort of a foggy memory of waking up on my grandmother's street. And it was the beginning of the day, and you'd hear, you know, porcelain accents of tea cups and men playing backgammon in the alleys and donkeys walking across, selling gasoline. It's one of my favorite memories of waking up there.
BLOCK: Do you still have family in Syria?
KORKEJIAN: I do. A lot of them have left back for Armenia. And I still do have several family members in Syria. And I think things have settled in Aleppo, relatively speaking. So, thankfully, they're feeling safer these days.
BLOCK: Let's take a listen to another song on the album. This is "You Kill Me."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU KILL ME")
KORKEJIAN: (Singing) Some nights, I get into the car and drive. Nowhere, really, could keep me satisfied.
BLOCK: It's pretty clear from these lyrics that you're talking about feeling like you need to be on the road, on the move. Do you think that all of the moving around that you did as a young girl primed you to be a wanderer – that there is no place that would really keep you satisfied, as you say in this song?
KORKEJIAN: Absolutely. I felt really connected to Saudi Arabia growing up. I lived in an American compound, which is essentially a gated village. And it was really devastating to leave. It just felt like a very controlled environment. I remember when I was in Massachusetts, I was really confused, especially on Halloween because I didn't – there were no walls anywhere, so I didn't know where to stop. I didn't know…
(LAUGHTER)
KORKEJIAN: …You know, which house to…
BLOCK: You could just keep going and going, huh?
KORKEJIAN: Yeah, exactly. And I also just – there's a part of me that felt like as long as I'm not there, it doesn't really matter where I am.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU KILL ME")
BEDOUINE: (Singing) I was a girl on the country for now. One foot out and one foot out.
KORKEJIAN: And it did, I think, shape my sense of detachment that I had for most of my teens and 20s.
BLOCK: And now it's different?
KORKEJIAN: I think so. I think so. As I get older, I do appreciate the constants in my life and, you know, making a home for myself.
BLOCK: That's Azniv Korkejian, who performs as Bedouin. And that's also the name of her debut album. Azniv, thanks so much for being with us.
KORKEJIAN: Thank you. It's my pleasure.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NICE AND QUIET")
BEDOUINE: (Singing) The time that we make. And all the innocence we give and we take. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.