Concert at SF Union Square Celebrates Celebrates Resilience of Armenian Art and Music Tonight

In commemoration of the centennial of the Armenian Genocide in 1915 and in celebration of the resilience and endurance of Armenian arts, artists and culture around the world, a special free concert will be given tonight, April 21, at 5 pm at San Francisco's Union Square.

The performance features MTV Music Video Award-winner and Grammy nominee Sebu of Capital Cities, Anna and Anaïs Duo (Anna Garano and Anaïs Alexandra Tekerian) and visual artist Kevork Mourad, who will paint the concert in real time as it happens. April is the anniversary of the beginning of the Armenian Genocide in 1915 and this concert is one of many events throughout the month and around the Bay Area presented under the auspices of The Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee. For more information visit www.rememberanddemand.org/ and follow on www.facebook.com/events/928319853845445/, www.facebook.com/AGCCNC, Instagram: @100yearsdenied.

"Music heals the soul and is an explosive expression of humanity that has more profound impact than words alone," says Centennial Organizing Committee member Alex Bastian. "These concerts vibrantly embody that expression, showing the world that although we have suffered pain and loss, it continues to be a better place as a result of our significant contributions. We invite the Bay Area and the world to grieve and remember with us as we remember the Armenian Genocide and celebrate the endurance and joys of our living culture."

About the Artists:

Sebu is a recording artist and songwriter whose indie-pop band Capital Cities has toured five continents and earned an MTV Video Music Award and Grammy nomination for the multi-platinum single "Safe and Sound". Born to Armenian parents, Sebu calls Southern California home.

Anna Garano received a degree in classical guitar from the Conservatorio Tartini of Trieste (Italy), then acquired a "Diploma di Laurea" in Music History (University of Trieste) specializing in contemporary music, and later on studied Indian and Arabic music at the International Institute of Comparative Music of Venezia. In following years she traveled to Andalusia to study flamenco guitar with such masters as Paco Serrano, Manolo Franco, and Manolo Sanlucar, and studied, most notably, with Paco Peña at the Rotterdam Conservatory where she also played with world music ensembles. Nowadays she composes and performs her own music as well as arrangements of traditional music, as a soloist and with musicians of varied origins, in Italy and around the world.

Anaïs Alexandra Tekerian is one of the co-founders of Zulal, an Armenian a cappella trio. Zulal has been featured many times on WNYC's New Sounds and has toured the United States and Canada, performing in such venues as Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Symphony Space, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the Getty Museum, along with performances for Cirque du Soleil and The Silk Road Project. An actress as well, Tekerian has performed in theater and film around New York. Her original piece, Tangled Yarn, created with artist Kevork Mourad and featuring a soundtrack by Zulal, premiered at the New York International Fringe Festival and was performed on both coasts. A native of San Francisco, where she attended the Lycée Français Lapérouse, she earned her degree in Theater Studies from Yale University. She now resides in New York City.

Kevork Mourad was born in 1970 in Syria. Of Armenian origin, he received his MFA from the Yerevan Institute of Fine Arts in Armenia, and he now lives and works in New York.

Six of his pieces are in permanent residency at the Gyumri Museum in Armenia, and several more at the Armenian Library and Museum of America in Watertown, Massachusetts. As part of group shows, his pieces were exhibited at the NYU Small Works Gallery in 2005 and 2007, and his digital piece, The Map of Future Movements, toured as part of a group exhibition in Jerusalem and Ramallah, and was in the 2010 Liverpool Biennial.

He has had solo exhibitions at Gallery Z in Providence, RI and at JK Gallery in Los Angeles. He is represented in the Middle East by Rafia Gallery in Damascus, Syria, where he exhibited in 2009. His solo exhibition was also shown at the Courtyard Gallery in Dubai in 2010. Five of his pieces are in the permanent collection on the 70th floor of the Bourj Khalife in Dubai. He has had work auctioned twice at Christie's Dubai.

Photo Courtesy of Remember and Demand.