A few years after a first success as stunning as it was unexpected, carried by the Armenian diaspora, the Lille duo Ladaniva will represent Armenia during Eurovision in May. For the artists, however, participating was not obvious.
Born in Lille in 2019, the group is made up of singer Jaklin Baghdasaryan, Armenian by birth but raised in Belarus, and Louis Thomas, multi-instrumentalist from Lille. They were far from imagining that one day they would find themselves wearing the colors of Armenia.
Jaklin Baghdasaryan, 26, arrived at the age of 20 in Tourcoing (North),
“in search of freedom and a better life, without speaking a word of French
,” she said during a interview with AFP.
I don’t even speak Armenian that well!”
During an improvisation session, she met Louis Thomas, who was touched by her voice. Travels follow, notably to Reunion or South America, on the trail of
“world music”
(traditional Armenian singing, maloya, reggae, etc.) which merge in their repertoire. In 2019, they recorded a cover of an
“old Armenian song”
and uploaded it to YouTube
“on the fly, without premeditation”
.
“I watched Eurovision when I was little with my mother”
Thanks to word of mouth, the number of views takes off. Armenian diasporas from all countries come together in the comments section to encourage them.
“So, we tinkered a bit. I wrote my first text, we put a composition online
,” remembers Jaklin Baghdasaryan.
Quickly, the clip accumulated millions of views, was shown on Armenian television, and found itself in all flavors on TikTok in France, Russia, and Armenia.
“It was totally surreal
,” breathes Louis Thomas, 36 years old.
As soon as the confinement ended, we found ourselves signed to a label (the independent label PIAS, Editor's note), playing at Trans Musicales (in Rennes) and at Printemps de Bourges
.
In 2022, the Armenian national television operator AMPTV offers them the opportunity to represent the country at Eurovision.
“I watched Eurovision when I was little with my mother
,” recalls Jalkin Baghdasaryan.
For my family, it is the success of my life. We couldn't agree on the song. We agreed that it would be more pop than usual but we wanted it to remain our song.”
It will be necessary to try it three times for the idea to come to fruition, in 2024. It is true that the group's repertoire falls quite far from the aesthetics of the competition organized this year in Sweden.
Outsiders of the competition
“Online, a lot of people call us 'the dark horses' (the outsiders, editor's note) of the competition
,” laughs the singer, while the duo is ranked 17th by the bookmakers, according to the website eurovisionworld.com , behind the Swiss favorite Nemo and the Frenchman Slimane (6th).
Faithful to the spontaneity and joie de vivre of their beginnings, Ladaniva calmly approaches the competition.
“It’s a little stressful but, at the time, you don’t think about it,”
remarks Jaklin Baghdasaryan.
You are like a bull in the arena, you charge. And then Armenians love Eurovision
.
When they come to encourage us at the end of the concerts, we feel that they want us to win more than we do!”
“We go there without any hassle, to share a good time”
, assures Louis Thomas, more excited by their project of album of covers of traditional songs
“rather stripped down, minimalist”
, far from the glitter of the competition.
In a competition traditionally loaded with political weight - as evidenced by the controversies over the participation of Russia after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 or of Israel, in war against Hamas in Gaza, in 2024 - and then that Armenia and Azerbaijan are opposed in a territorial conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, they however refuse to see themselves as
“representatives”
.
“Being there, singing in my native language, it’s already a way of speaking
,” says Jalkin Baghdasaryan. As for Louis Thomas, he describes the moment as
“surreal”
but also
“an honor”
.