Haig Papazian

Did You Know?

• Papazian started playing the violin at the Hamazkayin Armenian Cultural center and Music School.
• He was born in the Armenian neighbourhood of Bourj Hammoud east of Beirut.
• He was featured on the cover of GQ Middle East, Jdeed Magazine, CitizenK Arabia, and My.Kali.

Career

Papazian holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the American University of Beirut and a Masters in Architectural History from The Bartlett School of Architecture at UCL. He received the Fawzi Azar Architecture prize in 2008 for winning an academic competition designing a museum in Beirut, as well as the Penrose Award, the Distinguished Graduate Award, and a Said Foundation and British Lebanese Association scholarship. Papazian founded Mashrou' Leila, a Lebanese band whose electro-pop anthems about political freedom, race, gender, and modern Arabic identity challenged the status quo of the Middle-Eastern music industry. The current lineup includes Papazian, Hamed Sinno, Carl Gerges, and Firas Abou Fakher. The band formed in 2008 at the American University of Beirut when Papazian posted a music workshop invite for students in the architecture and design department. Besides writing, composing, and playing violin, Papazian managed the band's online social media presence and was involved in artistic direction of its image, communication, and visuals. He taught a graduate workshop at the Hagop Kevorkian Institute for Near Eastern Studies at NYU as part of Mashrou' Leila and collaborated with artists including Roisin Murphy, Joe Goddard, Brian Eno, and Yo Yo Ma. In 2019, Papazian performed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of Oliver Beer's Vessel Orchestra Exhibition alongside Nico Muhly and others.