Zulal Armenian A Capella Folk Trio- Zulal (Self Produced)

*** (Three Stars)

In certain Armenian music listening circles, Zulal Armenian A Cappella Folk Trio’s self titled album Zulal was the most anticipated independent release of 2004. On the heels of 18 months of touring and a long winded recording process, we finally can hear on CD what people have been talking about after their concert performances. Consisting of 12 Armenian Folk songs sung in the A Cappella style, what Anais Tekerian, Teni Apelian, and Yeraz Markarian have created here is a smartly arranged and clear collection of tunes that breathes new life into these well worn or underappreciated Armenian classics. This is no easy task going the pure a capella route as there is potentially a lot of room to mess up this repertoire. Though the album is admittedly uneven at times, Zulal gets through each piece with a remarkable conviction and focus in what they are singing and manage to thrill the listener in standout tracks such as “Ghapama” and “Zinch Oo Zinch”. There are other moments of majestic beauty in tracks such as “Es Gisher” and “Ari Im Soghak” that really define what this ensemble is all about. Zulal matches the intensity and intelligence they bring on stage live in concert. It will be interesting to see how they move forward from this very strong debut album. Thus, we all wait again.