Haig Papazian
Haig Papazian is a Lebanese-Armenian multidisciplinary artist, composer, and architect born in Beirut and currently based out of New York. He is a founding member and violinist of Lebanese pop band Mashrou' Leila.
Papazian has been featured on the cover of the Middle East edition of Rolling Stone magazine as part of Mashrou' Leila., as well as GQ Middle East, Jdeed Magazine, CitizenK Arabia, and My.Kali the first Jordanian LGBTQ magazine.
Early life and education
Papazian was born in Bourj Hammoud in 1986 in the Armenian neighbourhood east of Beirut, Lebanon. Growing up in the Armenian diasporic community in Lebanon, Papazian was drawn to art and music at a very early age. He joined Hamazkayin Armenian Cultural center and Music School where he first started to play the violin. Years later, while studying architecture at the American University of Beirut Papazian founded the band Mashrou' Leila.Career
Architecture
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 has received several academic awards including the Fawzi Azar Architecture prize in 2008 after winning an academic architectural competition designing a museum in Beirut. He is also the recipient of The Penrose Award for scholarship and leadership, and the Distinguished Graduate Award for outstanding academic achievement, character, as well as contribution to the department and to university life and the Said Foundation and British Lebanese Association scholarship to study in the UK. Papazian interned at Atelier Jean Nouvel in 2008 working on the Louvre Abou Dhabi Museum, and after graduating from AUB, he worked as a junior architect at Bernard Khoury DW5 Architecture in Beirut.Mashrou' Leila
Papazian founded Mashrou' Leila, a Lebanese band whose electro-pop anthems about political freedom, race, gender and modern Arabic identity have challenged the status quo of the Middle-Eastern music industry.Papazian, Hamed Sinno, Carl Gerges and Firas Abou Fakher form the current lineup of the band. Mashrou Leila was formed in 2008 at the American University of Beirut, when Papazian, the violinist, posted with guitarist Andre Chedid, and pianist Omaya Malaeb a music workshop invite for students at the department of architecture and Design looking to jam and write original music in Arabic. aside from writing, composing and playing the violin on stage with the band, Papazian was managing the online social media presence of the band, and was involved in the artistic direction of the band's image, communication, and visuals.
Alongside Mashrou Leila, Papazian taught a graduate workshop at the Hagop Kevorkian Institute for Near Eastern Studies at NYU as part of Mashrou' Leila. and also collaborated with notable artists like Roisin Murphy, Joe Goddard, Brian Eno, and Yo Yo Ma.
In 2019, prior to the pandemic, Papazian performed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of British artist Oliver Beer's Vessel Orchestra Exhibition alongside several notable artists including, Nico Muhly.