The Armenian Street Festival returns for a 9th edition between August 1 and 3, 2025, in the \u201cDimitrie Br\u00e2ndz\u0103\u201d Botanical Garden in Bucharest. The festival brings into focus the living heritage of the Armenian community in Romania and the diaspora.<\/p>\n
According to the organizers, this year\u2019s edition aims to strengthen the Bucharest\u2013Chi\u0219in\u0103u\u2013Yerevan cultural axis, articulated through an artistic program featuring major international names from Armenia, the Republic of Moldova, and Romania, as well as exhibitions, workshops, gastronomy, and intergenerational dialogues.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor three days, the Botanical Garden becomes an open space where Armenian traditions meet the contemporary energies of the city. The festival maintains its polyphonic structure, where concerts blend with craftsmanship, memory with improvisation, and ritual with artistic experiment. The public will hear voices that unite past and present: from legendary brass bands to urban poetry musicians, from songs of longing to rhythms that transcend language barriers,\u201d the press release notes.<\/p>\n
Among the performing artists and bands are Moldova\u2019s famous punk folk band Zdob \u0219i Zdub and the Osoianu Sisters, but also Romania\u2019s Cioc\u00e2rlia Fanfare, the more modern Robin and the Backstabbers, and the old-school Corina S\u00eerghi & Taraf.<\/p>\n
The Bambir, from Armenia, will also perform. The band is a national rock legend which started in the 1970s. Their music is a synthesis of progressive rock, Armenian ethno, jazz, and poetry. Founded by Jag Barseghyan, the project was passed to the next generation \u2013 his son Narek and his bandmates \u2013 becoming one of the most enduring and fascinating intergenerational projects in the post-Soviet space.<\/p>\n
They are joined by co-nationals Gata Band, which focuses on ethnic jazz reinterpreted. Founded by musicians trained at the Yerevan Conservatory, Gata Band uses traditional instruments like duduk<\/em>, kanon<\/em>, dap<\/em>, and dhol<\/em>, contorting them into sophisticated harmonic structures inspired by modal and progressive jazz. They\u2019ve performed in France, Germany, Lebanon, Georgia, and appeared in UNESCO-curated projects.<\/p>\n