System Of A Down vocalist explains recent collab with Armenian Prime Minister

System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian has spoken out explaining the thoughts behind the song ‘Hayastane’ – his collab with the Armenian Prime Minister – that was released in late April.

Only a few months ago, System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian released some new music that was a bit different than the metal sounds of SOAD – he collaborated with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to create ‘Hayastane’, which translates into the Armenian name for ‘Armenia’.

Speaking with television personality Araksya Karapetyan, Tankian spoke of how the track came about, noting that it stems from the past of his home country, Armenia.

“The [2018 Armenian] Revolution happened, and the new government got in and the new parliament got in,” he began. “A couple of months after the Revolution, I brought my family back to Armenia with me, ’cause when I had gone there in early May of 2018, I went alone with a few friends, and then I wanted to take my family back.

“I was hanging out with the prime minister, talking to him about different things. I played him an Armenian song that I had written, which was very sad.”

Noting that the song was based around his experiences in 2017 amid a rigged parliamentary election, the System Of A Down vocalist explained, “I had gone with a number of artist friends as part of an organisation we created called Justice Within Armenia. We were monitors — we were trained to be monitors and go from different voting booths and seeing what was going on.”

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Catching up with the one and only @serjtankian! It took a lot of coordinating but we made it work! He is in New Zealand (19 hour time difference) We chatted about COVID, life, Armenia, music, family — and our important work for @mystepfoundation. Serj is a Board member in Armenia and I am happy to announce I am now a board member for My Step in the United States. The organization is doing some incredible work in Armenia — changing so many people’s lives.
A post shared by Araksya Karapetyan (@araksyakarapetyan) on Jun 30, 2020 at 4:43pm PDT

He then noted that moment in time to be a “depressing trip” because upon leaving Armenia, he thought that nothing had changed.

“Nothing’s changing. Nothing’s going to change. It’s gonna take another 20 years, like everyone thought — just in that deep state of not feeling well about things.

“I wrote that song. And he listened to it, and he said, ‘You know what? We have so many melancholic songs in our history. A lot of them are melancholic. Let’s write one that’s positive and victorious.’ I’m, like, ‘I’m with you. You write the lyrics, I’ll do the music.'”

Soon after, the Armenian Prime Minister had the lyrics to ‘Hayastane’ written, and Tankian stated that he “sat down, grabbed my acoustic guitar, worked on it, sent it to him for notes, and we just [went] back and forth with notes until it was done.

“So we basically co-wrote the song, and it was really fun, it was really cool. So when the COVID thing just started happening, I was in New Zealand; obviously, he is in Armenia. And I hit him up. I said, ‘I think the song is done. Should we make a video and just release it and maybe donate the funds to My Step?’ And he said, ‘What a phenomenal idea. Thank you.’ And that’s what we did.”

The foundation they donated the funds to is called the My Step Foundation, which according to Tankian is an “amazing charity that is spearheading many meaningful initiatives within Armenia focusing on public health, education, culture, social welfare, environment along with other sectors in need, including the current crisis surrounding COVID-19.”