Armenian-American Lara Sarkissian is a sound design artist, film composer, DJ and producer. In her home city of San Francisco, Sarkissian is one of the founders of Club Chai (alongside 8ulentina), a curatorial project, label and monthly radio show that began in 2016 and focuses on the artistic hybridization of non-western sounds with contemporary western culture. Under her own name, Sarkissian’s music focuses on original productions and sound collage techniques to document the emotive, tragic histories of Armenia and its music – from folk dance and classical to revolutionary and religious – with her own field recordings and sampling of online material and traditional Armenian instruments. As part of Club Chai, Sarkissian goes by the artist name Foozool, producing forward-thinking club-focused edits and remixes while working to build a platform for people to share non-western stories and identities through sounds and multimedia.
