Deleyaman was founded by the American multi-instrumentalist Aret Madilian, French singer Beatrice Valantin and French-Armenian duduk player Gerard Madilian.
“The first alternative band to have included the ancient wind instrument the duduk in their permanent line-up,
Deleyaman’s musical influences are vast and their sound difficult to pigeon-hole into a single genre.”
HISTORY
In the fall of 2000 Aret Madilian, Beatrice Valantin and Gerard Madilian, recorded what was to become Deleyaman’s debut album in Aret Madilian’s home-studio in Normandy, France where he had moved from Los Angeles, California.
The album entitled 00/1 was released in September 11, 2001 on TTO Records in the U.S. and on a french music label Editions Nech for Europe. Though it went largely unnoticed, except within the french underground music scene mainly represented by magazines and webzines such as Elegy, D-Side, Obsküre, Guts of Darkness, Twice, Premonition, Indiepoprock, it was a ground-breaking album in its own right.
00/1 was entirely sang by Aret and Beatrice in literary armenian, inspired by the ancient existential poetry of minstrels. Gerard integrated a 3000 year old caucasian wind instrument called the duduk into most of the album’s tracks alongside synthesizers, sampled instruments, bass and percussions.
The following albums entitled Second and 3 which were released in 2003 and 2006 by the Parisian music label Editions Nech, further confirmed the band’s unique music.
Beatrice who’d sang the background vocals of the first album naturally became the front woman of Deleyaman sharing the vocal duties with Aret.
Gerard’s unique style on the duduk, Aret’s deep and soothing timbre and Beatrice’s ethereal vocals which were sang and recorded as introspective incantations gave these albums their dark, somber tone.
Furthermore, both albums introduced tracks sung in english and other languages.
(armenian, swedish, turkish). The sampled rhythms of the first album were replaced by a swedish female drummer, Mia Bjorlingsson, who’d joined the line-up in 2001 following the release of Deleyaman’s debut album.
Between 2005 and 2007 Deleyaman performed live in small venues in Paris and they were regulars at an off the wall club located in the Parisian suburb of Pantin called La Menuiserie. Following the release of their third album 3, Deleyaman was invited to tour Armenia in 2007 by the Naregatsi Art Institute. A non-profit cultural foundation for the arts whose founder Nareg Hartounian, had been a fan of the band. The following year, Deleyaman performed in the U.S. playing in several venues and theaters in California in the spring of 2008.
In 2009 the band signed with the Portuguese label Equilibrium Music, a label specializing in dark folk, ambient and industrial music and released Fourth, part one. The album revealed a subtle shift in direction for the band. The tracks on the album were mainly sung in english with the exception of three songs sung in French and in Armenian.
The lyrics were for the most part inspired by the transcendentalist and beatnik american poets.
The band also collaborated with French-American guitarist Ara Duzian who was invited to record two tracks on the album. The sound of the band remained centered around the voices of Aret, Beatrice and the duduk of Gerard.
Nils Valdes a graphic designer joined the ranks taking on the full time duties of designing the band’s album artwork.
The more notable gigs during this period were at a venue called De Piek in Vlissingen and a concert featuring Arcana, Deleyaman and Fairydae at the St. Stevenskerk cathedral in Nijmegen, both in the Netherlands in June of 2010.
The following album Fourth, part two was released in 2011 on Equilibrium Music in Europe and TTO Records in the U.S..
The subtle changes of the previous release were confirmed on Fourth, part two . Synthesizers and string arrangements gave way to the guitars of Ara Duzian who’d joined Deleyaman for these recordings, before leaving the band in June 2011.
in 2011, Deleyaman announced a series of U.S. concerts which were performed In April and May of 2012. The band played eight shows in venues and theaters across Los Angeles and a show at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art in Santa Ana, California.
Following these gigs, Deleyaman returned to Europe to start the recording sessions of a new album.
in March 2013, the band returned briefly to the U.S. as a duo and played in the cities of Portland, San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Long Beach, Los Angeles and Santa Ana. These shows were performed with Aret Madilian on guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals and Beatrice Valantin on keyboards and vocals alongside sequenced drum tracks.
The band’s sixth album, The Edge, containing 13 tracks was released on July 4, 2014. The Edge was particularly well received by music critics throughout Europe and was listed in “The most important listen of the week” column of the notable German weekly Der Spiegel.
Following its release, Deleyaman performed a handful of gigs in California.
In 2015, drummer Mia Bjorlingsson left the band after moving to the Netherlands.
In autumn 2015, Deleyaman began the recordings of The lover, The stars & The citadel.
The album was recorded between October 2015 and June 2016 at Kurna Hata, the band’s studio in Normandy, France. It included contributions from Brendan Perry of Dead Can Dance, guesting on two of the album’s tracks. The CD format of the album was released on November 2016. A limited vinyl edition was released in April 2017.
In 2017, The french actress and director Fanny Ardant who had been a fan of the band, included two tracks from Deleyaman’s Second album on the soundtrack of her film Le Divan de Staline.
Also in 2017, Deleyaman’s cover version of Bir sana bir de bana, originally written by the psychedelic-oriental dub band BaBa ZuLa, appeared in BaBa ZuLa’s 20th anniversary album XX released in January 2017 on Glitterbeat records.
In 2018, Guillaume Leprevost former bass player of the french band Nellcote joined Deleyaman, taking on bass and guitar duties.
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* October 2018 - Deleyaman & Jules Maxwell toured Ireland and the UK playing in Limerick, Galway, Lisdoonvarna, Carlow, Dublin, Dundalk and Portaferry, an instore performance at Bending Sound Records in Bangor as well as guesting on BBC Radio Ulster’s John Toal show.
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*2019 - Dead Can Dance covered the song Autumn Sun by Deleyaman including it in the setlist of their European Tour : Dead Can Dance A Celebration - Life & Works 1980 - 2019.
The album includes ten tracks and contributions from guests ; Brendan Perry (Dead Can Dance), Madalina Obreja and Jules Maxwell (Dead Can Dance, Lisa Gerrard)
*2021 - On January 29, 2021 Deleyaman and iconic french actress Fanny Ardant performed a live-stream concert-reading at the Maison de la Poésie in Paris around the essay “Our need for consolation is insatiable” by Stig Dagerman.
*2022 - On January 14, 2022 Deleyaman and Fanny Ardant performed a concert-reading at Trianon Transatlantique in Rouen, France.
