Krikor Kouchian

Self-taught musician and composer Krikor Kouchian has accumulated 25 years of practice, specialising in acousmatic music and CAO at Conservatoire Georges Bizet in Paris until 2007. His skilful performances and improvisations thrill crowds at electronic music festivals worldwide (Mutek, Ars Electronica, Villette Sonique, etc.). Kouchian has over fifty recordings to his name and has released around a dozen albums on French, English and Japanese labels, including several original soundtracks.

In addition to his hybrid creative work, Krikor Kouchian works as a technician for other visual artists and creators (e.g. Fallen Man by Jun Takahashi, in collaboration with Damien Jalet) and experiments with circuit bending: customisation of the electronic devices he uses in his performances. Kouchian is a regular collaborator with Ableton and has created free visual instruments for the platform. His expertise and experimental verve are recognised by manufacturers including Oto Machines in France, Korg and Yamaha in Japan.

Krikor Kouchian’s Kunio no Tamashii is a process in three acts, in which the traditional Japanese biwa meets electronic hacking. By amplifying the inaudible in this “augmented” instrument and through study of the Villa’s acoustic space, Kouchian set out to fuse traditional instrumentation techniques with the invisible world of electromagnetic waves. In addition to discovering new playing techniques, he composed a piece derived from the traditional style of Biwa composition. Thirdly, he digitally transcribed these architectural acoustic landscapes into a virtual tool; an “audio imprint” which anyone can use to compose and record their own music.

Krikor Kouchian_Live@Francetelevision_2016

Krikor Kouchian_Redbullmusic 2018 Belleville Studio_credit Sarah Bastin

Krikor Kouchian_45t BIG LOVE Records Tokyo_2020

Krikor Kouchian_Audio VIdeo LIVE SETUP-CentreGPompidou_2019