Zola Jesus shares new Bandcamp exclusive single "Krunk". All proceeds go to the Armenia Fund.
This Bandcamp Friday, Zola Jesus shares a cover of an Armenian folk standard, “Krunk,” initially as a Bandcamp exclusive single with proceeds going towards the Armenia Fund and their efforts to provide humanitarian aid during the ongoing conflict with Azerbaijan.
Zola speaks on the new single:
“I first heard the song ‘Krunk’ (Crane) while listening to a collection of songs sung by Lousine Zakarian, a renowned Armenian soprano. Her recording was so devastatingly beautiful, it spoke to me on many levels.
The song evoked so much yearning and sadness, yet at the same time it felt so delicate, like her voice could lift off and fly away. It felt like the purest expression of the ineffable Armenian Soul.
I never thought I’d be able to do the song justice, and I still don’t, but the song is so meaningful to me that performing it became a compulsion.
Once I heard about the crisis happening in Artsakh, my heart really pained for the Armenian people.
They have survived genocides, wars, battles for autonomy and independence, and now this — fighting to reclaim a sacred place that represents so much of their ancient heritage and resilience.
I wanted to honor and pay my support to the Armenian Soul, and to acknowledge all the lives tragically lost this year in the war with Azerbaijan.
Proceeds of this song will go to the Armenian Fund, to help support the needs of civilians on the ground in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh.)”
Nika Roza Danilova has been recording and performing as Zola Jesus for more than a decade. As a classically trained opera singer with a penchant for noisy, avant-garde sounds, she launched her career with a series of lo-fi releases that pitted her soaring vocals against harsh industrial clatter and hittery synths. The signature Zola Jesus sound became more hi-fi as she began to explore her own skewed vision of pop music on releases like Stridulum, Valusia, and Conatus. Her latest full-length Okovi was released in 2017 to rave reviews from Pitchfork, Under the Radar, and AllMusic to name a few. Earlier this year Zola’s stand out set from Roadburn 2018 was released as a live record, available here.