New York Oud Festival Day 7 | Armadi Tsayn, Huda Asfour

The New York Oud Festival is a multi-day, multi-venue music festival that displays the oud and its versatility as it exists in New York's diverse musical culture. Celebrating the oud and demonstrating why the oud continues to be one of the world's most beloved instruments, the final night of the festival returns to Joe's Pub for its third year.

In this unplugged version of her latest solo project “Naqous,” Huda Asfour places the spoken word at the heart of the musical experience. Through oud, voice, and looping, Huda explores repetition as both memory and resistance: what returns, what insists, and what refuses to disappear. For when the storm won’t stop and all logic fails, an invitation to stand true and hold space. More of a testimony, less of a concert. A catharsis. A prayer for clarity amid the chaos.

Contemporary Armenian Folk ensemble Armadi Tsayn will be performing a number of original compositions, alongside a few classical pieces from the Anatolian region. The group is led by oud player and composer, Samuel Sjostedt, and includes Alek Surenian on percussion, Filippo Novi-Goller on bass, and Mehrpouya Daneshvar on clarinet. Mixing nodes of Jazz and Western classical, Armadi Tsayn invites listeners to experience a program that takes shapes of multiple generational sounds in real time.

Huda Asfour photo credit: Sachyn Mital
Armadi Tsayn photo courtesy of the artists.

NY Oud Festival Website
Huda Asfour Website
Armadi Tsayn Website