Where Middle Eastern Tradition Meets Rap, Rave, Punk, and Experimental Sound
SAMUUM is an American-Armenian art-rap collective founded by filmmaker and musician Ando Berberian and singer Lusine Kocharian. The project brings together Middle Eastern influences, Armenian musical heritage, rap, rave, punk, and ethnic melodies to create a sound that is both unconventional and immediately recognizable.
At the center of SAMUUM’s work is a strong visual and conceptual identity. Music, filmmaking, performance, and storytelling come together to explore themes of femininity, freedom, cultural identity, gender inequality, and life in post-traumatic realities. The project approaches Middle Eastern culture from an intentionally contemporary perspective, creating space for both celebration and criticism.
A Distinctive Sound and Visual Language
SAMUUM’s music moves between Armenian, English, and Middle Eastern influences, combining electronic production and alternative genres with traditional melodic ideas. The result is a sound built around contrast: familiar cultural references placed inside unexpected musical environments.
Visual storytelling is equally central to the project. SAMUUM’s music videos create surreal worlds that examine social realities through symbolism, movement, and cinematic imagery. The collective’s visual work has received international recognition, including awards at the Berlin Music Video Awards.
Coffee Cup Reading (Yaman, Pt. 2) explores anxiety, uncertainty, and the search for reassurance during unstable times. The song draws on the Middle Eastern tradition of reading coffee grounds as a form of prediction and comfort, turning an everyday ritual into a reflection on uncertainty and survival.
Coffee Cup Reading (Yaman, Pt. 2)
The music video for “Coffee Cup Reading (Yaman, Pt. 2)” was filmed by Ando Berberian and Alisa Zolonz, the creative duo behind SAMUUM’s visual work. Set in a typical Middle Eastern city, the video follows a group of girls moving through the streets while an unsettling sense of surveillance builds around them. The girls appear in “thermal mode,” eventually revealing that they are being tracked by a drone, creating an atmosphere where everyday life exists alongside the possibility of constant danger.
The visual reflects the song’s exploration of anxiety and uncertainty, while also capturing the energy and resilience of youth. Against a backdrop of instability, the girls continue moving forward, holding onto the belief that somewhere beyond the chaos, a better future and a different destiny are possible.
The visual also draws on the song’s central idea of coffee cup reading as a familiar ritual of finding comfort and guidance during uncertain times. By placing this everyday practice alongside imagery of surveillance and potential danger, the video creates a contrast between ordinary moments and the larger anxieties surrounding them. The result is a visual representation of the song’s themes of uncertainty, self-soothing, resilience, and the desire for a future beyond the chaos.
SAMUUM’s work has received coverage from outlets including Clash Magazine, Headliner US, Kaltblut, Fred Perry Subculture, and Louder Than War. Music videos including Maria and Asel have received international recognition, with Maria placing at the Berlin Music Video Awards in 2021 and Asel winning Best Concept at the 2023 Berlin Music Video Awards.
Live performance is another important part of the project, with SAMUUM presenting an immersive show designed around the intensity of the music and visual world. The collective’s first performances took place at Dubai Expo, including appearances on the Sun Stage and Earth Stage.
