About

Analog Armenia is an archival cassette project dedicated to the preservation and celebration of Armenian cassettes. The platform is an open-access digital archive that hosts a range of digitised recordings - spanning music, poetry, radio broadcasts, and tape letters - alongside written features related to Armenian music across the globe. It serves as an informative resource that safeguards intangible heritage, including endangered dialects, traditional and contemporary musical practices, folk songs, and records of past cultural, political, and community events.

The project values the materiality of the nearly obsolete analogue format, which holds rich layers of heritage. In the face of ongoing cultural erasure - and in recognition of how much has been lost since the genocide and the massacres preceding it - Analog Armenia underscores the importance of documentation in preserving truths that might one day be forgotten.

Founded by Olivia Melkonian, an audio producer and sound archivist, the project continues her long-standing work in Armenian cultural preservation through creative mediums - primarily audio. With a background in music and production, and years of family-focused sonic archival projects, Analog Armenia unites these practices to platform and preserve Armenian music and sound globally.

The project encourages collective contribution through archival and digitisation workshops held in various diaspora hubs and in Armenia. By equipping communities with the resources and skills to preserve their own sonic materials, and by sharing equipment and expertise, Analog Armenia fosters sustainable, community-led preservation efforts.

A key principle of Analog Armenia is to avoid hoarding or centralising all existing materials; instead, the archive is designed as a place of collective contribution and discovery, to be accessed and explored both in person and online via its dual physical–digital platform. Through digitisation and collective contribution, individuals can maintain ownership of their cassettes while still sharing and preserving their materials, ensuring their stories and sounds remain accessible for future generations.

Disclaimer: The cassettes on this platform are provided for educational, historical and archival purposes. We aim to preserve and share Armenian music and cultural materials. This project is non-commercial and not-for-profit. All materials are shared for educational, research and cultural preservation purposes only, and no commercial gain is intended. All audio materials featured in the archive remain the property of their respective copyright holders. We do not claim ownership of any music, recordings, or media content unless explicitly stated. If you are a copyright owner and would like your work removed from the archive, please contact us and we will promptly address your concerns.