Rising Like a Phoenix

Walk into the right basement on a Friday night, and you’ll see something that doesn’t happen anywhere else in Armenia - a drag show. Gigi Aries is a drag queen, and she and her friends have been busy. A few years ago, you couldn’t see drag anywhere, but now there are monthly shows with lines around the block. There’s still a huge divide between what you can do at these underground events, and what is acceptable on the streets of Yerevan. But Gigi believes that drag can change Armenia.

Click here to see Gigi Aries online.

Transcript

It’s Friday night and we’re in a basement bar called Portal underneath Yerevan. The event is a bit secretive - to get in we had to sign up on a list and have our IDs checked. And we’re watching something that doesn’t happen anywhere else in Armenia - a drag show.

From the stage we hear “Are you ready bitch? Can I see GG Aries? Make some noise!”

In front of us, drag queen Gigi Aries is in a skin-tight corset and ripped black tights. There’s no stage - we’re all just on the dance floor with her, and everyone has to step back to not get hit as she does flips into the middle of the crowd. People are pumped

As she finishes, there’s a line of hands that go up holding up one-thousand dram bills as a tip. She shouts “Ոնց ա տրամադրությունը!” (“How are you all doing!”) into the crowd.

Gigi, and a half-dozen other drag artists, have been performing regular shows here at Portal.

But, it’s closing, which means this will be their last show until they can find another space - it’s just really hard to find a venue to host queer events in Yerevan.

Drag shows have gotten more common in Armenia, and they are thrilling to watch. It’s amazing to see people here open and uninhibited. But there is still this wall between these carefree underground shows and what’s acceptable out on the streets of Yerevan. Even so, Gigi herself is passionate about drag: It has changed her life, and she believes it can change Armenia.

Welcome to Country of Dust, stories of a changing Armenia

This episode - “Rising Like a Phoenix”

I’m Jeremy Dalmas.


GIGI AND NAREK

Gigi and her friends have big ideas. Even if, for now,  they’re still underground and thrifty

“If you gave me a budget,” she says, “I would have fireworks, I would have backup dancers, I would have designer clothes, all of that. We're all crazy, like we are. I'm telling you, we're insane. And when we have money, you will understand that.” She laughs.

Gigi has been doing drag for about a year and a half

“Which is considered like a baby queen within any drag community.”

So she says that she’s still defining her drag persona. But other people, like fellow drag artist Lady Die, already have a description of her.

“I have noticed that a lot of people tell me that I'm like a middle aged woman when I'm in drag. Like Lady Die once said, ‘How do you manage to go into a dressing room as yourself and leave as a middle aged woman who has seen a lot in life - but still got it.’ It's part of Gigi, but I don't want to be in that box the whole time.”

Gigi’s name when not in drag is Narek. Narek is 22 - far from middle aged. Narek is also more reserved than Gigi and takes more time to open up.

“When I get into a room of people, I'm going to try to find out who's who and what I should do and what I should not do.”

But that all melts away when Narek is Gigi Aries. Gigi can be a bit intimidating because she is so confident and cool and in control.

“She doesn't think as much before talking as I do. Drag kind of gives you the privilege to be a little rude because people are like, ‘Oh, that's so funny!’ There have been instances when I said something to people when I was in drag, and the next day I was like, ‘I should probably apologize for that.’ Like a remark, like a little spicy remark. The next day when I cool off, I'm like, I should probably, like, call that person and be like, ‘That wasn't me, that was her!’”


KARGIN HAGHORDUM, EUROVISION AND LILIT MARTIROSYAN

Narek grew up in Gyumri, the second biggest city in Armenia and one of the most conservative. It is not an easy place to be queer, or to figure out that you are queer. The first time Narek saw anything even close to drag was on TV.

“We don't talk about this but - both for millennials and for Gen Z - a part of our teenage hood or childhood has been a sketch show called Kargin Haghordum. Everyone has seen it, everyone loves it.”

It was a comedy show that featured men dressing up as women as a joke.

“The main two actors of the sketch show were two best friends who would play basically all the roles. And some of them were female roles. And we would see them in wigs in makeup doing female roles.”

The comedians weren’t trying to bend or critique traditional ideas about gender, which is what a drag artist does. They were just making old-fashioned, stereotypical jokes about women. But - they were men, on TV, dressed as women.

For Narek it was a precursor to the first time he saw a proper drag performance - which was when he was 12.

“The breaking point was Eurovision 2014, which had the winner, Conchita Wurst, with the song ‘Rise Like a Phoenix.’”

Conchita Wurst is a bearded drag queen from Austria, and her performance was a big deal at the time. If you don’t know Eurovision, it’s a song competition between a bunch of different countries. It’s like the Olympics of European pop music. When Conchita Wurst won, she told the world it was, “a victory for those people who believe in a future that can function without discrimination.”

There had been other drag queens who performed at Eurovision before.

“But she won,” says Narek, “and sparked a lot of conversation in conservative countries and everywhere.”

There was backlash. Armenia’s entry in Eurovision that year was the musician Aram MP3. He said that Conchita Wurst’s gay lifestyle was, “not natural” and that she should decide if she was a man or a woman.

“Obviously my classmates were making fun of her, and I was also making fun of her. But deep down I was very intrigued. I was like, I do not understand how a bearded woman can be beautiful, and I want to find out. And also, why is the song so good? The song was so good, you guys!”

Five years later, in 2019, there was this moment where queerness became a front page issue in Armenia and it didn’t have anything to do with drag. A transgender woman named Lilit Martirosyan made a speech to Parliament. She talked about the discrimination that the trans community faces in Armenia.

“That woman put her name in stone of Armenian queer history. And, obviously, protests followed it. There was public outrage but nothing can change the fact that that speech made a statement.”

Narek was 17 at the time and he could barely believe what he saw.

“I wasn't out to my mom, but I got so excited I called her, I was like, ‘Have you seen this trans woman who gave a speech on the TV? Isn't it exciting?’ And she was like, ‘Yeah, but why does that matter to you? What does that have to do with anything with us?’ And I was like, ‘Nothing, just cool.’”

After that, he told her that LGBT people were treated unfairly in Armenia. Then his mom started asking questions.

“And she just straight up asked me, ‘What's the reason behind you defending them?’ And I was like, ‘I am one of them.’ Um, I was hoping she was going to go well and in a supportive environment, but it didn't really. We have some disagreements in our value systems, but we coexist as a mother and son. She doesn't know a lot about my life, and there is a lot of miscommunication happening because I have to hide parts of me. But, I'm glad that didn't stop me from loving myself.”

For college, Narek moved to Yerevan and soon he started spending time at Pink Armenia - an LGBT community center and NGO. That is where Gigi Aries was born. 

“The way you get introduced to a queer community here is because of NGO community centers.”

That’s because they’re just safe places for queer people to come together.
 
Narek was hired to work there and on his first day he found out that there actually used to be drag here in Armenia.

“On the same day, another person was hired who happened to be someone who did drag in Armenia a few years ago. And I did not know there was drag in Armenia. So she told me about it and showed pictures.”

For Narek - it was a revelation. That new friend went by the drag name Leona Love Vodka-House:

“And I was like, ‘Why did you stop? Do you not want to like, restart doing it?’ And she didn't really want to, but I sort of pushed her. And she was like, ‘Do you want to be a part of it?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I guess, sure!’

Narek was in. They started planning the resurgence of Armenian drag.


HISTORY OF DRAG IN ARMENIA

But how had drag started in Armenia? And where had it gone?

Well, way way back in the 1990s, basically the stone age, there was this performer named Aslan who did real drag on public TV. Aslan performed as this famous Russian pop star named Alla Pugacheva and is probably the first public drag performer in Armenia.

Later, in 2004, there was a group of half-a-dozen friends that did drag at a bar called Melineh’s. For several years they had regular shows. At their peak, they did a couple every month. And, because this was before YouTube, they learned about drag by going to see shows in Moscow - yes in Russia. Things have changed.

But eventually different people took over running Melineh’s bar, and the drag shows stopped. No drag-friendly-space meant no drag. They tried to find a new venue that was queer-friendly, but couldn’t. No one from back then still does drag and a lot of those performers actually went back into the closet.

A decade after that group of drag performers - there was the next group around 2016. This is the community that Narek's new friend Leona had been a part of.

“They had a club called Mi Morena, which was a very supportive space.”

They were over-the-top and, as Narek describes them, messy.

“Messy in a good way. Like, messy in a fun way.”

That group performed for a few years, then stopped for a couple reasons.

“The club got shut down. That was a big reason. But also some of them moved out of Armenia.”

That’s common, queer people often leave Armenia. For some it's hard to see a future here.

Without that friendly space, and without those few people putting in the hard work of organizing shows, there just wasn’t a drag scene. At least until Narek and his friends came along.

“So it stopped altogether and needed new heroes to bring it back.”


FIRST SHOW

They decided it was time to resurrect drag in Armenia. There was a big event coming up, Pink Armenia’s 15th birthday. That would be their first show.

“Which was December 14th of 2022. Which is a historical date for us.”

It would be the world premiere of Gigi Aries.

Performing with Gigi, and Leona Love Vodkahouse, was their new crew:

“Remi Gelathoe, who is a very conceptual drag artist. We have Lady Die who is, I believe, the first cisgender woman who does drag in Armenia. And Frigate Bordeaux, which is the best drag name I've heard in my lifetime. So that was the initial group of rebels.”

Narek needed to get an outfit, needed to figure out makeup, and needed a song to perform to.

First: clothes. They went on a shopping spree. You can imagine the montage - as if it were a makeover scene in a 90s movie.

“It was a fun day, it was like buying everything in bulk. We found things of different sizes, different shapes, different colors, whatever was cute. We just put it in the bag. Um, we probably, I don't remember exactly, but I'm sure we created a little bit of chaos in the thrift store we went to because we sort of went everywhere. We were like, ‘We need this, this, this and this!’ You know? Yeah, drag queens shopping - classic.”

Second: makeup. That was a bit more complicated because Narek had never really put on makeup before.

“The story was… I went on a date with someone who happened to be a makeup artist. And we walked around and we bonded. And I was like, ‘I'm doing my first drag show in a week, and I'm not worried about anything but the makeup.’ He was like, ‘Oh, I do makeup, I can do, I can do yours,’ I was like, ‘Cool.’”

But what would the song be? To Narek, it was obvious.

“And my first performance was to the song ‘Rise Like a Phoenix’ by Conchita Wurst. It was the biggest full circle moment.”

When he was 12 and watching Eurovision, Narek had been intrigued but he had also made fun of the performance. He didn’t understand the context, and was still figuring out who he was. But now, at 20, it was clear.

“And I sort of felt guilty for judging them. You know, being part of the homophobic culture. And when I rewatched the moment of her winning as an adult, I cried because I realized what a big moment that was. And it's still like any time you show that clip, to me, it's going to give me chills and it's going to inspire me.”

‘Rise Like a Phoenix’ had helped present drag to the world at Eurovision 2014, Narek wanted to use a bit of that magic.

“I mean the title suggests what it's about, rising like a phoenix. And because drag used to exist in Armenia and it stopped and now it was coming back, I wanted to embody that message of ‘We're back.’ And because Drag historically is known to be the front runners for queer activism. I wanted the community to feel safer. Because drag is back.”

And Narek had a special surprise planned for his performance.

The party was at a big club, there were 400 people there. And because it was thrown by a well known LGBT organization, the event wasn’t just for drag fans: there were activists, NGO employees, even ambassadors.

Narek put on his outfit

“It was like a red sparkly dress. I wanted to shine all over the place.”

And over the dress

“I had this black and white sort of Cruella, 101 Dalmatians coat.”

Gigi didn’t need to wear a wig, because she naturally has long, full hair that tumbles past her shoulders.

She starts the performance with a fan in one hand and a glass of champagne in the other, lip syncing to a speech from the TV show Pose.

On the speaker you can hear the clip: “I know our presence threatens you. We fought for our place at this table, my girlfriends and I aren’t going anywhere!”

A fog machine goes off as Gigi is bathed in a spotlight and the music starts.

The crowd is singing along, they know this song. Gigi starts on her knees, closed off and tucked in on herself. But as it builds, she stands, and her body opens up more and more. Soon her arms are spread. And as the climax hits, she throws off her coat and reveals her big surprise: underneath she’s been hiding a queer pride flag that she is wearing like a set of wings. Gigi is the phoenix.

“And I felt powerful, in the good sense of the word. Because a lot of people say drag does give you power because you sort of unleash somebody else within yourself. And to this day, I'm so glad that my debut as a drag artist was perfect. And I closed the circle and started a new circle for my life.”


DRAG LOGISTICS

They pulled it off. Gigi’s premiere and Armenia’s first drag show in half a decade. Now it was time to keep it going, to do more shows.

In many of her performances Gigi experimented with how to do Armenian drag. Like she did one where she lip-synced famous moments from Armenian films and TV shows.

Another performance was inspired by the iconic film ‘The Color of Pomegranates’ by the queer Armenian director Sergei Parajanov. For that one, Narek was able to borrow and wear this delicate and historic 19th century Armenian gown.

“I was like, you can sell my internal organs if I fuck it up. But please give me that for one day.”

It was important to get the dress right because Narek was really trying to say something

“I want to let people know that there's room for Armenian culture in drag. And you can merge them beautifully.”

When you watch Gigi and her friends, it looks so effortless. But it isn’t easy to get it all together.

Narek shops for outfits at used clothing stores and flea markets. But it’s hard for him to try on women’s clothing out in public.

“In thrift stores, I personally don't feel comfortable going into a changing room and trying it on.”

So he has to eyeball clothes, guessing if they’ll fit. And the trickiest thing is shoes.

“You get it. You pray that it fits on your way home in the taxi. You get home, if it doesn’t, you either keep it and hope your foot gets smaller, or you give it to someone else.”

But one of the biggest difficulties has just been getting a space

“It is incredibly hard to find a venue.”

To begin with it just needs to be queer friendly. But beyond that, the space needs to be secure, so people on the street can’t see what’s happening. And they need to be able to play loud music, late at night, without getting noise complaints. That would bring the police.

“Anyone who's not a part of us coming in can be a potential danger.”

So it’s a big deal if a queer-friendly bar closes. Losing a supportive bar had been one of the reasons why previous groups of drag artists had stopped performing. Gigi’s first show had been at a club called Poligraf, but in 2024 that venue was shut down after police raided the club and roughed up everyone inside.

Their crew started performing at Portal, that’s the cocktail bar from the drag show at the beginning of this episode.

“They did all sorts of different events, but it got known for the drag shows.”

Once they pinned down a venue, they needed to start doing promotion. This was a balancing act, one that they still have to do. They need to put up fliers and post online, so fans can find out about the shows. But at the same time, they need to make sure that homophobic people don’t find out what they’re doing.

“It's not an easy task. You can't post pictures of us. You can't be too loud about the promotion… even though we were.”

At first, they were reserved. When they put up posters around Yerevan, which were mostly in English, they didn’t use the word ‘drag’.

“We were calling it a ‘party’ with ‘artists.’”

But they started testing the waters and got more and more open about the language they were using

“And like two months later, we were like a drag show! At 8 p.m.! At this address! Just show up.”

Just using the word drag, in public, was important.

“It's small, brave steps. From the big picture it doesn't mean a lot, but it sort of breaks a barrier. It breaks a fear that we used to have and now don't have anymore.”

Drag has a long history of activism, and Narek sees them all as part of that tradition, leading Armenia towards being more open.

“Every brick matters in the wall. The more we do, the more mainstream it's gonna get and the more danger is going to come. But also the more positive things are going to come with it. We're insane. I don't know how insane we are. We're going to find out.”

They still take precautions. For example, attendees aren’t allowed to take photos. They’re strict about it: if a phone does come out, someone will quickly come up, tap that person on the shoulder and tell them to put it away. It’s hard, you want to take photos. The performances are amazing and it is exciting to see this queer community having so much fun in Yerevan. But it just wouldn’t be safe to have the general public find out what’s happening.

“I feel like it would be public rage. And if they show faces, they're going to try to go after the people.”


DANGERS

And of course, the danger isn’t just because they’re hosting events.

“I think existing as a queer person feels dangerous. I'm used to random unnecessary comments or bad looks. But even though we're used to it every time, it hurts the same. Like yesterday we were walking and somebody called us the f slur for no reason.”

The mainstream view is that being gay is considered ‘amot’ - it’s shameful, disgraceful. Over the years, queer Armenians have become more and more visible: more NGOs and community spaces have opened up and more people are out online. But with that openness comes more risk.

One point where things got hostile was in 2012, a gay-friendly bar called DIY was fire-bombed and swastikas were spray-painted on its walls. That same month, Pink Armenia spearheaded a small march to promote tolerance, but it was vastly outnumbered by ultranationalists who attacked them. More recently, in 2023, a trans woman was murdered in her Yerevan apartment.

Narek says that if the public learned about their performances, they’d have to stop for a few years, it just wouldn’t be safe anymore.

They want to be visible, but not exposed. They want to push what is accepted, but not to the point of breaking.

“I mean when it comes to going more public, if you're an oppressed group, I feel like even if you deny it, deep in your heart you want to go and let your voice be heard.”

Is there a moment when they would push to be out in the open? Narek says they all have to feel it out. He brings up the Stonewall Uprising in New York City that started the modern Gay Rights Movement in the 1960s. He says that back then, it wasn’t a carefully planned protest. In the moment people were just fed up.

“I don't think there is a right time. The right time is when the oppressed group gets tired. I mean, it's a very long process of not anything happening. Like nothing happening. Yes, we can have a parliament member being a little pro-queer. Or a documentary about a queer sports person.”

Both of those things have happened, and there have been individual court cases for LGBT victims of hate crimes.

“You know, these are small things. They matter a lot. But palpable change is not there yet. Like the ultimate goal is anti-discrimination laws, marriage equality, equal rights, being protected by the government. and having allyship. Like those are the basic things that we need for a revolution. But before the revolution comes there are so many small steps that I cannot even imagine how many of them are there. But I'm excited to find out.”


THE FUTURE

Their short term goals? Well, just find a space to perform. Their last show was at Portal, but it closed because of harsh tax laws on nightclubs

“And now we're back to square one, looking for a new venue.”

So they were left, again, without a queer friendly space to perform in.

…

Fortunately, the break didn’t last long, a couple of months later, they found a new spot.

From the stage we hear “Anyway, so bitches are you ready? She’s skinny, she’s tall. Let’s welcome the gorgeous (I love her name) Davalka!” Then the music starts

Gigi’s group has expanded since their first show in 2022, there are now almost a dozen regular performers. And they’re doing multiple events a month. Their biggest shows bring in hundreds of people.


What does Narek think the 12-year-old-Narek that first saw drag on Eurovision would think of him now? And what would he say to him?

“I think about that constantly. And like not just 12 year olds. 12, 14, 16. I feel like the conversation with the younger me would go like - ‘So hi. I'm you from the future. And what's happened in the last few years is we started doing drag. So what drag is, if you remember that one Eurovision winner, and those weird creatures you saw on TV and you didn't really like them. Now you're one of them!’”

That first time Narek saw Conchita Wurst is still so powerful for him. And Gigi’s first drag performance to Rise Like A Phoenix is unforgettable. In it there’s this hope that, even if it might take a while, one day drag will rise up and be performed out in the streets of Armenia.

“And I always like to say that I'm not gonna do that number ever again until we have Yerevan Pride. So on the first Yerevan Pride, if I'm alive, I'll have to do it. If I'm not, you can play the tape.” Gigi laughs


CREDITS

Country of Dust is created and produced by Nyree Abrahamian, Jeremy Dalmas and Gohar Khachatryan. Sound engineering and music by Jeremy Dalmas.

This episode was made possible with generous support from the H. Hovnanian Family Foundation, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

To the supporters of our crowdfunding campaign: we couldn’t have made this season without you. Thank you for backing us.

Special thanks to Mamikon Hovsepyan for help on this episode.

And we’re grateful to you for tuning in. To support us, head to CountryOfDust.com. Also, we’d love it if you could spread the word. We know there’s a lot of people out there who would love to listen to a podcast about Armenia. Let them know what’s up!