Sing Yerevan Sing

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Diaspora works by handing things down slightly incomplete. You know the melody and half the words, you know the dance from weddings, and you are aware there is a version of all of it that exists whole somewhere you have probably never been. An evening built around Armenian song is one of the few places that gap closes in public, and Los Angeles holds the largest Armenian community outside Armenia itself - Glendale, East Hollywood, Montebello - which means a room like this is not a cultural showcase for outsiders, it is a family reunion that sold tickets. Expect several generations, expect people who came from Yerevan and people who have never seen it singing the same line, and expect the crying to start earlier than you planned. Bring the grandparent who will pretend not to be moved. Programmes like this usually mix folk repertoire with estrada, the Soviet-era pop that half the room grew up on and the other half has only heard at home. Sunday the 22nd of November, seven o'clock.