The Khio Trio

A London concert by The Khio Trio, a folk trio that brings Armenian stories to the stage through traditional wind instruments, song and improvisation, at World Heart Beat Embassy Gardens.

The Khio Trio is a folk group whose programme draws on Armenian culture, setting old narratives of homeland, diaspora and faith beside contemporary playing. Lucine Musaelian brings an Armenian perspective to the group, Oliver Dover plays traditional wind instruments, and Fred Thomas contributes improvised passages, so the material joins folk tradition to spontaneous invention.

In concert the trio mixes traditional mountain dance music with songs about love and exile. Chants from around the tenth century are reworked into new arrangements, bringing out the spiritual life that still runs through Armenian communities. The stories move between land, displacement and renewal.

Listeners interested in Armenian music, and in folk that combines inherited repertoire with improvisation, will find the trio's approach distinctive. The concert takes place at World Heart Beat Embassy Gardens, a London venue that hosts concerts and shows.