Today marks 100 years since the beginning of the Armenian genocide, where more than a million people died in mass killings in the Ottoman Empire, which gave rise to modern day Turkey. But all these years later, the impact of the massacre can be found in art, literature and music.
https://soundcloud.com/search?q=power%20of%20the%20hye
A Martinez spoke with Los Angeles rapper Nazo Bravo, who recently took a life-changing trip back to his motherland for the documentary "Armenian American," the first episode of which has been posted above.
https://soundcloud.com/nazobravo/armenian-american-the-anthem
Bravo grew up in L.A. and hadn't visited Armenia until recently. He told Martinez that he still felt a connection to the homeland.
"Well, my house felt like Armenia, because it was a lot of people," he said. "It was my parents, and their parents came from Armenia, so a lot of loud talking in the house. ... And that's just how Armenians get down."
The topic of his family's history and the history of the Armenian people was always on the minds of the people Bravo lived with and the community he grew up in.
"As you develop as a teen, ... you start questioning things, ... and then you learn about the genocide, and then you start hearing all of these stories ... of people that were killed in your family. ... I believe it was my great-grandfather. They chopped his head off and dragged his body throughout the city because he was a leader in his community. Which they did to all of the leaders."
In the conversation with Martinez, Bravo talked about his trip to Armenia, how he thinks music can bring different cultures together and why it's important for the United States to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
If you'd like to hear the entire thing, check out the audio at the top of the post.