TWICE THE RHYTHM | The Armenian Twins & Gokor Simityan

What happens when a dream is placed on hold—but never truly dies? On this episode of Between the Notes, Paisan Kapitan welcomes Edmond and Armond Stepanyan, better known as The Armenian Twins, for the remarkable story of their return to music after 25 years. Their journey began in 1994 with a small Yamaha keyboard, a cassette recorder and a dream. After Armenian record stores initially rejected their music, the twins and their father produced and distributed 1,000 copies themselves—and sold out within two days. Their groundbreaking work helped introduce rap to the Armenian music community. Edmond and Armond open up about their father’s faith in them, stepping away from music to raise their families and why they finally decided to make their comeback. They also discuss blending Armenian culture with pop, rap and melody, connecting with listeners through meaningful lyrics and their emotional new song, “Du Es Im.” Also joining the show is professional Middle Eastern percussionist Gokor Simityan, whose musical journey began at just two years old with a pair of spoons and an empty water bottle. Gokor shares how he discovered the darbuka, developed his signature finger-split technique and turned a childhood passion into a career bringing energy and joy to weddings, concerts and cultural celebrations. Plus, don’t miss Gokor’s live in-studio performance and a hilarious rapid-fire bonus round featuring aliens, famous twins, casino disasters, Nutella—and one million-dollar offer the Armenian Twins immediately reject! Like, comment and subscribe for more Armenian music, culture and unforgettable conversations from Between the Notes, presented by Hye Jams Radio. FEATURED GUESTS The Armenian Twins — Edmond & Armond Stepanyan Instagram:  @ArmenianTwins  YouTube:  @ArmenianTwins  Gokor Simityan — Professional Percussionist Instagram: @gokorsimityan Facebook: @gokorsimityan HOST Paisan Kapitan Instagram: @paisankapitan PaisanKapitan.com ***Available for Hosting and Voice Over: [email protected] HYE JAMS RADIO Instagram: @hyejams HyeJams.com Download the Hye Jams app and listen to contemporary Armenian hits 24/7. ━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎬 PRODUCTION NOTES ━━━━━━━━━━━━ Featured music videos used in this production were provided by, approved by, and used with permission from the writers, producers, and performers of the featured songs, who also appeared as guests in this episode. Background Music: Morning Light Music License #: 2510-71789 ━━━━━━━━━ 🎥 PRODUCED BY ━━━━━━━━ Wayne Lewis Chummy Inc. © 2026 All Rights Reserved. ━━━━━━━━━━━ DISCLAIMER ━━━━━━━━━━━ The views, opinions, statements, allegations, and personal experiences expressed by guests appearing on Between the Notes are solely those of the individual guest and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, positions, or beliefs of Chummy Inc., Hye Jams Radio, Between the Notes, its hosts, producers, sponsors, affiliates, employees, contractors, or representatives. Guests are responsible for their own statements and characterizations of events. Any references to individuals, organizations, companies, productions, events, or public figures are presented as the guest's personal recollections, opinions, or experiences. Chummy Inc., Hye Jams Radio, and Between the Notes make no independent representations regarding the accuracy, completeness, or accuracy of such statements. This program is intended for informational, educational, and entertainment purposes only. #BetweenTheNotes #HyeJamsRadio #ArmenianTwins #ArmenianMusic #ArmenianRap #ArmenianCulture #Darbuka #GokorSimityan #PaisanKapitan