Hovsep

Instagram
Soundcloud
Bandcamp
Hovsep Link Aggregator
HyperKavkaz Link Aggregator

Operating under his given first name, Hovsep Meliksetyan is a singer, songwriter, producer, and the founder of the label HyperKavkaz. Over the past five years, he has released records, curated mixes, and performed live electronic sets across the Caucasus, Europe, and the United Kingdom. His work is a living, breathing creature that evolves on the road, anchored with recordings.

Born to Armenian parents and raised in Kyiv, Ukraine, Hovsep found the year 2020 to be a pivotal moment in his relationship with Armenia. While obsessively following the Second Nagorno‑Karabakh War, and surrounded by indifference both online and offline, Hovsep’s outlook shifted dramatically: it made him realise that he comes from a specific place, that his community is small, and that he has a special responsibility. Years later, these reflections were shared in an essay called 'Miracles don't exist' for the 2024 Screening Rights Film Festival, written in response to Shoghakat Vardanyan’s film 1489.

If he had to describe his practice in one word, it would be ‘life-affirming’. His main point of interest is not how to get Armenian culture to sound like modernity, but how to adapt modernity to Armenian culture. This is also how he feels about the whole region. HyperKavkaz's first release in 2024, a compilation featuring artists from Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Adygea, was an exciting starting point, with the premiere event in Yerevan showing that people resonate with the project. He contributed one of the ten tracks, but the compilation itself became like an artwork of his own, something that inspires him and many around him.

In June 2026, the label’s international showcase in Paris marked a triumphant five-year arc, evolving from a small DJ set in Kyiv into a packed, community-driven event. Seeing the diaspora unite so fiercely put to rest any external claims of appropriation or servitude to the colonialist gaze, proving that HyperKavkaz has grown into a sincere, living cultural force.

A more recent solo output by Hovsep is Edits ‘21-25, an exploration of blurring the lines between authored and found music. It is more personal and mainly Armenian-themed. A minute-long music video for the track ‘Putin said’ has been published to accompany the Mixtape, also released via HyperKavkaz. This release serves as the Gateway between his deejaying past and his songwriting future.