We Thrive

There's not a lot of representation in media about Armenians in music, let alone the Armenian community in general; "We Thrive" changes that narrative by providing a deep dive into the Armenian-American musician's community. The history of the Armenian people is littered with tragedy and darkness - this film brilliantly shows the wealth of passion, love, and strength the Armenian people have and how through music, we can all thrive and be the best versions of ourselves. This film doesn't sugar coat anything, it is full of both heartbreaking and empowering scenes that will give you a new perspective on a culture you'll truly know after you watch "We Thrive".

Another musician friend of mine turned me onto this documentary that he found on Fawesome T. V and said I would probably like it knowing that I'm a musician, and highly into watching music based documentaries. My friend was correct. The majority of it is based around the current Detroit scene and has various interviews with all kinds of artists of different genres and taste. The current overall theme is that music is a very powerful healing force that I think ultimately, we all need in the world right now. Especially right now. Eric Harabadian and his wife are excellent filmmakers and I look forward to seeing what they have in store for their next project.

This documentary is full of reminders of life's moments that change a generation in so many ways.

When watching it, I felt each persons story of how to move forward and use music in more ways than entertainment. All of the interviews are so full of things to consider in our lives. Creativity from what seemed to be things that hender us, is a great example of being able to take the pain and turn it into power for our lives. One that stood out personally for me was the young man that stuttered and turned the problem around to create beats. I worked through that with one of my children. What I used was singing, reading and music. It took less that 45 days to see the postive results.

The openness of genocide is something that was eye opening. I look at that tragedy differently since this was shown to me by the creators of this documentary. This opened my eyes and touced my heart in so many ways. Knowing that more than less have had this happen in their generations of life. We should all take time to understand what is happening around us and what has happened in the past. It's now easy to find answers with different tools available.

As a Spiritual transformation counselor and coach, I know that music is used for therapy. It can be used to mediate, heal mental and emotional traumas. Music is also a part of happiness and joy. Being able to dance, sing along and clap your hands frees us. Some of these examples are shown in this film.

The creative talents of the production team, in my opinion, have opened doors for more success for the future.

Congratulations to the production team, all of the contributors and talents. Thank you for this beautiful opportunity to see life through your words and music. Eric Harabadian and Lisa Hagopian, thank you for this project.

I suggest that anyone who wants to see a movie that is full of energy, with great interviews and music should watch "We Thrive". You won't be disappointed.

So grateful to have a record of this resilient musical tradition, growing in spite of the tragedies. All the musicians are terrific but the dance music is particularly important to me. I have been troubled that there is no record of the terrific dance events, with incredibly talented musicians, that take place in the Detroit area--especially the Keghi event at St. John's--so thank you! The interviews fill in the history and connect past and present. How wonderful! Thank you for making us proud, and sharing this heritage with the world. I am hoping your work will get the recognition it deserves.

This documentary has an incredible mix of music and education. There is music across many genres in this film showing the many talents of our communities. The interviews show how we can grow beyond our sorrowful history and demonstrates the resilience of our ancestors. All the musicians are wonderful and talented but the music from the dance events is particularly good and unique to the dance community of Detroit. So glad you were able to get their performance in your film. Thank you for making this film, and thank you for sharing our history, I hope this film gets the recognition it deserves.