Armenian
Wedding
DJ
An Armenian wedding can go from a formal ceremony cue to a packed Kochari, family toasts and a full open-format dance floor in the same evening. DJ Pooya plans those shifts around your actual families, then mixes live across Armenian classics, current party records and American favorites so the night feels like one celebration—not two playlists taking turns.
2027
Meet Pooya
Armenian receptions are family rooms. Grandparents, cousins, friends from school, guests from Armenia and guests hearing some of the music for the first time can all be sharing one dance floor. The job is not simply owning Armenian songs. It is knowing how long to stay with a run, when a familiar record will pull another generation in, and how to cross into American music without emptying the floor.
Pooya has spent more than 15 years DJing weddings and has worked more than 100 Armenian weddings. The set is mixed live and built from your requests—not a recycled “Armenian wedding playlist.” Shushan Petrosyan, Andy, Tigran Asatryan, Sirusho, Armenchik, Tata Simonyan, family classics and current records can all have a place, depending on what your crowd actually listens to.
Based in Southern California with travel available. Glendale and greater Los Angeles are central Armenian markets, with regular work in Orange County, San Diego and destination locations.
Kochari is recognized by UNESCO as Armenian intangible cultural heritage and is widely performed at festive celebrations and family ceremonies. UNESCO reference →
Armenian + American Music for One Dance Floor.
A wedding DJ should be able to show more than one lane. These mixes cover Armenian wedding music, a higher-energy EDM side and the American wedding set that often shares the same Armenian-American reception.
Armenian Wedding Mix
Upbeat EDM Party Mix 2025
American Wedding Mix
Put a Live Player Where the Moment Needs One
A musician can completely change a ceremony entrance, cocktail hour or reception run. Pooya’s current options include percussion, violin, saxophone, harp and accordion, subject to package, date and location.
Armenian Wedding Music Across Generations
Family Classics
The songs that matter to parents and relatives often carry more weight than the newest record in the room. That does not mean they belong in a slow nostalgia segment. The right classic at the right moment can reset a dance floor, pull another generation in and create one of the loudest sing-alongs of the night.
Modern Armenian Party Records
Newer Armenian music gives the reception a different kind of drive. Tigran Asatryan, Armenchik, Sirusho and Super Sako can live in the same part of the night as hip-hop or club music because the energy is already forward-moving. The transitions should protect that momentum instead of stopping for genre labels.
Kochari + Folk Dance Moments
Kochari works because people join. It is widely practiced at Armenian festive and family celebrations and carries a strong sense of shared identity. The DJ’s role is to recognize when that moment is growing, keep the floor open and avoid cutting the sequence just because a transition point arrived on a laptop screen.
Harsaniq Records
Wedding-specific Armenian songs can mark an entrance, a family moment or a stretch of dancing that feels completely different from a general party set. Titles like Harsaniqi Or, QavorE and Harsanekan show up on real Armenian wedding playlists for a reason. Your family’s preferred songs and versions still make the final call.
Armenian-American Open Format
The goal is not to finish “the Armenian part” and then start the American part. The goal is one floor. A modern Armenian record can lead into a familiar American anthem, a family request can bring the room back, and the set can keep widening as the night gets later.
30 Armenian Wedding Dance Songs
This is a starting list—not a prescription for every Armenian wedding. It combines wedding-specific records, modern party favorites and familiar Armenian selections that appear on public wedding playlists. Your family’s exact versions and must-plays should shape the final set.
- Suro Harsanik (feat. Super Sako)Suro
- ShnorhavorMartin Mkrtchyan
- Ujex HarsaniqAghas Manukyan
- Mets Haykakan HarsaniqIveta Mukuchyan
- Sirum Em QezTata Simonyan
- Harsaniq E Mer TaneArtash Asatryan
- Habibi / SirelisSuro & Zoya
- Harsanik E HarsanikJoni Karapetyan
- Harsaniqi OrArmenchik
- Ari Ari Im SirelisPaul Baghdadlian
- HarsaniqHayat Project
- Harsaniqi OreGevorg Martirosyan
- Im BalaMartin Mkrtchyan
- NoraharsikSilva Hakobyan
- De Mna-MnaSaro
- QaxcrsRazmik Amyan
- Qefs Milion AMartin Mkrtchyan
- Garun Garun (feat. Spitakci Hayko)Tigran Asatryan & Spitakci Hayko
- Gnam GnamShowtime DJ & KOLO
- Ashxarhi Sirun HarsikyHayk Durgaryan & Avo Adamyan
- Yerevani AghchiknerinTata Simonyan
- HarsanekanArtash Asatryan
- QavorEArame
- Siraharvel ’emHarout Balyan
- QaxcerArmenchik
- Aragatsru Shut AraTata Simonyan
- Eli EliVaruzhan Grachyan & Sammy Flash
- HalalaHarout Balyan & Sammy Flash
- Orer OrerArman Hovhannisyan
- Qez Piti SiremNune Yesayan
Armenian Weddings Across Los Angeles + Beyond
Glendale and greater Los Angeles are at the center of the local Armenian wedding market, but the calendar is not limited to one city. Pooya also works Orange County, San Diego and destination celebrations. If your wedding has several venues, send every location in the first inquiry so coverage can be planned correctly.
DJ Pooya In the Room
Start With the Coverage. Build From There.
The right package depends on how many areas need audio, how long the celebration runs and whether live musicians or added production are part of the plan. These are Pooya’s current Armenian wedding options; availability and final pricing are confirmed for your date.
Essentials
A clean option for weddings and private events that need professional DJ and MC coverage without a larger production setup.
- 4 hours of DJ & MC service
- QSC speakers with subwoofer
- Shure wireless microphone
- Personalized 30-song music planner
- Complete setup + breakdown
Premium
Designed for ceremony, cocktail hour and reception when the same team handles sound, formal announcements and the dance floor from start to finish.
- Unlimited DJ & MC coverage
- Ceremony + cocktail hour + reception
- QSC sound + two Shure wireless mics
- Cold spark fountains
- Moving dance lighting + wireless uplights
- Unlimited-song music planning
- Final timeline planning meeting
- On-site backup equipment
- $2M liability insurance
All-Inclusive
For couples who want Premium DJ coverage with live musicians and larger reception production handled together through one team.
- Includes everything in Premium
- Ceremony musician: violin or harp
- Cocktail-hour musician: saxophone or violin
- Reception musician: percussion or violin
- Premium photo booth
- Custom dance floor
- CO2 gun + LED glow sticks
- Unlimited event consultation
Build the Armenian Wedding Cue Sheet Before the Wedding Day
You do not need to build the DJ set for me. What I need are the things Spotify, YouTube and a generic Armenian wedding playlist cannot tell me: the recording your parents actually mean, the dance your family expects, who is bringing the dhol players, and the songs that would cause three aunties to walk over to the DJ booth if I somehow missed them.
Send the Exact Family Songs
“Play Harout” is useful. “My dad wants this recording of this Harout song” is much more useful.
Armenian music has decades of studio recordings, live versions, remakes, medleys and performances circulating online. If a song has real family significance, send the actual Spotify, YouTube or audio link.
For every important song, tell me which category it belongs in:
- Must Play
- Family Request
- Play If It Fits
- Exact Version Only
I would rather have ten meaningful family records identified correctly than receive a 150-song Armenian playlist with no hierarchy.
Tell Me What Your Family Means by “Kochari”
Do not put only “Kochari” on the timeline.
Kochari is not one universal three-minute wedding track. Different musical and dance variations exist, and the important part at a wedding is often the people joining the line—not simply finishing a recording. UNESCO recognizes Kochari as a participatory Armenian group dance passed between generations and performed at weddings, family ceremonies and celebrations.
- Who is likely to start it?
- Is there a recording your family prefers?
- Are dhol or zurna playing with it?
- Should I stay with the sequence if the line keeps growing?
If grandparents, cousins and friends are still stepping onto the floor, I am not killing the moment because my laptop says there are sixteen bars left.
Decide What You Want to Do With Shabash
Shabash deserves an actual conversation instead of being buried inside “Armenian traditions.”
Its meaning and format have changed over time, and Armenian wedding research documents shabash as both money associated with dancers and musicians and, in later wedding practice, as a distinct dance moment involving the bride or newlyweds.
If your family is doing it, decide beforehand:
- Which song?
- During the first dance or as a separate moment?
- Who invites the family onto the floor?
- Who handles the money afterward?
- Does the music continue if the moment becomes bigger than expected?
Those are tiny details until 200 people are watching. Then they are very important details.
Tell Me Where the Dhol + Zurna Actually Enter the Day
Dhol and zurna are not just another line item on an entertainment package.
Traditional Armenian wedding accounts describe the musicians moving with the celebration—from family-home gatherings through the wedding day and into the reception. Your wedding may use them for five minutes or for several parts of the day.
I need to know where:
- Bride’s house
- Groom’s house
- Arrival
- Grand entrance
- Kochari
- Reception dance set
And if live musicians are walking into a DJ track, we decide beforehand who starts, who stops and who owns the handoff.
Give Me Your Armenian “Absolutely Yes” and “Absolutely No”
This tells me considerably more than asking, “How much Armenian music do you want?”
Tell me the artists, eras and sounds your family responds to. Maybe your parents want Paul Baghdadlian and Harout Pamboukjian. Maybe another side of the family reacts immediately to Tata Simonyan, Andy or Artash Asatryan. Maybe the younger crowd wants Tigran Asatryan, Armenchik, Super Sako and newer Armenian records.
Maybe there is an artist everybody assumes will be played whom you personally cannot stand. Tell me that too.
The objective is not to hit an Armenian-song quota. It is to learn the musical vocabulary of your particular family before I am standing in front of them.
Tell Me What the Same People Dance to When Armenian Music Stops
This is the part that makes an Armenian-American wedding different from simply DJing an Armenian playlist.
What else does your crowd actually listen to?
- 2000s hip-hop
- Current pop
- House
- Disco
- Latin
- Arabic
- Persian
- Russian
- 90s throwbacks
I do not want to schedule “Armenian music from 9:00–9:30” and “American music from 9:30–10:00.”
I want to know enough about the room that I can leave an Armenian record, take the same dancers somewhere else, and bring them back later without making either transition feel like the party restarted.
Send Me the Dinner + Toast Schedule Too
This matters more than couples sometimes realize. Armenian receptions often move back and forth between the table, speeches, live entertainment and the dance floor instead of treating dinner and dancing as two completely separate halves of the night.
So I want to know when the venue plans to serve major courses and when speeches are scheduled.
Good music planning is not only choosing the right songs. It is knowing when the room is actually available to dance.
Your Armenian Wedding Music Notes
You do not need to program the reception yourself. Bring the details only your family can answer, and Pooya can build the actual flow around them.
Book DJ Pooya for Your Armenian Wedding
Send the date, venue, guest count and the music that matters. Pooya will recommend the right DJ, MC, sound and production coverage for the celebration you are actually planning.