Lilit Salnazaryan

Yasha recently retired after serving many years at a factory, with a highlight of his career being a delegate of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1976. Yet his future is left unknown when he emerges in new realities that he finds difficult to accept. The world has changed after the collapse of the Soviet Union, yet he tries to hold on to what once was. Thus enters former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Appearing like Yasha’s alter ego, he guides Yasha, giving amusing commentary and voicing what Yasha should say or do. Brezhnev’s presence gives way for more historical leaders that Yasha idolises to arrive. Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, Josip Broz Tito and Erich Honecker, and even the African dictator Jean Bedel-Bokassa all make an appearance! When Yasha takes an oath of loyalty to them, this creates trouble for his family.

The Quest Begins is the second in Tigran Hamasyan’s triptych of music videos inspired by the Armenian tale The Bird of a Thousand Voices.