The Music of Armenia - Folk Music & Duduk (1996) 3 CD

×

The Music of Armenia - Folk Music & Duduk (1996) 3 CD

Close

The Music of Armenia is a superb, 3 CDs the amazingly diverse music of Armenia. There are chants, folk tunes, instrumental music and rich choral harmonies in a collection that underscores the stunning and far too little acknowledged creative density of Armenian culture.

×

The Music of Armenia - Folk Music & Duduk (1996) 3 CD

Close

The project

The folk music of Armenia is so diverse that a single recording is not enough to encompass it. Rural work songs, urban folk songs, contemporary protest songs from the disputed Karabakh region, laments for lost parts of Western Armenia, songs of emigration, and of course, the universal topic of love and love lost. With such a range of songs to cover, producer David Parsons needed three full recordings to document the current state of Armenian folk music. This volume contains two of the three; the contemporary folk music of the Nagorno-Karabakh region takes up a volume by itself. Unlike the earlier volumes in this series, which have featured a single ensemble or soloist, the folk songs and dances in this collection are performed by no fewer than two ensembles and a number of vocal soloists. As with all folk music, these songs and dances reflect the people's own history and their land. Songs about the landscape and the various rivers, mountains, and regions of Armenia comprise one of the most distinctive parts of their folk repertoire; the plowing and farming songs are especially haunting and memorable. The area known as Western Armenia has proven to be a particularly fertile ground for folk song and dance. This region is the subject of much nostalgic and patriotic song. The music of the ashugh, the wandering poet/minstrels of Armenia, is also part of the folk music tradition, although, typically for Armenian music, it can also be considered a type of classical music tradition.

The artists:

Founded in 1991 by reed virtuoso Gevorg Dabagian, the Shoghaken Folk Ensemble uses only the traditional instruments of Armenia. The group aims to recreate the authentic sound of Armenian music as it was performed in past centuries, without external instruments or influences. Musicians of the ensemble include Gevorg Dabagian, playing duduk, zurna and shevi (also the featured performer on The Music of Armenia, Volume Three: Duduk; Karineh Hovhannessian on the kanon; Kamo Khachaturian on the dhol; Hakob Khalatian on the kamancha; Eduard Harutunian and Grigor Takushian both on duduk dam (drone).

The vocalists with the ensemble are all noted soloists in their own right and include: Hasmik Harutunian specializing in the songs of Western Armenia; Lida Zakarian specializing in both Armenian folk music and contemporary music; and Artavazd Voskanian who sings classical, sacred music and folk music. The Sasun Folk Group was founded in 1988 in the village of Nerkin Bazmaberd by Andranik Manukian. The group specializes in the folk songs and dances of Mush and Sasun in Western Armenia, maintaining a more regional, authentically vernacular or popular sound. Vocalists include Tsovinar Manukian, Norair Manukian, Sedrak Harutiunian, Harutiun Harutiunian, Artiom Hakobian, Astgik Hakobian, Liana Makhsudian, Gayaneh Khachaturian, Hasmik Khachaturian, Inga Gazarian, and are accompanied by Ara Mkoyan and Samvel Grigorian on the duduk dam (drone), and Gourgan Manukian on the dhol.

×

The Music of Armenia - Folk Music & Duduk (1996) 3 CD

Close

The project:

The Music of Armenia, Volume Three may seem like a complete departure. This is after all, a collection devoted to traditional/folk music for the wind instrument known as duduk. But as is so often the case with Armenian music, there are long–standing connections between these apparently distinct styles. Not only are the traditions of Armenian classical and folk music intertwined, with their common roots in ancient bardic and epic songs, but some songs from the medieval sacred repertoire have recently made their way into the duduk players' arsenal as well, like Vasn mero perkutian (track 15), in part due to the playing of Gevorg Dabagian. And the duduk's soft, reedy sound has an almost vocal quality that makes it nearly as songful and soulful as the voices heard in the first two volumes.

Of all the instruments played in Armenia, the duduk is perhaps the most truly Armenian. Other traditional instruments can all be traced back to ancestoral instruments from the Arabic world, but the duduk appears to be specific to Armenia. Small wonder, then, that many Armenians consider the duduk to be the instrument that most eloquently expresses the warmth, the joy, and the tragedy of Armenia.

Many of these pieces are simply instrumental transcriptions of what were originally vocal works. Others are old melodies that have come to be associated with the duduk; if they had words originally, they have long been lost. And some of the pieces come from one of Armenia's most unusual sources of music: the troubadour/poets known as ashugh.

The artists:

Gevorg Dabagian is among the most important duduk players in Armenia today. Not only a great virtuoso player, he is also one of the first to perform excerpts from the Divine Liturgy of the Armenian church on the duduk, a double–reed wind instrument developed nearly 1,500 years ago. Its signature tone is plagent, mournful, and slightly nasal, but it is also capable of tender lyricism and genuine, if somewhat subdued energy. Dabagian is especially famous for his interpretations of the works of Sayat Nova, and his performances of traditional Armenian folk music are considered by purists to be free of foreign influence. He studied at the Yerevan State Conservatory, where he now teaches; in addition, he is the leader of the Shoghaken Folk Ensemble.

Gevorg Dabagian is the soloist, but the duduk is never played alone. A second duduk (or even a small group of duduk players) will always accompany the lead player with a drone, creating a musical environment for the lead duduk's melody. The duduk dam, or drone accompaniment, is provided by Girgor Takushian and Eduard Harutunian. Kamo Khachaturian, one of Armenia's most sought–after percussionists, plays the dhol two-headed drum.