Ara Dinkjian & Zulal: Traditional Armenian Music & Song

from the Library of Congress in Washington DC you the homegrown series was designed to feature the very best of traditional music and dance from around the nation the American Folklife Center works with many talented and dedicated state folk arts coordinators across the country who help us select the most exciting performers from within their communities and this allows us to bring amazing talent from all over the country right here to Washington DC to share with you today's concert is brought to you in joint sponsorship with the Kennedy Center's millennium stage so you can catch these wonderful performers a second time today at 6 p.m. at the Millennium stage if you have the opportunity to do that they are so wonderful I'm sure you're going to want to do that our performance today is going to be recorded for the collections of the American Folklife Center and the library and it'll be put up on our whip website as webcast so this is a good time to turn off all of your electrical equipment that makes noises otherwise you will become part of this performance forever so don't do that this concert today is also co-sponsored with the library's African and Middle East Division so we want to thank the division and Mary Jean for merging for helping you know co-sponsor this and I want to invite LaVon AB DeLeon from the arm who is the Armenian Armenian and Georgian areas specialist in the near East Division of the African and Middle East division here at the library to come on stage and welcome some special guests we have in the audience Lee can you come out thank you I'm here only to thank on behalf of dr. mary-jane Deeb the chief of the African Middle Eastern Division all of you for coming and Thea Austin and the American Folklife Center for inviting us to co-sponsor or one of their marvelous programs this has been an exciting month for Armenians at the Library of Congress we've had a presidential and Pontifical visit our 19th Vartan on today's lecture and a large display of our materials and so I think this is just the perfect capstone I've heard each of these artists and you are e and for quite a treat so with that I think probably you want to hit listen to music and not my voice I thank you Thea and I intend to enjoy it with you thank you and we're hoping to have some members of the staff of the Armenian embassy here I don't think they've arrived yet but they may may be coming in a little bit later our first the first group that you will see first Zul all the trio will sing for you and then are adding John an amazing lute player will be out for you in Armenian zoo law means clear water zoo law is a new york-based acapella trio and they take Armenian folk melodies and weave intricate arrangements of their own that pay tribute to the rural roots of the music while introducing contemporary lyricism and energy soul all singers teni apollyon euros Markarian and a nice to carryin have been singing together since 2002 they performed in such esteemed venues as Carnegie Hall's vile recital hall the Museum of the City of New York New York Symphony space along with the performances for Cirque du Soleil and the Silk Road project the group has two albums zoo la and notes - a crane and if you're interested in getting a hold of those you can come and talk to the map to the concert so please welcome zoo la a young woman is walking by the river and she spots a handsome young swimmer her heart nearly falls out of her chest but she pulls herself together and thinks fast she pulls a barrette out of her hair and casually tosses it into the water hoping that he'll notice but he doesn't notice so she says Mr swear will you please look over here I've lost my barrette in the water will you please get it for me he says I'll get your barrette but what will you give me in return so she offers her logic her little veil she offers her Mishka even so far as to offer her shirt but it is only a final mulac kiss which convinces him to do her bidding Z choosing down low for teens Amazon might seem logical or Dinko Michael my boy shut up or chop meat azam azam my butt tiny time gonzo then come come by Souma so my eyes or my ears or my ears oma so my summers on my Zoma so my ears of my ears of my ears oh she clean john 1:14 so my so my see makeup table 14 comical my butcher our chocolate size of mice on my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my see choosing style of art in Somis on my Xin chào victim lover teen comical my bottom nets as a mother my vote Chinese I'm gonna think oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my Xing Qi Qi Ling Shan I walked into my zone my Luzhniki shade back my oh my oh my summers of my I'm honey's I'm guys of income I come by some ways my oh my so my so my eyes of my soul my some eyes am eyes of my Zoma so my some eyes on my some in Turlock John a girl decides to tease her young admirer she says she thinks about him all day while she's sewing she says her beautiful lushly embroidered skirt she talks of her father who will reject him and she says there is already another maybe who's put a wedding ring on my finger a me magic turtle a John solo khana Khazana sir an interlocking a haenyeo like anna muhammad against only john son of a devil still collie talking mighty man Leonard sauna sauna cuckoo news and change to the cooling you're told yah you love you thank you and welcome to those of you who are just arriving we are Zula an Armenian acapella folk trio and in this next song we asked you to imagine a workroom in the village of Boston where we meet three women who are sitting spinning wool into gossip and they recount the story of a girl named latching a story which involves a spinning wheel a covert late-night visit which no one is to hear an ensuing pregnancy and then a suitor who comes back to see her empty-handed Hey you know like you know like you wanna watch energy no mana latching bar get you a baby whale archeology no mana seed okay Gil bungee baby was a lot gog no mana and go save Kalonji hey Marty lagina mana la jumping digging hi Lana but you know what you know what you know what you know what you know thank you as a man puts incense on the fire his stuttering son asks him father where does the wind go and the father says it goes to the crack in the Forgotten wall it goes to our grandfather's barren field how I long to see the reflection of our mountains in our sons in my son's cute clear eyes how I long for the breeze come down from the mountains envelop us and take us home whoo you good AG image walnuts Neil come in hoarder Yaga - no mum Jason's old heart lights and coming stars nee Baga is coming tomorrow - MS angel she's got our cookies society's pilot dicey munchies along so Sunday's coming a change may seek ergodyne II do my jaemin's teacher by bubbles - the streets a corner Oh and that song was actually arranged by us but it's an original a contemporary folk song written by composer named Armand more CC on next move on to one of our composers and music ologists who we attribute most of Armenian folk music that we have preserved today Gomi does some of you may have heard the name go me does was a musicologist a priest and a composer living at the turn of the 20th century who collected nearly 3,000 folk songs and dances this next song show there John is attributed to him and it speaks of a girl named show her the choruses in this song are dedicated to her lilt and sway as she walks yes go sure so Oh a man in the region of Java sees at all made in standing in the in the field and he says you are Jana Jana you are hot hot whoever steals your heart may his house burn up in flames my tall beauty please choose me and come home with me viola de da Mata viola da Mata dugong melees Jana Jana come in Zhanna Zhanna my dog man in Lily's kids costume Satan when I tell a homie hate I'm gonna - charlie ha ha I Oh bye la da Matta in the upper gardens lined with pear trees sweethearts come together to dance the Tama Zara come shake your shoulders in the tongues Atta lovers find each other now for the tome saia we'd like you to mark the save me Booya hello my yo-yo nice work everyone thank you look we'll see you all in a little while at the end of the show they'll come back out in the meantime we want to invite out our next artist ara dink Geon he's an american-born artist who grew up with traditional Armenian music his earliest professional musical experience was accompanying his father Oh Nick dinky on a renowned Armenian folk and liturgical singer ara learned several Western and Eastern instruments piano guitar Dan Beck clarinet and in 1980 graduated from the Heart College of Music earning the country's first and only special degree in the instrument for which he's become most well known the oude for over 40 years he served as organist in the Armenian Apostolic Church throughout his musical life ara has continued to develop his highly personal compositional style which blends his eastern and western roots in 1985 to help realize these compositions and musical concepts are reformed his instrumental quartet Knight arc which has recorded for CDs please welcome our addiction thank you so much it's actually a dream for me to play here I myself am a collector of old records and books and the Library of Congress is the ultimate so I'm really honored to be here thank you all for being here I'm playing an instrument called the OOD it dates back its origins are in the great Persian empires but it has been adopted as the prominent instrument for Arabs Turks and of course Armenians most Armenians can trace their history back to Anatolia to the cities and villages of Anatolia today's present present-day Turkey eastern Turkey and with that there are certain elements that are unique to the music specifically microtonal modes so my instrument is fretless it is considered the grandfather of the guitar the father of the lute the fretless nice to accommodate these microtonal modes which are actually more in tune with nature than this well tempered system that the well that the West has adopted nonetheless another very important element which actually Zul I'll just demonstrated is odd time signature melodies and we'll get into that in just a few moments the next piece that I'd like to play is actually a medley of three pieces the first piece is called God ode it's a folk folk melody in which the man says to the woman don't let me die longing for you the second piece is by the the renowned Armenian minstrel or troubadour Sayaka Nova and the third piece is is attributed to somebody who was considered to be the father of Armenian music go me dance party Betty was a celibate priest ethnomusicologist gatherer of Armenian folk songs in various villages and of course a renowned composer thank you thank you so much this past April 24th just a few weeks ago the Armenians throughout the world commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide of course there are many songs associated with these tragic events I would like to play one right now the lyrics I'm not going to sing but the lyrics tell of a soldier who is saying let them do anything to me let let they let let them feed my heart to the wolves just don't let my mother know of my suffering and the final verse he says let let them do anything to me let my tears turn to salt but just don't let them know don't let my mother know of my death you thank you so much for my last piece I'd like to play a piece that as I had mentioned before well this one is in an odd time signature but of course if you're from Anatolia it's not odd at all my ancestors are from dick rana Garrett and carpet and this beat that this time signature that I'm about to play is absolutely typical as a matter of fact I believe if you take their pulse you'll see that it's in ten eight and the grouping just for anybody who's interested is three plus two plus two plus three kind of odd to the West but absolutely perfect for Armenians from that part of the world thank you so much at this at this time I would like to ask Zulu to come out and enjoy and join me on a couple of pieces Zulu to the needy Oh Metheny David Gorham yong-gi underneath ever Gorham LCI by do not be a victim by I let my you do not I'm Sabrina oh my you're not only gonna be dawnie a bit of 5 not only do not be a lie bye-bye we gonna be dead by you're not Oviedo nany Oh so our last song altogether for this afternoon will be ha Nina our Avadh shoot Tony Rizzo the day is marked with the rise of smoke from the tonnage and the smell of bread ha Nina yes you do me and you and in this song since it's all about together and rising together we ask that you join us the chorus is repetitive so you may catch on by the middle of the song Anais will be your anchor you'll listen to her for the the chorus melody come the middle of the song and yet as a Nayanar I will be doing harmonies along with you so please singer or not raise your voices in the spirit of folk music music of the people ha Nina honey nonny nonny nonny nonny nonny no I mean I assumed oh honey nany nany nany nany nany ha ha ha ha honey no my darling Johnny day a pseudo honey 19 Irina honey 19 idea I mean I adore honey 1999 johnny is Sidhu honey 1999 honey 1999 I mean I assume I need money money love honey bunny bunny love is so low I mean I didn't know anybody know what it is in 1999 so - Jaime 1999 honey Manny Manny I mean is so do you Shiva my continuous are my nickname ooh 99 hi honey nice old oh honey now you're gonna know I mean I should be looking anyway yes odo the ladies of zoo law and ardent young thank you so much and remember well Kalinda ah would you all like to come back um maybe they'll come back remember here they come anais get us teni and i Reddington please I hope you will feel free to come down and talk to them afterwards if you'd like to get a hold of some of their music please come down and talk to them about that and thank you so much for coming to the concert today please join us next month on the 30th of June we'll have a concert again in here with a Peruvian group who's also appearing at the Folk Festival for the Smithsonian la marinara a music and dance group from Peru anyway again thank you and thank our dink John and Sue this has been a presentation of the Library of Congress visit us at loc.gov

Channel: Library of Congress

Views: 62,612

Rating: 4.777379 out of 5

Keywords: Library of Congress, Music Of Armenia, Ara Dinkjian (Composer)

Id: aj7G8_Xhg8w

Length: 62min 9sec (3729 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 11 2015