Armenia - The North

 Armenia has a long yet turbulent history.  First established as far back as 860 BC it has been occupied by various neighbouring powers over the centuries including the Ottoman, Persian and Russian empires.  Arguably the darkest period of its history was the Armenian Genocide during World War I, where large parts of the population where killed or displaced by Ottoman forces, an event that modern-day Türkiye denies happened.  Even in its current incarnation since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Armenia has been embroiled in conflict with its neighbour Azerbaijan over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, where there was a majority of ethnic Armenians.  With the support of the Armenian army the region briefly declared the de-facto independent state of Artsakh in 1991, but has been retaken by Azerbaijan in 2023, leading to the exodus of the Armenians living there.

The land borders to both Azerbaijan and Türkiye remain closed, but we'll ignore that fact for the purpose of this blog.  Despite all those struggles over literally millennia, Armenians have retained their own identity, with their own language, script, religion and culture, and because of the conflicts there is a large worldwide diaspora continuing to keep the traditions alive.

We start our virtual musical journey in the centre of the country in the village of Solak, where Armenia's most famous proponent of their national instrument the duduk, Djivan Gasparyan was born in 1928.  A duduk is a simple wooden oboe-like instrument, with a haunting sound.  Gasparyan played for the likes of Stalin and Nelson Mandela, collaborated with stars like Peter Gabriel, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Ludovico Einaudi, the Kronos Quartet, Brian May, Annie Lennox... the list goes on.  He also composed film music, including the score for Gladiator and Blood Diamond.  He died in 2021 leaving behind a massive legacy, which I can't even begin to scratch the surface of.  Here's a tune called They Took My Love Away, which features on his 2013 album Moon Shines At Night: 

We have already met young Duduk player Arsen Petrosyan as part of the Turkish, Georgian and Armenian group A.G.A. Trio.  He was born and raised in the town of Charentsavan and is one of the up-and-coming stars on the scene, having completed a Masters degree in music at the Komitas Conservatory in Yerevan in 2016.  Here is a track from his 2021 solo album Hokin Janapar (My Soul's Journey) called I Will Die for the Wind of The Mountains with some spectacular mountain scenery in the shots.:

Jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan was born in the north-western city of Gyumri in 1987.  He now resides in the USA and his style is very much influenced by American Jazz as well as Armenian folk.  His 2018 EP For Gyumri is meant as an extension to his album An Ancient observer and meant as an homage to his home town. Here is a tune from the album called Rays of light:

That's it from the north of Armenia for the moment, next we are heading for the capital Yerevan.  In the meantime, as usual, you can follow my virtual journey on my tripline map.