A SHINING SPIRIT: ‘SPIRIT OF ARMENIA’ KICKS OFF ITS MUSICAL SERIES AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL.
By Erica Liu
Glendale News Press, CA
July 25 2007
Singer Sako rehearses for an upcoming performance at the Hollywood
Bowl at a home studio in Sunland Monday evening.
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"Spirit of Armenia!," a night of dance and music focusing on Armenian
culture, will take place Sunday as part of the KCRW World Festival
series at the Hollywood Bowl.
The concert will feature 15 performing acts presenting everything
from more traditional Armenian music to modern Armenian pop tunes and
performances by Armenian vocalists and dance ensembles, said Stepan
Partamian, who is producing the event in collaboration with the Los
Angeles Philharmonic Assn.
This concert is the first of its kind in both ambition and scope,
the Glendale resident said.
"This is the first time ever that we are presenting our own culture
to the general Los Angeles public and seeing Armenians collectively
contributing to a nonprofit organization that enriches cultural
awareness in Los Angeles," Partamian said.
By organizing this concert, he hopes to squash preconceptions that
Armenian musicians have to imitate mainstream artists in order to be
accepted, and that there is no room for authentic Armenian artists.
"My philosophy is totally different: I can go in and perform my own
culture, and people will come and accept me," he said.
In choosing artists to perform at the concert, Partamian had only
one requirement.
"I don’t want to pick people that want to sound like someone else,"
he said. "A music note is a music note, but how you use it becomes
cultural."
The show will be divided into two contrasting styles, said Laura
Connelly, the program manager for jazz and world music at the Los
Angeles Philharmonic Assn.
"We wanted to reflect the breadth of the Armenian culture," Connelly
said. "The first half is the more traditional and classical side of
the music, and the second half is the more pop and fusion side."
Among the many performers is "Winds of Passion," a local duduk quartet
formed in Glendale more than 10 years ago. The duduk is a traditional
Armenian woodwind instrument just starting to shed its reputation as
nothing more than funeral accompaniment.
"It has a very haunting, very soulful sound to it," said Ruben
Harutyunyan, the leader of the quartet, as translated by Partamian.
It is the instrument with a timbre that most closely approximates
the human voice, he said.
Out of the 8 million to 10 million Armenians scattered throughout
the world, Partamian estimates that there are only about 1,000 duduk
players left.
The group will be playing traditional Armenian songs as well as
the first rendition of the "Divine Liturgy" of the Armenian Church,
arranged to be played in a polyphonic style with duduks.
The "Divine Liturgy" was first translated from its original monophonic
form by the musical scholar Komitas in the late 19th century.
"He was the first Eastern scholar educated in the West who traveled
the Armenian countryside and took songs, like an oral history, and
changed it into Western notation," Harutyunyan said.
This will be the second time the members of "Winds" perform under
the white shell of the Hollywood Bowl.
"It is an honor to just walk on that stage for any musician … to walk
the stage with the greatest musicians and being offered the opportunity
to perform," Harutyunyan said. "The venue is so beautiful. Being in
nature adds something … Armenian music is for nature."
Armenian dance will also be prominently featured by 125 dancers from
the Zvartnots dance ensemble and Vartan & Siranoush Gevorkian dance
ensemble, Connelly said.
"The costumes they have are so amazing, the moves … " Connelly said.
"It’s like having an army of dancers out there. It’s quite a
spectacle."
In addition to both dance ensembles, also appearing from Glendale are
Hovhannes Shahbazyan, Soseh Keshishyan of Element Band, Gagik Badalyan,
Araks and Alik Karapetyan Vocalist Sako of Burbank will also perform.
"We’ve never really done a whole night of Armenian music and thought
it was time to do it," Connelly said.