REINVENTING THE TAR: MIQAYEL VOSKANYAN’S FOLK MUSIC QUEST
ianyan Magazine
July 17 2013
Posted by Christian Garbis
He’s having an off night.
One of the 11 metal strings on Miqayel Voskanyan’s tar has snapped
just before the start of his second set at Yerevan’s Wild West club
and he is struggling with pulling the replacement tight. The band has
taken stage and is rolling along without him, but not for very long.
He’s a master tar player after all, and nothing will get in the way
of his music, especially a pesky string.
The music that his band Miqayel & Friends performs is indescribable in
one or even a few words. It is not straight ahead jazz or rock, rather
sort of an ambiguous melding of the two genres, and he admits that it
is hard to classify. It’s his very intention to present the music in
such a way that anyone can find their own preferred style in his own.
Voskanyan’s harmonies are intricate and interwoven, performed with
a constant, rapid plucking, as if he is passionately making love to
his instrument. There is an intense, undeniable passion coming forth
during his performances.
The tar is played in Iran and in the Caucasus, namely Armenia and
Azerbaijan. The Persian tar differs from the Caucasian type in its
shape and number of strings. Both are made from mulberry wood, and
between 400,000 and 500,000 strikes are needed to shape a tar the
traditional way. New instruments can still be found.
Although the instrument’s exact origins are still unknown, there are
references to the tar in Armenian historical records dating to the
9th century. The strings are made of metal, and the membrane that
stretches across the figure eight-shaped body of the Armenian tar
is actually the sac that surrounds the heart of a cow. Centuries ago
melodies played from the tar were known to have been used for treating
depression and other ailments.
Voskanyan’s instrument is 100 years old. He explained that the more
often it is played the better it sounds. The membrane has to be
replaced usually every year. He takes his instrument to a tar maker,
who are becoming increasingly hard to find. He says it’s hard to both
play and work on the tar since the jobs are so specialized-a person
can do only one or the other. But he has hopes that the younger
generation will learn to become expert tar makers.
Voskanyan’s musical career began at the age of six, when he learned
to sing various folk songs. He’s been playing the tar for 18 years,
always with the desire to play folk music.
“I picked the tar over the kamancha since it interested me more,”
he said. “I felt closest to the tar.”
He says that of all the folk instruments used in Armenian music the
tar is considered more professional, while others, like the kamancha-a
stringed instrument played with a bow sporting a gourd-like body
supported on the knee-are more romantic.
Tar playing runs in the family blood. His maternal great grandfather
named Sarkis, from Armenia’s northern Tavush region, played in the
1920s and 1930s and had quite a reputation. For that reason they were
known as the Tarchunts clan. He found out about his great grandfather
only after he chose the instrument.
Voskanyan attended music school for seven years, graduating in 2003.
In the following year, he began his studies at Yerevan State
University, majoring in art history. He subsequently joined the State
Ensemble of the Folk Musical Instruments of Armenia as first tarist.
During his tenure with them he matured as a composer.
He also was featured in a band called Colors of Music, consisting of
12 members, all students from the music conservatory. But the group
faced various financial and technical issues commonly related to
large ensembles and it folded.
He has performed in such countries as Egypt, Sweden, Georgia, Russia
and Finland, where his acoustic project called Voices For Peace played
a concert.
Miqayel can also play the oud, but not like a professional. He has
also experimented the saz and guitar.
When he plays the tar very fast, which is a commonly accepted
practice, the performance sounds reminiscent of a taksim, the
fast improvisational playing adopted by oud masters, but it is not
intentional, he says.
He has another undertaking he calls a “mixed art project,” combining
tar with acoustic guitar and cello, playing infrequently. They perform
his own compositions as well as national folk songs along with music
attributed to Komitas, with new arrangements.
He describes his music as “ethnic jazz” or “folk fusion,” two monikers
being used today to classify the commingling of folk and jazz. Then
he started to study classical music and jazz, from mainstream to
free-John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Michel Petrucciani, Weather Report,
Miles Davis and Mike Stern he sites as influences. He is also crazy
about Beethoven, especially the symphonies, and appreciates Mozart,
Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky.
He believes it is very important for a musician to listen to melodies
from other nations and to discover how and why music evolved the way
it did.
“All kinds of music styles can be found in classic jazz due to
improvisation-while you’re playing you’re inventing things off the top
of your head and thus composing, and that helps you create,” he said.
For him improvisation in music is a natural process, and he has been
improvising for five to six years. He has participated in jazz jam
sessions-at first he was timid but he worked hard to make it sound
proper. He once had the pleasure of playing with Vahakn Hayrapetyan
and Arto Tuncboyacıyan.
Voskanyan cites music of other cultures, such as Indian and Persian,
as having an impact on his own, and he also acknowledges a Latin
influence. Arabic taksims and music from African nations have made
a lasting impression on him.
Miqayel & Friends at a jazz festival in Gyumri July 2013/ Courtesy
Miqayel Voskanyan Miqayel & Friends at a jazz festival in Gyumri July
2013/ Courtesy Miqayel Voskanyan
Miqayel & Friends took shape in 2010 when they gave occasional
concerts. He was once asked to play one of his own compositions and
he invited some friends to accompany him. That venture evolved into
a band, and they played their first concert on March 16, 2012 under
the current name that stuck. The band members include David Melkonyan,
alto saxophone; Arman Peshtmaljian, keyboards; Gurgen Ebejyan, bass;
Movses Ebejyan, drums; and Eduard Harutyunyan, percussion.
One of Voskayan’s main goals in performing the tar is to promote it,
both internationally and especially in Armenia where many, especially
the youth, can’t tell it apart from a kamancha. He wants to make
Armenian folk instruments accessible to the youth by playing the
tar in such a way that will gain rightful appreciation. Armenian
folk music has not really evolved in the last 50 years or so, and
as a result the genre has earned a predictable, retro flair. And not
everyone wants to hear that.
“Armenian classical music has nowhere to transform,” Voskayan said.
“You need to play in a style that always promotes room for development,
that will never grow old. New national compositions are necessary to
help make that happen.
“Everything has to have its time. The melodies have to remain, they’re
important, but the way in which they are presented and performed has
to change.”
Voskanyan wants to start recording an album but needs financial
backing and a producer to make that happen. In the mean time he is
trying to raise the funds on his own to begin. Many fans ask for a
compact disc at the end of a show.
“The time has come for us to have a recording,” he said.
There perhaps isn’t a club in Yerevan in which the band hasn’t
performed. They are limited to playing the same venues repeatedly due
to limited scope and appeal. Voskanyan wants the band to participate
in international festivals. Most recently they entered the Made in
New York Jazz Competition, which allows people to vote for their
favorite act online. The winner will be announced in September and
perform in the New York City Jazz Festival.
In the meantime, the band will keep performing every chance it gets.
The next gig will be at Yerevan’s Cascade on July 20.
“If you’re a musician, you must play for an audience,” he believes.
“You can’t stay away from performing. You also have to play a kind
of music that will cater to the aesthetic tastes of the listener.”
Watch Miqayel Voskanyan perform “Lusine” on the tar below:
http://www.ianyanmag.com/2013/07/17/reinventing-the-tar-miqayel-voskanyans-folk-music-quest/