Dedicated to the 250th anniversary of America’s founding, this is the fourth in a series titled “Armenian Arts in America,” exploring the history and impact of Armenians in the arts in the United States. Whether born in the U.S. or immigrants, Armenians have made an indelible mark on American arts.
When thinking of Armenians in the music industry, a few big names likely come to mind. But this community’s involvement has more breadth and depth than one might expect.
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Great article
Enjoyed it very much !!!!
Sam KAPREILIAN
Nice article, no mention of Leo Derderian MA/DC: his contributions to the VOA, just saying.
As an avid listener and follower of the Armenian folk music what I have discovered and found interesting over the years is the fact that there is such a sharp contrast between the musical instruments used by Armenian musicians from the western part of the homeland as opposed to those used by musicians from the eastern part of the homeland or contemporary Armenia. For example, while the string instrument Oud is frequently used in western and most often as the dominant sound, I almost never see it used in eastern. It is just about non-existent in eastern. Even if it does exist it is always in the background. Similarly, I never see the Middle Eastern style drum or “dumbek” (dhol or davul in Armenian) and variations of it in the eastern either. While the use of clarinet is widespread in both western and eastern, it is just about never used in folk music in eastern either. Our traditional and authentic wind instruments dominate our folk music in eastern. It is always our most ancient wind instrument the Duduk (Դուդուկ as it is known in Armenian and Christened with the beautiful name of Tsiranapogh [Tsiran-a-pogh] or Ծիրանափող by the late Duduk master Jivan Gasparyan which loosely translates to Apricot Pipe) along with the Zurna (Զուռնա), Pku (Պկու a Zurna-like wind instrument with an animal horn fitted to the bottom bell), Shvi (Շվի loosely translated to a Whistle) and even Parkapzuk (Պարկապզուկ or Bagpipe) that are the dominant sounds in our eastern versions of our folk music. The sounds and styles of play, in both western and eastern, give totally different vibes. To me, the western style is Armenian with slight Middle Eastern touch while the eastern style is distinctively Armenian. This is just a personal opinion but I consider the Duduk as the father of the Armenian folk music. If it is absent from it I feel like it is incomplete. Among many, some of my most favorite Armenian folk music groups, both traditional and contemporary and by the way mostly not from America, are the Agunk Ethnographic Folk Ensemble (founded in 1974), the Shoghaken Ensemble (1991), the Armenian Navy Band (1998), the Element Band (2005), the Gata-Band and the Ethnic-Colors. My most favorite western style band is Onnik and Ara Dinkjian father and son band!