Arik Grigoryan will discuss the current revival of Armenian folk music and its contemporary interpretations. While many songs and melodies have been discovered and published by folklorists – just like archaeologists explore and discover old things, many of them are neglected. Arik Grigoryan will explain why and how they need to be rediscovered — and more importantly, recreated — in order to come back to life. His lecture will be accompanied by his own performances.

Arik is a founder of 3 bands, The Bambir, where he plays flute and is the songwriter; TmbaTa, which was created at Tumo Center for Creative Technologies for educational purposes; and Vishup, which explores folk and spiritual music.

You can join the meeting with these details on Zoom:

Meeting ID 893 7148 1871

Invite Link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89371481871

Email tato@armenianinstitute.org.uk if you have any questions about the sessions.

"Studio" is an exciting new series of zoom meetings and workshops about arts and culture.  The Music series are Lecture-Demonstrations on different aspects of Armenian music each led by experts in their field, beginning with sacred music. Future sessions include classical, contemporary, folk and popular music.  AI is grateful to Arts Council England for their support of the Studio Series.

MUSIC STUDIO - SESSION 1: Musical modes and the Armenian Eight-Mode system

A musical mode is a particular sound environment. It creates a specific auditory sensation resulting in a “state of being”, an ethos. Whereas modern Western music has only the major and minor "modes ", numerous musical modes exist in a very large region from the Balkans to India. Modes are much more than just a series of pitches but rather can be described as " a sound environment ".
In Armenian church music, these different sound environments are organized within a system called the Oktoechos, the Eight-Mode system, which is especially important as a system for organizing the cyclic liturgical calendar, on which the musical aspect largely depends.  The Armenian Eight-Mode system operates especially within the sharagan songs, a large repertoire of more than 1300 songs, almost all based on a variation system of melodic patterns according to the text.

During our meeting, we will listen to some examples and try to feel the sound environment created by each mode of the Oktoechos.

Aram Kerovpyan

Aram Kerovpyan, born in Istanbul, has lived in Paris since 1977 and holds a PhD in musicology. Co-founder of the Ensemble Kotchnak, he is also founder/director of the Centre for Armenian Modal Chant Studies of Paris, the Ensemble Akn and between 1990 and 2020, Master-singer of the Armenian Cathedral of Paris. He has published many books and articles on Armenian modal music and transmission and directs workshops with Virginia Pattie Kerovpyan, also working regularly as a concert artist and in theater.

Our Music Studio Sessions will be presented over 5 Lecture-demonstrations by different artists about various musical styles and directions. More details coming soon.

You can join the meeting with these details on Zoom:

Meeting ID: 818 4400 5280

Join Link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81844005280

THE EVENT IS FREE BUT BY DONATING BELOW YOU WILL SUPPORT SIMILAR PROGRAMMES, LECTURES AND WORKSHOPS IN THE FUTURE

Email tato@armenianinstitute.org.uk if you have any questions about the sessions.