“AI Studio" was an exciting series of zoom meetings and workshops funded by the Arts Council England. The Music series are Lecture-Demonstrations on different aspects of Armenian music each led by experts in their field, including sacred, classical, contemporary, folk and popular music.
Music with Aram and Virginia Kerovpyan
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.
Music with Arik Grigoryan
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.
The Odyssey of the Armenian Badarak Chants
Haig Utidjian traces the development of the melodies of the badarak from early manuscript sources using the Armenian “khaz” notation, to the nineteenth century, when melodies sung in Venice, India and Constantinople were written using a new Armenian system and Western notation. Adaptation by Bianchini, Komitas, Ekmalian and others followed. In this lecture they will be discussed, with the help of musical demonstrations, culminating in the orchestral concert suite arranged by Zareh Sahakiants – representing the distillation of almost one thousand years of creation, transmission and interpretation.
Musical Nationalism – Levon Chilingirian
Levon Chilingirian, leader of the world-renowned Chilingirian Quartet, is Professor of Violin and Chamber Music Artist in Residence at the Royal Academy of Music (London) and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (London).
Beginning with Armen Tigranian’s Anoush Opera, Levon Chilingirian explores the uses of traditional folk music in European classical forms of composition. These composers were active in the creation of modern national identities across Europe, combining the instrumentation and structures of a shared European tradition with local folk song and dance. Excerpts from composers as diverse as Khachaturian, Babajanyan, Enescu, Greig, Dvorak, Vaughan Williams, Bartok and Mansurian will be played and discussed, looking at their varied approaches.