ARMENIAN ENSEMBLE PERFORMS SUNDAY
By Samantha Ragland Contributing writer
The Post-Standard – Syracuse.com, NY
Sept 28 2007
John Chookasian, director of the award-winning Chookasian Armenian
Concert Ensemble, wants his homeland’s traditional music to be
remembered.
On Sunday, Chookasian and his eight-member ensemble will introduce
Central New Yorkers to a concert of Armenian music and dance. The
St. Paul Armenian Apostolic Church in Syracuse is the host of the
performance.
"We’re doing this for preservation purposes," says Chookasian,
premier clarinetist, from his home in Fresno, Calif.
He adds that arts funding for his troupe, especially for a world music
group not in the mainstream, is difficult to obtain. The musician
hopes for future support from businesses, arts organizations and
universities.
Chookasian says ensemble members immigrated to America so they could
continue to perform. In Armenia, communism financially supported
artists, and when the country became a democracy, musicians were
without funding, he says during a phone interview. So few young people
pursue the arts as a career, Chookasian says.
Besides the traditional music at Sunday’s concert, Chookasian’s wife,
Barbara, will sing songs from 350 years ago. Folk dances also will
be part of the show, including the Halay, a 2,000-year-old war dance.
The ensemble’s instruments are a major attraction, Chookasian says.
"The folk instruments are rarely seen, rarely heard, and their shapes
are also very unique. The evolution of these instruments is very
unique to the cultures they came from."