The Washington Post
February 8, 2008 Friday
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SHOGHAKEN ENSEMBLE "Music From Armenia" Traditional Crossroads

GEVORG DABAGHYAN "Lost Songs From Eden" Traditional Crossroads

KARINE HOVHANNISYAN "Classical Music for the Armenian Kanun"
Traditional Crossroads

WEEKEND; Pg. WE16

ARMENIAN MUSIC IS neither precisely Eastern nor Western, but in the
Soviet era it was tugged toward Moscow’s symphonic tastes. Since
1991, the Shoghaken Ensemble has been pulling the other way,
exploring traditional forms and instruments.

"Music From Armenia," the group’s latest album, includes dance tunes,
a cappella ballads and instrumental solos by Gevorg Dabaghyan,
Shoghaken’s founder and a master of the duduk (a double-reed pipe).
Generally more reminiscent of Turkish than Persian styles, the pieces
can be kinetic yet courtly. With two singers and seven
instrumentalists, the troupe is versatile but never overstated. Its
sound is spare and airy, with each musical element featured in turn.
A fine example is the captivating "Melodies of Karabagh," which opens
with breathy duduk, segues into a jiglike passage and ultimately
spotlights all the players.

According to some legends, Armenia was the site of the Garden of
Eden, which explains the title of Dabaghyan’s CD "Lost Songs From
Eden." The album reclaims a few of the thousands of folk melodies
collected a century ago by musicologist Komitas, as performed by
Dabaghyan. Although Dabaghyan is joined by a string quartet, the
music retains its pastoral charm. A student of Turkish and Kurdish
music as well as Armenian, Komitas was no purist, and the range of
the tunes he collected can be heard in these 14 examples. Much of the
music is plaintive and has an Eastern modality, as illustrated by the
lovely "Hov Areq, Sarer Jan." But there are also a few dance numbers,
notably "Shakhkr-Shukhkr," that could slip right into a Celtic band’s
repertoire.

Composer Khachatur Avetisyan, who died in 1996, was also an advocate
of Armenian folk music. He wrote often for the kanun, a form of
zither played in the Shoghaken Ensemble by Karine Hovhannisyan. A
showcase for both the composer and the musician, "Classical Music for
the Armenian Kanun" includes an Avetisyan concerto for kanun and
orchestra and several shorter pieces (including some collected by
Komitas). If the concerto is a solid but predictable exercise in
yoking together folk and symphonic music, some of the shorter pieces
are outstanding. The album’s most impressive introduction to the
kanun’s metallic sound is "Shalako," a spirited Georgian dance that
demonstrates just how briskly Hovhannisyan’s fingers can move.

— Mark Jenkins

Appearing Monday at St. Mark Presbyterian Church, Rockville
(301-754-3611, ). Show starts at 7:30.