ARMENIAN LULLABIES
Hasmik Harutyunyan with
The Shoghaken Ensemble

CD 4321

 

 

 

 CD cover
 
Singer Hasmik Harutyunyan is renowned for her mellifluous renditions of the Armenian lullaby, one of the oldest and richest genres in Armenian music.  Here she sings acapella and accompanied by instrumentalists from Armenia's Shoghaken Ensemble.  Their quiet, haunting interpretations of lullabies from historical villages across the Armenian plateau offer a mesmerizing glimpse at a lost world.

Harutyunyan consciously preserves the differences in regional dialect, style and musical modes that make the Armenian lullaby such a rich genre.  Well known in Armenia for her lullaby performances (her renditions of Kessabi Oror, track 9, and Nani Bala, track 11, are often broadcast on Armenian National Radio), she learned the lullabies on this recording from old women who had emigrated from Anatolia to eastern Armenia before or during the Armenian massacres of 1915, as well as from their descendants and old song collections.
Includes extensive notes on the cultural history of the Armenian lullaby, lullaby translations and historical photos.

Hasmik Harutyunyan: voice
Tigran Ambaryan: kamancha, bambir
Artur Arakelyan: ud
Gevorg Dabaghyan: solo duduk
Karine Hovhannisyan: kanon
Grigor Takushian: dham duduk (drone)
Levon Tevanyan: shvi, tav shvi, blul

 

Hasmik Harutyunyan (vocals) is one of Armenia's best-known folk singers, specializing in the songs of Western Armenia.  Born in Yerevan in 1960, her ancestors are from the province of Mush in historical Armenia (present-day Turkey).  After graduating from the Arno Babajanian School of Music and the Yerevan State Pedagogical Institute, she worked for several years as a soloist in Armenian National Radio's Agoonk Ensemble.  As a member of the Shoghaken Ensemble she was featured as a soloist on The Music of Armenia (Celestial Harmonies) and has travelled throughout Armenia and Europe presenting Armenian folk music, including at the Armenia Festival in southern France in October 2000 and the Smithsonian Festival in Washington, DC in June 2002.  She is now the artistic director of the Hayrig Mouradian Children's Song and Dance Folklore Group.

The Shoghaken Ensemble, founded by Gevorg Dabaghyan in 1991, has become one of the preeminent traditional music ensembles in Armenia.  Dedicated to rediscovering and continuing Armenia's extraordinary folk music history, the group presents music from a broad geographical and historical span using traditional instruments and song styles.  The ensemble has performed extensively in Europe, Armenia and throughout the former Soviet Union.  The group recently performed on the soundtrack of Atom Egoyan's movie Ararat.  In the summer of 2002 Shoghaken performed at the Smithsonian Folk Festival in Washington, DC, and in the spring of 2004 the group performed in an 18-concert tour across the US, including concerts at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, Symphony Space in New York and the Annenberg Center in Philadelphia, as well as Harvard University, Cornell University, UC Berkeley and Dartmouth College.  Their recording Armenia Anthology (Traditional Crossroads CD 4311) won the AFIM/NARM award for best world music recording of the year in 2003.
 

REVIEWS

Praise for Hasmik Harutyunyan's singing on Armenia Anthology (CD 4311):

"it's a particular joy to hear the voice of Hasmik Harutyunyan, one of Armenia's best-known folk singers, with her rich, fresh and clear tone, and an ear finely tuned to the local modes"
--Songlines

"Hasmik Harutyunyan's vocals are deeply emotional"
--Dirty Linen

Also listen to Armenia Anthology

All text and audio © 2004 Traditional Crossroads.