|
Home Contact: Phone: Email:
|
||
|
|
||
|
||||
|
Performer profiles | THREE SONGS from FAR FROM HOME | Brochure (PDF) |
||||
|
I was born in Vancouver, B.C. where the Armenian community is small. However, my culture has remained an integral, precious part of my life. My love for my heritage intensified when I decided to travel to and work as a volunteer in Armenia in the summer of 1998. I was the first one from my family to ever see the homeland. As I worked and ate and laughed with fellow Armenians during the week and then visited the country’s treasures -- the ancient churches, monasteries, and even Mount Ararat from afar -- on the weekends, my passion for my culture was deepened all the more. In 2002, I decided to take a leave of absence from a career I loved -- teaching -- to go back to Armenia with the hope of working with street children. I volunteered with 2 local non-governmental agencies in Yerevan, the capital city, and helped develop programs for the children. It was a life changing experience. When I returned to Vancouver, I found my job had disappeared. Surprisingly, another part of my life suddenly took control -- music. I have been singing all my life, whether at community events, in church or in choirs; music has always been one of my passions. I had developed a demo CD of four Armenian songs in the Fall of 2002 before I left for Armenia. When I returned home again, I met Adam Popowitz who became my producer and we applied for a grant from the Canada Council to make a recording of Armenian songs. To my amazement, I received a letter telling me that I had been awarded the grant. Early in 2004, I had completed the CD -- Far From Home. Most of the songs I sing and have recorded are hundreds of years old. They are all precious to me in some way. Many of the songs are love songs communicating one’s love for her beloved, or more often, one’s love for the Homeland. Most of the songs are my mother’s favourites, and having heard her sing them all my life, they have become favourites of mine. Finally, many of the songs are precious to me because they were merely words on paper when I first found them -- poems in an old tattered book that my mother has hung onto over the years, and I have brought them to life again. As I began to re-interpret each song and created new arrangements for them, I realized I was participating in the timeless tradition of passing down music to a new generation, ensuring that each song remains alive well into the future. Often having only a basic melody with which to work, I attempted to capture the original beauty of each piece while at the same time making each song my own. While the melody and lyrics for each song remain true to the original music, the harmonies, the arrangements, the accompaniments, the rhythms and the use of an assortment of ethnic and non-ethnic instruments are all new. Using the most basic elements: lyrics and a simple, at times non-transcribed melody, I wanted to breath new life into each song. After recording these songs, I organized a concert to celebrate the release of the album. To my amazement I was able to fill a three hundred-seat theatre. After witnessing such an overwhelming positive response at the CD release concert and after much praise for the album itself from non-Armenians and Armenians alike, I was encouraged to begin to take things a step further. Thus, I began to send the music to some of the programme hosts at CBC Radio. The purpose was to try to fulfill my original goal, which is to give a world audience, both Armenians and non-Armenians, the opportunity to experience the beauty of our music. I was delighted to hear Mayrigis/To My Mother in honour of Mother’s Day on Richardson’s Round-up. Jowi Taylor of Global Village and Philly Markowitz of Roots and Wings played some of the songs, as have Sheryl MacKay, Ede Wolk and Jurgen Gothe. The response from both the radio hosts and the audience has encouraged me to take the music as far as it will go. I have found musicians who can help me perform the music. Adam Popowitz, Elliot Polsky and Nick Apivor all are experienced performers who have toured widely. With them I hope to perform my music is as many places as I can. My dream has always been to share the story of my culture with as many people who want to listen. My grandparent’s story -- especially accounts of their faith, resilience, and hope despite the many obstacles that they endured -- and more recently, the plight of the street children in Armenia -- the very children who taught me some of the songs which are now on this album -- have inspired me. I long to share these stories with people as I, in turn, learn from what others have to say. As a teacher, I encouraged my students to embrace their cultural histories, and I shared my own culture with them through my personal experiences and through translations of Armenian poetry. And now, as a singer, I have the chance to share my culture with others through song. And as I pass on this music, these stories to others, I hope that people will be as enriched as I have been.
|
||||
