Djivan Gasparyan

[MosJan]

WOMAD review: Djivan Gasparyan, Siam Tent, Midnight on Saturday

The world's number one duduk player creeps quietly into the spotlight just after midnight, dressed in his trademark embroidered blue velvet gown. Those expecting an ensemble with traditional kanon (trapezoid zither) and kamantcha (mulberry wood and fish skin fiddle) like those featured on his wonderful recent Armenian Fantasies CD are probably surprised by the sight of two other duduk players. Together they make up a kind of musical holy trinity. On Djivan's left sits second duduk player Armen Ghazaryan, and to his right is Vazgyan Makaryan, who plays the strange bass duduk Djivan invented. The small reed protector dangling from the mouthpiece like a cork on a string instantly sets it apart.

 

His colleagues set up mesmerising drones using an amazing circular breathing technique. It almost looks like they're swallowing air rather than pumping it out as bulging cheeks and throats pass parcels of air back and forth.

 

Djivan himself has a sweet almost boyish face despite a shock of grey hair and crows' feet that wrinkle up expressively as he squeezes out exquisite haunting melodies, sliding between notes with breathtaking grace and control. The set is dominated by the mournful minor makam (modes) which characterise much Armenian music, but there are also baroque sounding pieces with obvious regular meters and a more western feel. Halfway through, they drop in a curiously exotic little waltz, but it's nearly the end before Djivan begins to sing the stirring love song Siro Husher. Just as Louis Armstrong's voice was really an extension of his trumpet playing skills, Djivan Gasparyan sings as if he's playing the duduk - with superb mastery.

 

The concert closes with a sudden change of mood. It's comedy time in a duet featuring the sharp bird-like flute called a shvi, and then they bring out their raucous zurnas, which sound uncannily like snake charmers. He regularly does this at the end of gigs, and if it's intended to break the spell it works, but the effect is about as welcome as having to get out of bed after an orgasm. Mr Gasparyan is without doubt a master musician, but maybe he should ask himself whether that which goes down well at home is what a 'world music' audience really really wants.

 

Jon Lusk

[MosJan]

Artist: Djivan Gasparyan (Armenia)

Djivan Gasparyan is unquestionably one of Armenia's greatest musicians, a living legend. He is the foremost virtuoso of the duduk, an oboe-like instrument dating back to Armenia's pre-Christian times that is made of apricot wood and capable of sustaining drone notes for long periods of time. The duduk's range is only one octave; however, it requires considerable skill to play - its dynamics are controlled by constantly adjusting the lips and fingers. The duduk has a warm, soft, slightly nasal timbre and is used in both folk songs and dance music. In the hands of the master musician the duduk becomes the vehicle for the haunting and meditative music that eloquently evokes the Armenian landscape and its people.

 

Armenia's most famous folk musician was born in 1928 in Solag, a village near the Armenian capital Yerevan. He began to play the duduk at the age of six, gaining much of his knowledge by listening to the great masters. In 1948 he joined the Tatool Altounian National Song and Dance Ensemble and also had his first professional engagement as soloist with the Yerevan Philharmonic Orchestra. Djivan Gasparyan's duduk repertoire is primarily comprised of traditional Armenian folk songs. He is also an accomplished singer in the folk tradition and a composer. In addition to his original compositions and arrangements of traditional songs, he has written love songs based on the poetry of Vahan Derian.

 

Gasparyan won Gold Medals in four worldwide competitions organised by UNESCO in which he competed (1959, 1962, 1973 and 1980). He has the unique distinction of being the only musician to be given the honorary title of People's Artist of Armenia, which he received in 1973 from the Armenian Government. A professor at the Yerevan Conservatory, he has prepared over 70 duduk musicians for professional performance. He greatly enjoys teaching and it brings him joy to know that, through his efforts, the tradition of duduk playing will not be lost.

 

Gasparyan has toured Europe, Asia and the Middle East. In the USA he has performed extensively in New York and Los Angeles, where he appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, and has since received exposure to Western audiences via performances with the Kronos Quartet. His recording of a selection of Armenian folk songs and ballads entitled I Will Not Be Sad In This World (All Saints, 1989), dedicated to the victims of the Armenian earthquake, has received worldwide recognition. He has collaborated with Lional Richie and Peter Gabriel and has recorded soundtracks for the movies The Russian House and The Crow and Atom Egoyan's film Calendar, as well as for the American Hungarian cable television co-production Storm and Sorrow.