Soul Music: Gasparian sounds the spirit of Armenia

[MosJan]

Soul Music: Gasparian sounds the spirit of Armenia

By Gayane Abrahamian

ArmeniaWeek reporter

 

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The music of Armenian culture, nation and its dark history is the sound of duduk. This Armenian icon, made of apricot wood and usually recognized by its funereal timbre is the old friend and companion of Jivan Gasparian.

 

And Jivan Gasparian is the face of Armenian duduk, whose recent contributions to film scores such as "Gladiator" has brought new attention to the largely-unknown wind instrument. In concerts across the world, Gasparian has given an ancient instrument new audiences.

 

The maestro, who lives in Yerevan, recently talked to ArmeniaWeek about his long acquaintance with this peculiar instrument.

 

"I have been attracted by the duduk starting from my childhood," Gasparian says. "It was 1943. My mother passed away, and my father was at the war. I was only eight. In those days silent movies at the movie theater were accompanied by duduk music.

 

"Once I'd heard it I fell in love with it. After the movie had finished I approached duduk player Margar Margarian and asked him to give me a duduk. He replied: 'Go, learn something, find a job and become someone'."

 

But the sound of duduk had pierced the soul of the young Jivan too deeply. And he became someone with the help of this instrument.

 

"I gathered bottles and handed them over for recycling," Gasparian recalls with a nostalgic smile. "Then I went to Margar Margarian holding a lot of 20 kopeck coins in my palm. I gave these kopecks to him and told him to give me a duduk.

 

"He didn't take my money of course. He silently kissed my forehead and gave me a duduk. I saw him several months later and played the duduk in front of him. His eyes filled with tears.

 

"He took a better duduk out of his pocket, gave it to me and said 'continue playing, you will become someone'."

 

Margarian, the famous duduk player of that time could have had no idea that his words would become prophetic not only for Jivan Gasparian, but also for duduk music. Nor could he have expected that the duduk would be wondrously redefined in Gasparian's hands and would even touch the cold heart of Josef Stalin.

 

"Once, after a concert, Stalin was very moved and presented me with a watch," Gasparian says, laughing. "We sold it the next day with my friends and drank a good portion of beer."

 

Gasparian has since become an ambassador for Armenia with his duduk, invited to play even by the government of Turkey last year despite the fact that there are no formal relations between the two countries.

 

"I discussed this invitation (from the Turkish Ministry of Culture) with the Minister of Internal Affairs (of Armenia)," Gasparian says. "He advised me to accept, because things artists were able to do, ministers and ambassadors weren't."

 

An audience of 10,000 gave Gasparian a standing ovation.

 

"While giving an interview to several TV companies I was asked where am I from," Gasparian says. "I told them that my grandfathers were from Mush (formerly in Armenia) and they emigrated to Eastern Armenia in the years of the Genocide. The word 'genocide' caused some confusion, but there weren't arguments given."

 

At the end of his concert tour in Turkey, Gasparian recorded a CD with Turkish guitarist Erkan Oghur where he included Armenian compositions.

 

Recordings by Gasparian have earned six gold medals in international competition and even crossed into the pop music world in 1987 when ambient sound pioneer Brian Eno became interested in the Armenian's music.

 

In 1990 Gasparian was invited to London and gave a two-hour concert. This led to a 15-day recording session at pop artist Peter Gabriel's home, during which Gasparian did duduk improvisations of rock music.

 

Gasparian has also collaborated with Lionel Richie, Andreas Vollenweidel and the Kronos Quartet.

 

The music of Jivan Gasparian has been heard in 17 European and American movies, 2000's "Gladiator" (the first film to be played in Yerevan's renovated Moscow Cinema) being the latest.

 

"The composer of 'Gladiator', Hans Zimmer wanted me to perform his music from the beginning," Gasparian says. "But he couldn't find me for a very long time.

 

"When I went to record, Hans told me that he had a surprise for me. The table in the room was full of Armenian food such as basturma and sujukh.

 

"We started a recording with a young and gifted singer, a duet and some improvising. When I went out of the recording room I saw this girl sitting on the stairs, sobbing. She told me with tears in her eyes that her mother was Armenian and her grandmother had told her a lot about the Genocide. 'I had an impression that we were telling the tortures of our nation through music', she told me."

 

William Saroyan once said that Jivan Gasparian's music "sounds like a prayer".

 

From an apricot tree to Hollywood, it is a prayer with a distinct voice from Armenia's ambassador of music.

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Photos Courtesy of Jivan Gasparian

 

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