Tamzara, Tammuz-ara?

[hagopn]

zartonk how do you know the "barahantes oud bands" decreased the tempo? maybe these saxophone and electric guitar guys in the video increased it (no offense to them)...maybe its like every other armenian song, you keep getting faster and faster as you play....as far as i know so called barahantes oud bands are the main proponents of the tamzara anyways.

 

Yes, you are correct, the tempo starts fast from the beginning due to time constraints put on us by the producers (it had to be under 4 minutes in total. The second half of a 6/8 dance is not shown on this youtube version.)

 

We were also told by the producers of the Telethon that we must be enthusiastic, loud, and fast, to keep with the "mood of the program." The producers they hired almost did not allow for this piece to be played. They wanted ALL ZURNA and DHOL, banging and buzzing away all day. Fortunately, some alternate sounds were squeezed in.

 

You are correct, in the Armenian tradition, which is the case everywhere in Armenia for this dance, you start in a slow tempo, perhaps 80 per quarter note, nad increase to 144 or so per quarter note at the end.

 

We had 2 rehearsals, and these guys did not know this piece. I had to improvise the easiest and simplest form I knew from childhood (my mother sang this version) and have the band learn it in 1 week (2 rehearsals).

 

It's not the best performace to my desire, but it is better than any nintendo keyboard performance. At least it's a live band!

 

The keyboard plays BRASS sounds that I didn't want, but that is the sickness of keyboard players: They think that they can make any sound, brass, strings, woodwinds, but they actuall can't do any thing except keyboard sounds with any competence.

 

The greatest killer of Armenian culture by far has been the keyboard/sampler/synthesizer. The second biggest killer is the cheap minded DJ.

 

I will be putting out these types of music more under control in the future. I am working on an ethnographic album now. There are really good dances recorded by Komitas and saniks.

 

Also, the comment about "Komitas having composed" needs to be correct: Komitas COLLECTED folk music and later did arrangements for mainly Choir and Piano. Later still, the Aslamzian string quartet, which came to be eventually named the Komitas Quartet, popularized that sort of arrangement of COLLECTED FOLK MUSIC.

 

In other words, KOMITAS does have Tamzaras written down as well, but his student, SPIRIDON MELIKIAN is the one that did more such work. He continued where Komitas left off when it came to DANCE FORMS and Dance music.

Edited February 2, 2008 by hagopn

[Arpa]

BTW. That tune is known as (correct me, I'll make up some of the words)

"Khal yeres@d ala e, batsvats karmir lala e.

....

Yerku siroun aghavni tarel en doshid vera,

Sev mazer@d ijel en yeresid khalin vera".???

 

Perhaps a play of words on "halay".

Edited February 2, 2008 by Arpa

[Arpa]

As long as we are talkiing about Tamzara/Tamuz Ara. Something has caught my attention for a long time.

Why is it that every clip we see shows group dance, be it by professionl dancers or...Every party that I have been I have never succeeded to form a chain dance?

If they know how to dance this way...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJrooRA9Mv8&NR=1

Yet, every party that I have ben or seen, natives of Yerevan, or for that matter Nor Jugha never dance in unsion chain form, but always pretend to dance solo, perhaps ala-Arabic Belly-dance?

One of many

Or, is chain dance a creation of the American Armenians of Sasoun and Sebastia ancestry?

Edited February 3, 2008 by Arpa

[hagopn]

I listened to some more tamzara from U tube

I found some more interpretations from Turks and they all sound as if they own this "halay"

 

Why do they sound as if they "own this halay?" Because they make is sound more "yazva zevzek?" Therefore, if you inject more nasal/ornamental yezan trik as "emotions" into something, then you "own it?"

 

Turkish "culture" on Asia Minor is almost exclusively Armenian in origins, and this is especially true of the music.

 

If you can find ethnographic material that demonstrates similar musical backgrounds among those taking their shit in yurts in Khazakhstan, then let me know.

 

The odd meter dances are all, ALL Armenian in origin. Much of the damn Turkish Ottoman language is Armenian in origin.

 

 

[hagopn]

As long as we are talkiing about Tamzara/Tamuz Ara. Something has caught my attention for a long time.

Why is it that every clip we see shows group dance, be it by professionl dancers or...Every party that I have been I have never succeeded to form a chain dance?

If they know how to dance this way...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJrooRA9Mv8&NR=1

Yet, every party that I have ben or seen, natives of Yerevan, or for that matter Nor Jugha never dance in unsion chain form, but always pretend to dance solo, perhaps ala-Arabic Belly-dance?

Or, is chain dance a creation of the American Armenians of Sasoun and Sebastia ancestry?

 

No, it just means that they are ignorant and have mostly forgotten their dances in the Khalkh (villager thrusted into urban) setting.

 

A while back we had this "professor of music" from a university in california pretend that she sees "psychological reasons" as to why the Tigranakerttsi dance "solo with their hands to the sky," versus the Musa Lertsi who are "more grounded in their circle dances." it would be easier and more accurate to say that the urbanite has forgotten the dances.

 

 

 

[Arpa]

Therefore, if you inject more nasal/ornamental "yezan trik" as "emotions" into something, then you "own it?"

Hagop, do you have legal papers entitling you to use my trademark phrase?

[hagopn]

Hagop, do you have legal papers entitling you to use my trademark phrase?

 

Hah! It's been public property since at least the first domesticated cow on Armenian soil around 10,000 b.c.--

[Ashot]

Arpa it looks like Wikipedia is out of sources now they have to put All Armenian Yezan Trik in their websites - did they get a legal authorization from Armenia to put that picuter on wiki???

[hagopn]

The future of Armenian folk music http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPjsBsz4trk

 

Thank you DJs and Keyboard Players!!

[vartanUSA]

So keyboard/drum machine "Nintendo" Tamzara is more appreciated than 7 piece band. LOL

 

As I HAVE ALREADY INDICATED ABOVE, there are collections of Tamzara and other odd meter dances by Spiridon Melikian, a student of Komitas. He's the best source, if you can find his publish material, for Tamzara. I can scan them and sent them to you if you wish.

thanks

[aghzar]

I agree with Hagop the death of our music is the "nintendo keyboard players" who somehow our other friend has appreciated more than the greek band however out of tune they may be. Also in reference to Arpa's comment that she sees noone dancing "shourch bar" at Armenian parties, i must say that at every Armenian party i have ever been to there is an awful lot of line dancing going on. In fact it tends to be the main form of dancing. Maybe it is because i am in fact "Armenian American of Sepastia ancestry", which she also refers to.

 

Although the shourch bar is better, it is not entirely true that the "freestyle" dance is non-Armenian. First of all where i come from we refer to freestyle dance as "tek bar" which comes from turkish word "tek" meaning solo. But recently i discovered in "Hnutiunk Agna" which is a compendium of the various folklore and customs of Agn (written in 1895 by a man who grew up in Agn in the 1850s), there is an extended explanation by the author of this type of dancing, which the author refers to as "tevkhagh". Of course, in actuality tevkhagh is a better name than "tek" bar because the dance is not solo but is done across from a partner, and the arm movements are key. in fact gomidas transcribed some "tevkhaghner" in his collection of agn folk songs.

 

Still, where i come from let it be noted that line/circle dancing is considered the "real" dancing and is associated with the music of bands playing actual instruments (oud clarinet dumbeg kanun etc) as in this clip :

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX6eZx9u4KQ

 

(this video is in fresno but i am not from there. the video is richard hagopian and his band at khaghoghorhnek in fresno. the people are dancing the shourch bar tamzara as you can see. the music is the Kghi variation of tamzara)

 

while the music of "nintendo keyboard players" is associated with "tek bar" and generally with Armenians who have newly immigrated to this country. a common complaint among 2nd, 3rd gen. armenian americans about armenian pop music is "you cant dance to it, you can only tak bar to it".

 

It is a singular fact that while the "old line" armenian american community has lost the armenian language we have managed to preserve this musical and dancing culture more than most other groups. not to disparage others of course, since the genocide every region of the diaspora seems to have strongly preserved that which they felt was important or that which they loved in our culture. or, that which it was feasible to preserve in the countries they were living in.

 

as to the comments on gomidas i was just joking around. yes i know gomidas did not compose (in general) he collected. i was joking around and pointing out that some seem to hold a purist view of armenian music that it was given down by God to gomidas as the alphabet was given to mesrop, on a tablet like the ten commandments however i do understand the value of getting to the basic melody of the song and im sorry if it seemed rude. actually, the one mr. frounjian is playing on his keyboard is pretty close although somehow the keyboard makes it sound a little arabic, but he leaves out the section which in american music terminology we would call the "bridge". if you look at frounjian, and at these two

 

 

 

you will get an idea, all three are attempting to play basically the same version of tamzara. actually the greek musicians in "mezzo mezzo" begin by playing the "bridge" of this version, then they segueway into another version. hagop's version is a good one too. his version is also available on CD by mr. tom bozigian. however, out of all recordings which i own, the most common tamzara and the one on the oldest recordings seems to be the one i have given examples of. of course, this is coming from the armenian american community and more likely than not mine is simply the kharpert tamzara, due to kharpertsi dominance in the foundation of the armenian american community everything from kharpert becomes "standard". in the "tamuz ara" video they say the song is from yerznga but i think they mean the dance steps, not the melody. i dont know anything about tamzara in "eastern" armenia but perhaps they play hagop's version. i do think that tamzara in fact originates in yerznga.

 

 

hagop you seem to be doing good stuff for our music and i applaud your efforts. i didnt mean to seem critical by saying "saxophone players" after all i was responding not to you but to zartonk. vartan i also wish you luck even if you play keyboard its ok music is still music its all about the spirit

[Arpa]

I agree with Hagop the death of our music is the "nintendo keyboard players" who somehow our other friend has appreciated more than the greek band however out of tune they may be. Also in reference to Arpa's comment that she sees noone dancing "shourch bar" at Armenian parties, i must say that at every Armenian party i have ever been to there is an awful lot of line dancing going on. In fact it tends to be the main form of dancing. Maybe it is because i am in fact "Armenian American of Sepastia ancestry", which she also refers to.

===

hagop you seem to be doing good stuff for our music and i applaud your efforts. i didnt mean to seem critical by saying "saxophone players" after all i was responding not to you but to zartonk. vartan i also wish you luck even if you play keyboard its ok music is still music its all about the spirit

Arps is a HE. Look here- http://hyeforum.com/index.php?showtopic=1539&hl=arpa

I don’t think you read my comment in its proper context, or if you did you did it with prejudice.

Please read again and see that I specifically cited Yerevanites. I did not talk about Fresno, Boston, Detroit etc.

I have been to many parties both in the diaspora and in Yerevan and I know what I am talking about. In fact , chain dancing ala Sebastia is mostly danced in America, even those living in the Middle East would rather dance solo or at best duet with both partners waving their arms in the air, hardly touching, I.e. ala Arabic etc. which is nothing but some form of belly dancing.

Read my comment again and observe the video I posted where it shows that natives of Armenia do know how to chain dance, also observe that the dance is either Sebastatsi or Msshetsi, also observe that the dancers are all mature people 60 or 70 something years old, except that young man, they had probably learned it from their Sebastatsi ancestores.

Once again, I think you read my comment with prejudice because you intended to defend and advertise those so called Armenian ala turqa bands.. And, as to your list of so called “Armenian instruments” (You did not list duduk, shvi, kamancha, tar, dhol and zurna), I will leave that aside since we have spoken about them on numerous occasions.

Obviously , you seem to be involved in the so called “Armenian” bands, and surely you know more about the subject than I do. My question . Why is it that those who know how to play the clarinet don’t play the duduk, those who can play the violin don’t play the kamancha, those who can play the oud/guitar don’t play the tar, those who can play the dumber don’t play the dhol, add to that the keyboard and the accordion , perfect instruments for a Polish Polka fest….and ad infinitum???

I was at a wedding in California where the grrom was Armenian and the bride a Korean. The oud player played a Korean tune , much to the delight of the Korean guest who all got up and performed the fan dance. Did that make the oud a Korean instrument? Does playing Armenian tunes on the oud make it an Armenian instruent? Playing Armenian tunes on the piano make it a genuine, native Armenian instrument?

In all fairness. Just as we criticise the natives of Yerevan for not dancing in a chain, we can also cemmend the folk bands that use traditional Armenian instruments like the tar, the kamancha, the duduk, the dhol and… yes, the kanon, not oud, not dumbek.

Did you see the Shoghaken Ensemble that toured the US recently? How many clarinets and dumbeks did they have?

I can talk about this sore subject forever. So, shut me up!

PS. Should you also watch the video of “Armenian playing the zarb” Note that the word “zarb” is Arabic also pronounced as “darb” as in “darbukka” which simply means “to hit/zarnel/harnel”

Edited February 19, 2008 by Arpa

[Takoush]

God bless my father's soul; on a similar sumbject sorry to deviate from the topic above, but my father used to get quite upset when we used to go to "barahanteses" Armenian dances in Canada or in the US and a great many musicians would play and sing turkish songs. Yet some of the Middleeastern Armenians would prefer to dance Arabic dances on Meshetsi or Sepastatsi songs and tunes. It's really ridiculas and pretty much making mockery of our Armenian heritage "nazeli" or "lerentsi" dances that are supposed to be just that, ARMENIAN and not Arabic or Turkish.

[aghzar]

Arps is a HE. Look here- http://hyeforum.com/index.php?showtopic=1539&hl=arpa

-sorry, i guess i figured it came from "arpi" so you were a she. my apologies

 

I don’t think you read my comment in its proper context, or if you did you did it with prejudice.

Please read again and see that I specifically cited Yerevanites. I did not talk about Fresno, Boston, Detroit etc.

I have been to many parties both in the diaspora and in Yerevan and I know what I am talking about. In fact , chain dancing ala Sebastia is mostly danced in America, even those living in the Middle East would rather dance solo or at best duet with both partners waving their arms in the air, hardly touching, I.e. ala Arabic etc. which is nothing but some form of belly dancing.

 

-sorry, since you said "every party i have been to" i assumed you meant in america. i wasnt really responding to you so much as i was just continuing the conversation. i dont intend to debate you. chain dancing "ala sepastia" is indeed mostly danced in America as you said, and i was just agreeing with that.

 

The "duet dance" you mention is a completely different issue. many believe it is "a form of belly dancing" as you say, and i am inclined to agree with that. however, very recently i discovered the book i cited, and it seemed to consider this to be armenian as well. i am not saying whether that book is correct, but i figured i would share what i had recently read on the subject. i agree with you that shourch bar is better, more authentic and even more armenian. as to whether the other is "not" armenian - well, i guess we can assume it isn't until we prove it is.

 

Read my comment again and observe the video I posted where it shows that natives of Armenia do know how to chain dance, also observe that the dance is either Sebastatsi or Msshetsi, also observe that the dancers are all mature people 60 or 70 something years old, except that young man, they had probably learned it from their Sebastatsi ancestores.

-Weren't you just trying to prove that people in Armenia DON'T chain-dance? haha..but i agree, i have been there and seen people chain-dance so i know that they also do that, but once again as we have agreed on its more propagated in america, than in armenia. and certainly its more propagated among the longer established group in america, rather than those from the middle east. nice video by the way. it appears to be a kochari or as we call it haleh (ok please no need to comment that i called it hale by the way hale or halay is not a turkish word as the turks claim its a kurdish word i think.) anyways, whats your point. They learned it from their western-armenian ancestors, we learned it from our western-armenian ancestors, i dont understand where the disagreement is. The only difference is that its been propagated more to young people in America.

 

Once again, I think you read my comment with prejudice because you intended to defend and advertise those so called Armenian ala turqa bands.. And, as to your list of so called “Armenian instruments” (You did not list duduk, shvi, kamancha, tar, dhol and zurna), I will leave that aside since we have spoken about them on numerous occasions.

-yes my list of instruments was the list which those "ala turka" bands as you call them, play. without reference to whether those instruments are armenian, i was simply listing them to demonstrate the type of bands i am talking about. in fact i do wish to defend those 'alaturka' bands, because it is my argument that whether or not they have been "turkified" they have still done more to promote armenian folk music and folk dance AMONG THE PEOPLE in the United States. all other armenian music is either 1. pop music which comes from beirut or los angeles and instead of leaning turkish, leans to arabic and european, and in dancing it promotes the "duet dance" OR 2. armenian so called "pure" folk music which you seem to favor, unfortunately this type of music is only propagated on the theater stage and the same goes for the dances that go with it. these dances are not real dances but are based on folk dances and choreographed for the stage by professionals. its made into a performance art for watching and listening, instead of a dance band. i love those groups and their music and i think it is a great accomplishment of the armenian people. it is like our "classical" music. but it is not the music of the common people. they do not play at weddings.

 

Obviously , you seem to be involved in the so called “Armenian” bands, and surely you know more about the subject than I do. My question . Why is it that those who know how to play the clarinet don’t play the duduk, those who can play the violin don’t play the kamancha, those who can play the oud/guitar don’t play the tar, those who can play the dumber don’t play the dhol, add to that the keyboard and the accordion , perfect instruments for a Polish Polka fest….and ad infinitum???

 

- first of all, accordion is more asssociated with hayastantsi music where they have clarinet dhol and accordion such as this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYaCNH6By4w

 

actually, i bring this up, because i think this clarinet-accordion music is the eastern-armenian equivalent of our western-armenian so called "ala turka" oud-clarinet bands.

 

I was at a wedding in California where the groom was Armenian and the bride a Korean. The oud player played a Korean tune , much to the delight of the Korean guest who all got up and performed the fan dance. Did that make the oud a Korean instrument? Does playing Armenian tunes on the oud make it an Armenian instruent? Playing Armenian tunes on the piano make it a genuine, native Armenian instrument?

In all fairness. Just as we criticise the natives of Yerevan for not dancing in a chain, we can also cemmend the folk bands that use traditional Armenian

instruments like the tar, the kamancha, the duduk, the dhol and… yes, the kanon, not oud, not dumbek.

 

-Listen, i dont want to argue about where these instruments came from. when our people came to america they had whatever instruments they could get their hands on and that was passed down to the present day to us. some of them indeed came from the old country. in western armenia (sepastia, yerznga, kharpert, etc.) they did in fact play the oud and kanun from arabia, and the european violin and clarinet, along with the earlier tambourine, davul zurna, saz, kamani, etc. In the same way, the instruments tar, santur, kamancha were brought to caucasian armenia from persia - (although it was earlier in history, and with enough time for such a one as sayat nova to come along and immortalize them.)

 

anyways, even if we put the instrument issue aside, i think its pathetic to criticize these bands, because if you abolish them, their place will not be taken by your duduks, dhols, shvis - no, their place will just be taken by electric sythnesizers, drum machines, and the shourch-bar will be replaced by the "ala arabic" belly-dance which you and i agree would be bad. listen these are talented musicians who worked for so many years in their spare time (of course they didnt make a living off of it and get enough money to snort cocaine like harout p.), on weekends, just for love of the music, to preserve what they could of their traditions of their forefathers. its true they brought a lot of turkish stuff with it but if they hadn't done so music would be split between duduks on a concert stage with noone dancing and then synthesizer at the weddings with people "belly dancing" - which is happening in yerevan today as you have said.

 

there are two reasons i like this style of music: A. oud and clarinet take skills to play and are better than synthesizer, B. its through this music that we have preserved our folk songs and dances, and done so among the people as opposed to on the concert hall stage.

 

Did you see the Shoghaken Ensemble that toured the US recently? How many clarinets and dumbeks did they have?

 

-well, they did have an OUD!! oh, so now are ouds O.K. just because they played one?

 

I can talk about this sore subject forever. So, shut me up!

PS. Should you also watch the video of “Armenian playing the zarb” Note that the word “zarb” is Arabic also pronounced as “darb” as in “darbukka” which simply means “to hit/zarnel/harnel”

 

zarb is persian too.

 

by the way if you respond to this i am not going to respond back i dont have time to think about this anymore. i have said what i have to say and perhaps you have also. i do not mean any offense to you since i do not even know you.

 

in any case, hagop may be able to answer this better than me. after all he says so called turkish culture was all invented by armenians anyways.

 

why do you think the turks killed us? its because they couldnt stand the fact that they were not a real nation but one that got everything by stealing it from us.

[gamavor]

My favorite Tamzara!

 

[hagopn]

I agree with Hagop the death of our music is the "nintendo keyboard players" who somehow our other friend has appreciated more than the greek band however out of tune they may be. Also in reference to Arpa's comment that she sees noone dancing "shourch bar" at Armenian parties, i must say that at every Armenian party i have ever been to there is an awful lot of line dancing going on. In fact it tends to be the main form of dancing. Maybe it is because i am in fact "Armenian American of Sepastia ancestry", which she also refers to.

 

Granted, but keep in mind that all parts of Armenia have the circle dance, all parts, no exception.

 

Still, where i come from let it be noted that line/circle dancing is considered the "real" dancing and is associated with the music of bands playing actual instruments (oud clarinet dumbeg kanun etc) as in this clip :

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX6eZx9u4KQ

 

(this video is in fresno but i am not from there. the video is richard hagopian and his band at khaghoghorhnek in fresno. the people are dancing the shourch bar tamzara as you can see. the music is the Kghi variation of tamzara)

 

it might seem authentic, but it is actually a rehashed Greek taverna (complete with the 19th century addition of the "krralnet") rendition of what was once Armenian repertiore.

 

while the music of "nintendo keyboard players" is associated with "tek bar" and generally with Armenians who have newly immigrated to this country. a common complaint among 2nd, 3rd gen. armenian americans about armenian pop music is "you cant dance to it, you can only tak bar to it".

 

That's because the "rabiz" ignorant and illiterates that brought the "pop music" usually are illiterates who only knew Azeri songs "passed down from their fathers," like the "late grate" Aram ***aTrryanm "Nintendo extraordinaire". now we have "Aram Trran Version 2.5" coming out, maybe the grandchildren will come next, to complete the destruction/cultural suicide cycle.

 

It is a singular fact that while the "old line" armenian american community has lost the armenian language we have managed to preserve this musical and dancing culture more than most other groups. not to disparage others of course, since the genocide every region of the diaspora seems to have strongly preserved that which they felt was important or that which they loved in our culture. or, that which it was feasible to preserve in the countries they were living in.

 

Let me correct you there: The middle eastern communities did manage to maintain quite well their traditions. The problems began in the 1970's when the new generations began to look "west," ironically staying customarily ignorant of the fact that the "west" itself is suffering from cultural bankrupcty and that their own brethren are working to maintain their distinctness precisely through culture (if not language). My mother's generation (born 1930's) was very well versed in dance, song, literature, to a degree that puts us to dire shame (or should). She was born in Haifa and raised in Aleppo.

 

as to the comments on gomidas i was just joking around. yes i know gomidas did not compose (in general) he collected. i was joking around and pointing out that some seem to hold a purist view of armenian music that it was given down by God to gomidas as the alphabet was given to mesrop, on a tablet like the ten commandments

 

Ah, then you're two steps ahead of us in the tamzara---

 

however i do understand the value of getting to the basic melody of the song and im sorry if it seemed rude. actually, the one mr. frounjian is playing on his keyboard is pretty close although somehow the keyboard makes it sound a little arabic, but he leaves out the section which in american music terminology we would call the "bridge". if you look at frounjian, and at these two

 

 

 

There are all sorts of variations, and the form including the "bridge" is not a tradition carved in stone any more than Komitas' "compositions" as you note above. Armenian musicians tended to create variations based on multiple themes, and it would even become an endless rondo of themes on occasion. Melikian is the best authority to date on this, and his collections were purposefully focused on individual themes, and then were presented in their spontaneous improvisations and potpouri performances. The same goes with much of Komitas' collections.

 

you will get an idea, all three are attempting to play basically the same version of tamzara. actually the greek musicians in "mezzo mezzo" begin by playing the "bridge" of this version, then they segueway into another version. hagop's version is a good one too. his version is also available on CD by mr. tom bozigian. however, out of all recordings which i own, the most common tamzara and the one on the oldest recordings seems to be the one i have given examples of. of course, this is coming from the armenian american community and more likely than not mine is simply the kharpert tamzara, due to kharpertsi dominance in the foundation of the armenian american community everything from kharpert becomes "standard". in the "tamuz ara" video they say the song is from yerznga but i think they mean the dance steps, not the melody. i dont know anything about tamzara in "eastern" armenia but perhaps they play hagop's version. i do think that tamzara in fact originates in yerznga.

 

(All expressions of gratitude and thank yous aside--) My so-called "version" is incomplete for three reasons: Rush, Rush, and the Rush.

 

hagop you seem to be doing good stuff for our music and i applaud your efforts. i didnt mean to seem critical by saying "saxophone players" after all i was responding not to you but to zartonk. vartan i also wish you luck even if you play keyboard its ok music is still music its all about the spirit

 

No offense taken--- I understood what you meant, and responded with the reasons as to why we hopped on the train to reach the 4 minute mark.

 

 

[Kanooner]

I know which one you're talking about. It's a nice song, but it is not really a Tamzara--- The Tamzara is a 9/8 rhythm dance, and has numerous variations among Armenians. According to Mr. Chookasian there, the name of the dance comes from Tammuz and Ara.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammuz Are any of us going to create a Wiki article on Ara??

 

There's another possibilty for "Ara". Zara, in Assyrian means song or poem.

 

Tammuz-Zara would easily contract to "Tamzara" - Song Of Tammuz.