Nonesuch Records (Producer)
2006 Language(s): Eastern Armenian, Western Armenian
Additional Artists
Komitas (Composer, Artist, Author, Performer)
Eduard Topchjian (Conductor)
Wilhelm Hellweg (Producer)
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra (Performer)
Serouj Kradjian (Performer, Composer)
Track Listings
1. Oror (Lullaby) 2:45
2. Gakavi yerke (Song of the Partridge) 0:55
3. Manoogneroo Hayr mer (Children's Prayer) (listen to full-length track) 1:29
4. Yerginkn amble / Antsrevn yegav (The Cloudy Sky / It's Raining) 2:41
5. Dzirani Dzar (Apricot Tree) 3:57
6. Karoon a (Spring) 3:16
7. Alakyaz / Khngi dzar (Mount Alakyaz / Incense Tree) 2:16
8. Unabi (Dance of Unabi) 1:17
9. Shooshigi (Dance of Shooshig) 1:54
10. Keler tsoler (Striding, Beaming) 4:02
11. Hoy Nazan / Shakhgr shookhgr (Oh Nazan / Jingle-Jangle) 2:19
12. Akh Maral jan (Ah, Dear Maral) 2:27
13. Kele kele (Strolling) 2:02
14. Chinar es (Tall as the Poplar Tree) (listen to full-length track) 4:48
15. Chem grna khagha (I Cannot Dance) 1:55
16. Ervoom em / Shogher jan (I'm Burning with Love / Dear Shogher) 2:11
17. Voh inch kaghtsr pan (Oh, What a Delight!) 1:19
18. Groong (The Crane) 4:56
19. Andooni (Without a Home) 4:07
20. Tsayn door ov dzovag (Call to the Sea) 3:50
2. Gakavi yerke (Song of the Partridge) 0:55
3. Manoogneroo Hayr mer (Children's Prayer) (listen to full-length track) 1:29
4. Yerginkn amble / Antsrevn yegav (The Cloudy Sky / It's Raining) 2:41
5. Dzirani Dzar (Apricot Tree) 3:57
6. Karoon a (Spring) 3:16
7. Alakyaz / Khngi dzar (Mount Alakyaz / Incense Tree) 2:16
8. Unabi (Dance of Unabi) 1:17
9. Shooshigi (Dance of Shooshig) 1:54
10. Keler tsoler (Striding, Beaming) 4:02
11. Hoy Nazan / Shakhgr shookhgr (Oh Nazan / Jingle-Jangle) 2:19
12. Akh Maral jan (Ah, Dear Maral) 2:27
13. Kele kele (Strolling) 2:02
14. Chinar es (Tall as the Poplar Tree) (listen to full-length track) 4:48
15. Chem grna khagha (I Cannot Dance) 1:55
16. Ervoom em / Shogher jan (I'm Burning with Love / Dear Shogher) 2:11
17. Voh inch kaghtsr pan (Oh, What a Delight!) 1:19
18. Groong (The Crane) 4:56
19. Andooni (Without a Home) 4:07
20. Tsayn door ov dzovag (Call to the Sea) 3:50
On Gomidas Songs, Isabel Bayrakdarian's first album for Nonesuch Records, the Armenian-Canadian soprano examines the legacy of Gomidas Vardabet (born Soghomon Soghomonian, Keotahia, Ottoman Empire, 1869), a well-traveled composer who made it his life’s work to seek out, transcribe, and re-interpret the ancient liturgy, songs, lullabies, hymns, and folk dances of his Armenian homeland. Bayrakdarian will perform concerts that include Gomidas’s music this fall, including an October 20 date at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall.
The album was recorded at the Aram Khachaturian Philharmonic Hall in Yerevan, Armenia, with the Chamber Players of the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Eduard Topchjan. All of the songs were arranged and orchestrated by scholar and pianist Serouj Kradjian, Bayrakdarian’s concert partner and husband—who also plays on the record. This recording was made possible by a generous contribution from the AGBU (Armenian General Benevolent Union) and Louise Manoogian Simone.
Bayrakdarian, who was born in Lebanon to Armenian parents, first performed Gomidas’s music as part of the score to Canadian-Armenian director Atom Egoyan’s 2002 Ararat—a multi-layered drama about contemporary filmmakers attempting to dramatize and come to terms with the Armenian genocide of 1915, which left Gomidas emotionally devastated and put an end to his life as a composer. (His name was changed when he took monastic vows; was ordained a “Vartabed,” or celibate priest; and, as is the practice in the Armenian Church, assumed a new name, Gomidas.)
Gomidas Songs contains love songs, devotional songs, evocations of nature, children’s songs, lamentations, and comic songs. Egoyan contributes liner notes to the album package, illustrating the importance of Bayrakdarian’s undertaking: “The strength of any culture resides in its ability to preserve, cherish, reinvent, and grow. This was the gift that Gomidas gave to his people, and this is the gift which Isabel has revealed and brought to the world.”