>> From the Library of
Congress in Washington, DC.
>> The Homegrown Series was
designed to feature the very best
of traditional music and
dance from around the nation.
The American Folk Life Center
works with many talented
and dedicated state folk arts
coordinators across the country
who help us select the
most exciting performers
from within their communities.
And this allows us to bring
amazing talent from all
over the country right here to
Washington, DC to share with you.
Today's concert is brought
to you in joint sponsorship
with the Kennedy Center's
millennium stage,
so you can catch these wonderful
performers a second time today
at 6 p.m. at the Millenium stage if
you have the opportunity to do that.
They are so wonderful, I'm sure
you're going to want to do that.
Our performance today is going to
be recorded for the collections
of the American Folk Life
Center and the library.
And it will be put up on
our website as a webcast.
So this is a good time
to turn off all
of your electrical
equipment that makes noises.
Otherwise, you will become part
of this performance forever.
So don't do that.
This concert today
is also co-sponsored
with the library's African
and Middle East Division.
So we want to thank the
Division and Mary-Jane
for helping co-sponsor this.
And I want to invite Levon
Avdoyan, who is the Armenian
and Georgian area specialist in the
Near East Division of the African
and Middle East Division here
at the library to come on stage
and welcome some special
guests we have in the audience.
Lee, can you come out?
>> Thank you, Thea.
I'm here only to thank on
behalf of Dr. Mary-Jane Deeb,
the Chief of the African
Middle Eastern Division,
all of you for coming.
And Thea Austen and the American
Folk Life Center for inviting us
to co-sponsor one of
their marvelous programs.
This has been an exciting
month for Armenians
at the Library of Congress.
We've had a presidential
and pontifical visit,
our 19th [inaudible] lecture, and
a large display of our materials.
And so I think this is
just the perfect capstone.
I've heard each of these artists,
and you are in for quite a treat.
So with that I think
probably you want to listen
to music and not my voice.
I thank you, Thea.
And I intend to enjoy it with you.
Thank you.
>> And we're hoping to have
some members of the staff
of the Armenian Embassy here.
I don't think they've arrived yet,
but they may be coming
in a little bit later.
Our first, the first
group that you will see--
first, Zulal, the trio
will sing for you.
And then Ara Dinkjian, an amazing
oud player, will be out for you.
In Armenian, Zulal
means "clear water."
Zulal is a New York-based
a cappella trio.
And they take Armenian folk melodies
and wave intricate arrangements
of their own that pay tribute
to the rural roots of the music,
while introducing contemporary
lyricism and energy.
Zulal singers, Teni
Apelian, Yeraz Markarian,
and Anais Tekerian have been
singing together since 2002.
They performed in such
esteemed venues
as Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital
Hall, the Museum of the City
of New York, New York Symphony
Space, along with performances
for Cirque de Soleil and
the Silk Road Project.
The group has two albums--
"Zulal," and "Notes to a Crane."
And if you're interested in getting
a hold of those, you can come
and talk to them after the concert.
So please welcome Zulal.
[ Applause ]
>> A young woman is
walking by the river.
And she spots a handsome
young swimmer.
Her heart nearly falls
out of her chest.
But she pulls herself
together and thinks fast.
She pulls a barrette out of
her hair and casually tosses it
into the water, hoping
that he'll notice.
But he doesn't notice.
So she says Mr. Swimmer, will
you please look over here?
I've lost my barrette in the water,
will you please get it for me?
He says, I'll get your barrette.
What will you give me in return?
So she offers her lachuk
[phonetic] , her little veil.
She offers her minchka [phonetic],
even so far as to offer her shirt.
But it is only a final moonlit kiss
which convinces him
to do her bidding.
[ Singing in Armenian ]
[ Applause ]
>> In Tsolakjian [phonetic], a girl
decides to tease her young admirer.
She says she thinks about him
all day while she's sewing.
She says her beautiful,
lushly embroidered skirt,
she talks of her father
who will reject him.
And she says, there is
already another, maybe,
who's put a wedding
ring on my finger.
[ Singing in Armenian ]
[ Applause ]
>> Thank you.
And welcome to those of
you who are just arriving.
We are Zulal, an Armenian
a capella folk trio.
And in this next song, we ask you
to imagine a workroom in the village
of Boston, where we meet three women
who are sitting spinning
wool into gossip.
And they recount the story of a
girl named Latchine [phonetic],
a story which involves a spinning
wheel, a covert late night visit
which no one is to hear, an
ensuing pregnancy, and then a suitor
who comes back to see
her empty-handed.
[ Singing in Armenian ]
[ Applause ]
>> Thank you.
As a man puts incense on the
fire, his stuttering son asks him,
"Father, where does the wind go?"
And the father says, "It goes to
the crack in the forgotten wall.
It goes to our grandfather's
barren field.
How I long to see the reflection
of our mountains in
my son's clear eyes.
How I long for the breeze to
come down from the mountains,
envelop us, and take us home."
[ Singing in Armenian ]
[ Applause ]
That song was actually arranged
by us, but it's an original,
a contemporary folksong written
by a composer named Adman
Mosissian [phonetic].
>> Next we move on to one of
our composers and musicologists
who we attribute most
of Armenian folk music
that we have preserved
today-- Komitas.
Some of you may have heard the name.
Komitas was a musicologist, a
priest, and a composer living
at the turn of the 20th Century
who collected nearly 3,000
folk songs and dances.
This next song, "Shogher
Djan," is attributed to him.
And it speaks of a
girl named Shogher.
The choruses in this
song are dedicated
to her lilt and sway as she walks.
[ Singing in Armenian ]
[ Applause ]
>> A man in the region of Javakhk
sees a tall maiden standing
in the field.
And he says, "You are
jana [phonetic], jana."
"You are hot, hot.
Whoever steals your heart, may
his heart burn up in flames.
My tall beauty, please choose
me and come home with me."
[ Singing in Armenian ]
[ Applause ]
>> In the upper gardens
lined with pear trees,
sweethearts come together
to dance the Tamzara.
Come, shake your shoulders.
In the Tamzara, lovers
find each other.
>> Now, for the Tamzara,
we'd like you
to mark the 7/8 beat
with us if possible.
You can clap it.
So you'll hear [singing]
"le-le-le Tamzara."
I'll shake it, you
clap it with me, okay?
[ Singing in Armenian ]
[ Applause ]
Nice work, everyone.
>> Thank you.
Thank you so much.
[ Applause ]
>> We'll see Zulal
in a little while.
At the end of the show
they'll come back out.
In the meantime, we want to invite
out our next artist, Ara Dinkjian.
He's an American-born
artist who grew
up with traditional Armenian music.
His earliest professional musical
experience was accompanying his
father, Onnik Dinkjian, a renowned
Armenian folk and liturgical singer.
Ara learned several Western
and Eastern instruments--
piano, guitar, darbuka, clarinet.
And in 1980, graduated from
the Hartt College of Music,
earning the country's first and only
special degree in the instrument
for which he's become
most well known-- the oud.
For over 40 years,
he served as organist
in the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Throughout his musical
life, Ara has continued
to develop his highly
personal compositional style,
which blends his Eastern
and Western roots.
In 1985, to help realize these
compositions and musical concepts,
Ara formed his instrumental
quartet, Night Ark,
which has recorded four CDs.
Please welcome Ara Dinkjian.
[ Applause ]
[ Oud music ]
[ Applause ]
>> Thank you so much.
It's actually a dream
for me to play here.
I myself am a collector
of old records and books.
And the Library of
Congress is the ultimate.
So I'm really honored to be here.
Thank you all for being here.
I'm playing an instrument
called the "oud."
It dates back, its origins are
in the great Persian empires.
But it has been adopted as the
prominent instrument for Arabs,
Turks, and of course Armenians.
Most Armenians can trace their
history back to Anatolia,
to the cities and villages
of Anatolia,
today's present-day Eastern Turkey.
And with that there
are certain elements
that are unique to the music.
Specifically, microtonal modes.
So my instrument is fretless.
It is considered the grandfather of
the guitar, the father of the lute.
The fretlessness allows us to
accommodate these microtonal modes.
Which are actually more
in tune with nature
than this well-tempered system
that the West has adopted.
Nonetheless, another
very important element
which actually Zulal just
demonstrated is odd time
signature melodies.
And we'll get into that
in just a few moments.
The next piece that I'd like
to play is actually a medley
of three pieces.
The first piece is called "Garod."
It's a folk melody in which
the man says to the woman,
"Don't let me die longing for you."
The second piece is by the
renowned Armenian minstrel
or troubadour, Sayat-Nova.
And the third piece is attributed
to somebody who was considered
to be the father of Armenian
music, Komitas Vartabed.
He was a celibate priest,
ethnomusicologist,
gatherer of Armenian folk
songs in various villages.
And of course a renowned composer.
[ Oud music ]
[ Applause ]
Thank you, thank you so much.
This past April 24th
just a few weeks ago,
the Armenians throughout the world
commemorated the 100th anniversary
of the Armenian Genocide.
Of course, there are many songs
associated with these tragic events.
I'd like to play one right now.
The lyrics-- I'm not going to sing,
but the lyrics tell of a soldier
who is saying, "Let
them do anything to me.
Let them feed my heart
to the wolves,
just don't let my mother
know of my suffering."
And the final verse, he says,
"Let them do anything to me,
let my tears turn to salt, but
just don't let my mother know
of my death."
[ Oud music ]
[ Applause ]
Thank you so much.
For my last piece, I'd
like to play a piece that,
as I had mentioned before, well this
one is in an odd time signature.
But of course if you're from
Anatolia, it's not odd at all.
My ancestors are from
Dikranagert and Hnaberd [phonetic],
and this time signature that I'm
about to play is absolutely typical.
As a matter of fact, I believe
if you take their pulse,
you'll see that it's in 10/8.
And the grouping, just for
anybody who's interested,
is 3 plus 2 plus 2 plus 3.
Kind of odd to the West, but
absolutely perfect for Armenians
from that part of the world.
[ Oud music ]
[ Applause ]
Thank you so much.
At this time I would like
to ask Zulal to come out
and join me on a couple of pieces.
Zulal?
[ Armenian singing and music ]
[ Applause ]
>> Thank you.
So our last song altogether
for this afternoon will be
"Hanina [phonetic], [inaudible]."
"The day is marked
with the rise of smoke
from the Tonij [phonetic]
and the smell of bread."
[Armenian phrase], "me and you."
And in this song, since
it's all about together
and rising together, we
ask that you join us.
The chorus is repetitive, so you may
catch on by the middle of the song.
Anais will be your anchor, you'll
listen to her for the chorus melody,
come the middle of the song.
And Yeraz and I will be doing
harmonies along with you.
So please, singer or not, raise your
voices in the spirit of folk music,
music of the people, hanina.
[ Armenian singing and music ]
[ Applause ]
>> The ladies of Zulal,
and Ari Dinkjian.
[applause] Thank you so much.
And remember-- well, remember-- ah,
would you all like to come back for?
Maybe they'll come back.
Remember-- here they come.
Anais, Yeraz, Teni,
and Ara Dinkjian.
[applause] Please, I hope you
will feel free to come down
and talk to them afterwards.
If you'd like to get a hold of some
of their music, please come down
and talk to them about that.
And thank you so much for
coming to the concert today.
Please join us next month
on the 30th of June.
We'll have a concert again
in here with a Peruvian group
who is also appearing at the folk
festival with the Smithsonian,
La Marinara, a music and
dance group from Peru.
Anyway, again, thank you.
And thank Ari Dinkjian and Zulal.
>> This has been a presentation
of the Library of Congress.
Visit us at loc.gov.