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TURKISH-ARMENIAN PLATFORM'S WORK PAVES WAY FOR GOMIDAS CONCERT
Hurriyet Daily News
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=youth-breaks-taboo-brings-gomidas-to-life-2010-12-14
Dec 15 2010
Turkey
Turkish and Armenian youth began working for more understanding between
the communities at the beginning of 2010 when they organized a platform
to commemorate Kutahya-born Armenian composer Gomidas Vartabed in
Turkey. On the 140th anniversary of his birth, Gomidas is being honored
not only in the diaspora and Armenia but also in his native land
Turkish and Armenian artists will continue to build bridges between
their respective communities when they honor Kutahya-born Gomidas
Vartabed, a seminal figure in Armenian music, when they perform
Thursday night in honor of the great composer.
"Respect for Gomidas: Songs of This Land," which is being organized
in honor of the 140th anniversary of Gomidas' birth in the Aegean
province of Kutahya, begins at 8:30 p.m. at Istanbul's Lutfi Kırdar
Congress and Exhibition Hall.
The concert marks the latest in a series of events commemorating the
great composer and ethnomusicologist, who has already been honored with
a number of ceremonies both in Armenia and the diaspora. In Istanbul,
the 2010 European Capital of Culture agency supported the Kusan 2010
concert to commemorate Gomidas last month.
Gomidas Platform helping preserve music
During a conference titled "Cultural Genocide" held last April in
Armenia in collaboration with the Diaspora Ministry and the Genocide
Museum, a speaker said Turkish artists had begun to claim Gomidas'
music as their own, citing a group of young people from Istanbul and
Armenia that had formed the Gomidas Platform.
Members of the Gomidas Platform, however, merely "want to commemorate
Gomidas in the land where he was born," said Istanbul University
Radio and Television Department student 23-year old Sayat Dağlıyan,
who heads the group.
The platform was formed to commemorate Gomidas in his homeland with
music and hymns; thanks to the group's tireless work, a number of
events and concerts were organized throughout the year to commemorate
the great ethnomusicologist.
Thursday's concert is being held in collaboration with Anadolu Kultur,
the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts and Kalan Music and
features American piano virtuoso Sahan Arzruni, as well as the Istanbul
State Opera and Ballet's Armenian soloists Sevan Şencan, Kevork
Tavityan and Ari Edirne. The Boğazici Gosteri Sanatları Topluluğu,
Aşkın Ensemble, Aynur Doğan and Şevval Sam will also be on stage.
Tickets are available at Biletix.
A life of suffering
Born Soğomon Kevork Soğomonyan in 1869, Gomidas had a musical intellect
that was ahead of his time. Orphaned at a young age, he was discovered
by clerics and sent to the Armenian Apostolic Central Church, or
Etchmiadzin, in Armenia to receive religious education.
Though he eventually became a priest - at which time he took the
clerical name with which he later became famous - Gomidas was known to
devote most of his life to music, researching and working on Turkish,
Kurdish, Azeri and Iranian music.
Despite studying music at Berlin University and organizing important
conferences there, his immense talent was little recognized or
appreciated in Armenia.
Gomidas also recorded the polyphonic "Badarak" (Divine Liturgy)
for the Armenian Apostolic Church on a gramophone record at the
beginning of the 1900s but the act led to large problems with both
Etchmiadzin and the Armenian Patriarchate in Istanbul. Still, the
composer persevered and formed the historic Kusan Choir in Istanbul.
He also had close relations with Turkish intellectuals, such as one
of the Ottoman Empire's pioneering female authors, Halide Edip Adıvar,
and her husband, Adnan Adıvar.
His prolific work was effectively cut short on April 24, 1915, when
his home was raided by authorities, who burned all his notes and
compositions before him, including a key manuscript from Turkish
classical music, the notes of Baba Hamparsum.
Gomidas was arrested along with 230 Armenian intellectuals on the date,
which formed the beginning of the deportations against the empire's
Armenians during World War I. The composer was rescued thanks to the
intervention of Turkish intellectuals but his experiences during the
tribulations left him with severe psychological health problems,
leading him to abandon music. He eventually died in 1935 in exile
in France.
From: A. Papazian
Hurriyet Daily News
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=youth-breaks-taboo-brings-gomidas-to-life-2010-12-14
Dec 15 2010
Turkey
Turkish and Armenian youth began working for more understanding between
the communities at the beginning of 2010 when they organized a platform
to commemorate Kutahya-born Armenian composer Gomidas Vartabed in
Turkey. On the 140th anniversary of his birth, Gomidas is being honored
not only in the diaspora and Armenia but also in his native land
Turkish and Armenian artists will continue to build bridges between
their respective communities when they honor Kutahya-born Gomidas
Vartabed, a seminal figure in Armenian music, when they perform
Thursday night in honor of the great composer.
"Respect for Gomidas: Songs of This Land," which is being organized
in honor of the 140th anniversary of Gomidas' birth in the Aegean
province of Kutahya, begins at 8:30 p.m. at Istanbul's Lutfi Kırdar
Congress and Exhibition Hall.
The concert marks the latest in a series of events commemorating the
great composer and ethnomusicologist, who has already been honored with
a number of ceremonies both in Armenia and the diaspora. In Istanbul,
the 2010 European Capital of Culture agency supported the Kusan 2010
concert to commemorate Gomidas last month.
Gomidas Platform helping preserve music
During a conference titled "Cultural Genocide" held last April in
Armenia in collaboration with the Diaspora Ministry and the Genocide
Museum, a speaker said Turkish artists had begun to claim Gomidas'
music as their own, citing a group of young people from Istanbul and
Armenia that had formed the Gomidas Platform.
Members of the Gomidas Platform, however, merely "want to commemorate
Gomidas in the land where he was born," said Istanbul University
Radio and Television Department student 23-year old Sayat Dağlıyan,
who heads the group.
The platform was formed to commemorate Gomidas in his homeland with
music and hymns; thanks to the group's tireless work, a number of
events and concerts were organized throughout the year to commemorate
the great ethnomusicologist.
Thursday's concert is being held in collaboration with Anadolu Kultur,
the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts and Kalan Music and
features American piano virtuoso Sahan Arzruni, as well as the Istanbul
State Opera and Ballet's Armenian soloists Sevan Şencan, Kevork
Tavityan and Ari Edirne. The Boğazici Gosteri Sanatları Topluluğu,
Aşkın Ensemble, Aynur Doğan and Şevval Sam will also be on stage.
Tickets are available at Biletix.
A life of suffering
Born Soğomon Kevork Soğomonyan in 1869, Gomidas had a musical intellect
that was ahead of his time. Orphaned at a young age, he was discovered
by clerics and sent to the Armenian Apostolic Central Church, or
Etchmiadzin, in Armenia to receive religious education.
Though he eventually became a priest - at which time he took the
clerical name with which he later became famous - Gomidas was known to
devote most of his life to music, researching and working on Turkish,
Kurdish, Azeri and Iranian music.
Despite studying music at Berlin University and organizing important
conferences there, his immense talent was little recognized or
appreciated in Armenia.
Gomidas also recorded the polyphonic "Badarak" (Divine Liturgy)
for the Armenian Apostolic Church on a gramophone record at the
beginning of the 1900s but the act led to large problems with both
Etchmiadzin and the Armenian Patriarchate in Istanbul. Still, the
composer persevered and formed the historic Kusan Choir in Istanbul.
He also had close relations with Turkish intellectuals, such as one
of the Ottoman Empire's pioneering female authors, Halide Edip Adıvar,
and her husband, Adnan Adıvar.
His prolific work was effectively cut short on April 24, 1915, when
his home was raided by authorities, who burned all his notes and
compositions before him, including a key manuscript from Turkish
classical music, the notes of Baba Hamparsum.
Gomidas was arrested along with 230 Armenian intellectuals on the date,
which formed the beginning of the deportations against the empire's
Armenians during World War I. The composer was rescued thanks to the
intervention of Turkish intellectuals but his experiences during the
tribulations left him with severe psychological health problems,
leading him to abandon music. He eventually died in 1935 in exile
in France.
From: A. Papazian