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In 'The Musician's Secret,' blackmail, music, all haunted by the Arm

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  • In 'The Musician's Secret,' blackmail, music, all haunted by the Arm

    89.3 KPCC, CA
    April 18 2015


    In 'The Musician's Secret,' blackmail, music, all haunted by the
    Armenian genocide

    by Patt Morrison with Kevin Ferguson

    Writer Litty Mathew set her debut novel -- "The Musician's Secret" -- in
    Glendale, the heart of the nation's Armenian American population. It
    tells the story of Rupen Najarian, an aging musician who was his
    family's sole survivor of the Armenian genocide in 1915. Rupen plays
    the duduk, a traditionally Armenian wind instrument with a 5,000 year
    history.

    As Rupen slides gracefully intro retirement, he's confronted by a
    young Armenian immigrant who blackmails Ruben, threatening to expose a
    decades-old secret. KPCC's Patt Morrison talked with Mathew about the
    book, Armenian traditions, and the 5,000 year old instrument that
    plays a central role in "The Musician's Secret."

    On setting the novel in Glendale:

    I think of Glendale as being really exotic. It's a destination. It's
    also my home -- I've lived in Glendale for more than 20 years, and I've
    actually married into the fold.

    In very old cultures, like the Armenian culture, sometimes you don't
    understand. Or you don't think about where the actions, or why you
    follow certain cultural rules. But they've been there for thousands of
    years. And there are all these myths and traditions that are attached
    to it. And I was just fascinated by it, because of my own culture. I'm
    South Indian -- I'm Syrian Christian -- we have also those tendencies
    where, you know, it's so a part of our daily routine. But you don't
    stop to ask yourself: why do we do the things that we do?

    On learning about the duduk -- the instrument played by the novel's protagonist:

    There are some things you just can't forget. And for me it's the sound
    of the duduk. In 2005, I wrote a story for the LA Times calendar
    section. My husband, Melkon, was noticing the sound showing up in all
    these Hollywood scores. And every time it would come on, he'd say
    "Hey, listen to this. That's an Armenian instrument!"

    So I asked my editor at the Times "Hey, there's this musical
    instrument, it's taking over all these scores, I'd love to find out
    more." I interviewed some very famous duduk players, including Djivan
    Gasparian, who is the most notable duduk player. And I interviewed
    several composers in Hollywood, who wrote these great compositions.

    After the story was done, I just kept thinking about the instrument. I
    couldn't get it out of my head. It got to be such an obsession that I
    wrote a whole book about it!

    On weaving culture and the immigrant experience into the novel's plot:

    I think when we're talking about an old culture, like the Armenians,
    you can't get away with it: why you do certain things. Every time a
    piece of bread falls, an Armenian relative will be like "Hey! Don't
    feed the spirits. Pick it up!"

    Or if a child misbehaves, the thing to say is "Hey! Do you want the
    Turks to be happy with your bad behavior?"

    I think Los Angeles, more than any other big city in the U.S., is such
    an interesting place to be when you're from somewhere else. Because
    Los Angeles doesn't judge you. That's what I love about the city, is
    that you can actually come here and choose your future, as opposed to
    your past.


    http://www.scpr.org/programs/offramp/2015/04/17/42448/in-the-musician-s-secret-blackmail-music-all-haunt/




    From: A. Papazian
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