Nune: By Popular Demand
By Paul Chaderjian
Sept 11, 1999
(Yerevan) - From down under in Sydney to the German city of Frankfurt, from Glendale "Little Armenia," California, to the medieval French town of Valance, from Toronto to Paris, wherever superstar Nune Yesayan performed over the past year her awed and inspired audience of young and old would chant "Nune! Nune!" in unison. In response, the slender, 30-year-old, drop dead gorgeous, modern day minstrel would sound back with her rendition of the popular 70s song "Nune. Nune."
Around the year of Nune's birth, 1969, pop artists like Adiss Harmandian in the Diaspora and other popular performers in Europe and Armenia, made the song and name "Nune" a household word. From the suburbs of Beirut, to the suburbs of Yerevan, Armenians sang the lyrics of the song about forbidden love, unfulfilled desire and the deliberate and final act of a young woman being whisked away by her true love. Nune's parents gave her the name of the ancient Georgian princess partly because of the popular song; now, thirty years later, Nune is belting out a 21st century version of the song, set to the popular beats made mainstream by Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias and Jennifer Lopez.
Nune singing "Nune" is perhaps the most ambitious cut from Yesayan's fourth album. The song is being promoted by an equally ambitious music video filmed on the shores of Lake Sevan in Armenia. On a warm and sunny day, Nune and her entourage of perfectly sculpted dancers celebrate life, dancing around a plump cherubic sailor, dressed in a size-too-small outfit. Given her choice between a studly and indifferent athlete in a soccer shirt and the cherubic sailor, Nune picks the latter, all in the name of true love.
"We were first hesitant," says Nune in a phone interview from her Yerevan apartment on New Year's Eve. "Some thought people would be offended to hear me sing a love song directed at a woman named Nune. We thought about it and decided to record it since everyone is asking me to sing it." The song was recorded with a group of ten live musicians with background vocals courtesy of Nune's male counterparts. Through some creative recording techniques, the background vocals were doubled and quadrupled making the supporting vocals sound as if an entire chorus was chanting Nune's name.
The single and music video are already a big hit in Armenia. The video is being played over and over again on television. "It's the most energetic and fast paced video I've seen produced in Armenia," says Nune. "There's a lot of Kef in this video," she says with pride. Partly because of the video and the popularity of the song on the radio, Nune has again become the most celebrated celebrity in Armenia, making appearances on entertainment and talk programs and being the object of trivia in game shows. One show asked a contestant to name the most slender celebrity in Armenia; another asked its contestants to guess which fruit Nune could be most likened to. The answer to the latter was the grape. "I have no idea why," says Nune with a soft giggle.
Take a ride from Paregamoutyun to Yerdasartagan stops on the subway, and what you'll hear from the subway cassette vendors is "Nune, Nune" blaring. "It's amazing," says Nune. "It's like the song never ceased to be popular." Aside from this hit are four new songs, written for the album by up-and-coming lyricist and musician, Manuel (no relation to the Lebanese singer and movie star with the same name). "He's a very talented young man," says Nune. "For this album, he wrote Chour 'Em Arel, Dooman E, Ourman Danek Jampeks, and Harmar E."
On this fourth album are also several classical Armenian songs from Sayat Nova and one from poet Charents, a selection called Goozem Himi Petchel Zournehn. Sassoon Baskevechian wrote the music for the Charents piece. The song was previously performed by many others including Rouben Mateossian and Flora Mardirossian, but Baskevechian asked Nune several times to remake it. "He asked me to sing it and said it would be real interesting," says Nune. "So we tried it, and it was successful. Everyone likes it so far."
Orchestrating Nune's fourth album were four of the most talented musicians in Yerevan -- Garen Zadourian, Areg Arousda, Ara Torosyan and Garen Markaryan. "The album took six months to record," says Nune. "I was traveling a lot, and I'd only be in Armenia one week each month. I'd record and then go off to another country. When I'd come back, we'd listen to the recording and move on to the next song or record again."
Nune's first three albums continue to sell. Her third album, World, was awarded "most popular album" at the 1999 Armenian Music Awards. A year earlier, Nune’s second album Ov Inch Kidi, won "most popular album" with Nune walking away with "best female vocalist."
The constant demand for her three previous albums and a collection of her music videos has prompted Prime Entertainment to produce an hour-long video presentation which includes concert footage, music videos and segments from taped television specials.
Nune is in Yerevan this holiday season preparing for what her managers call "the Millennium Tour." The Millennium Star also has a 21st century arena for hard-core fans, her own web site on the world wide web. Nune.org launched early last summer, offering fans news articles, photographs, videos, and music from Nune. In addition, the site allows fans to follow Nune's concert and appearance schedules and order her CD's and videos.
