Nune Yesayan and Djivan Gasparyan Team Up

-

Duo Will Push the Bounds of Traditional Music


By Paul Chaderjian

AIM, May 2000


YEREVAN - Entertainers Nune Yesayan and Djivan Gasparyan need no introduction; their first names alone warrant recognition. She sells out concerts in Armenian communities all around the world, has four best-selling CDs, and her name is part of the pop culture lexicon in the homeland and Diaspora (AIM May 1998). He is known in the international music industry as the master of the duduk, the Armenian flute, works with the likes of Peter Gabriel, Michael Brook and Brian Eno, and has contributed to several Hollywood motion pictures and performed with symphonies like the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. He is a favorite of "World Music" and alternative radio stations around the globe, while she is a favorite of Armenians of all ages from all walks of life and celebrated by Armenian broadcast and print media.




 


These two performers' celebrity may be an abstract concept for many, but it can be defined by their popularity and name recognition in their respective venues and communities. Now the two have teamed up to share a stage in the fall and perhaps push traditional Armenian music to a new level of international popularity. Their collaboration began last year when Nune was asked by the Armenian government to perform with Djivan at the April 24 commemoration of the Armenian Genocide at the National Opera House. "They asked us to perform Kele Lao," says Nune, "and it turned out to be a very moving tribute to the millions who were massacred and displaced, and it was also an invitation to Armenians around the world to return to the homeland, to support their homeland."


The 85th anniversary commemoration at the Opera was televised in Armenia and across Europe, and fans quickly asked to hear more of Nune's haunting voice set to the melodies coming from Djivan's duduk. "So I asked him to perform with me in my concerts in the US," says Nune. "He said he couldn't imagine what he could contribute and what he would perform. I told him the Armenian stage needs you because you're the master, and people, our people need to hear you perform this sacred instrument."


It didn't take any more to persuade Djivan to participate in Nune's concerts. "Armenians love her," says Gasparyan. "I couldn't imagine a better tour to perform for Armenians around the world. When people come to hear us, they are going to hear pure and true Armenian melodies and songs."


The collaboration will perhaps be beneficial for both artists. While Armenian audiences rarely hear Djivan perform for them, Nune's fans will most likely celebrate his mastery of the 3000-year-old instrument. The Armenia 2000 tour will begin at the Pasadena Civic Center, continue at the Saroyan Theatre in Fresno, the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco and move to the East Coast and the Lincoln Center in New York City. Additional concerts are planned for Boston, Detroit and Washington, DC.


Djivan's return to the Armenian stage to perform with Nune will perhaps give the master the personal satisfaction of having his own people, his own community validate his successes in the mainstream music industry, while his celebrity with the industry's movers and shakers will introduce Nune's talents into new arenas and uncharted territories, giving the pair more opportunities to become Armenia's true ambassadors of culture to the world.

Popular posts from this blog

Three Apples Fell from Heaven: RELICS OF ASH, BLOOD, AND EXILE

-
Image
Three Apples Fell from Heaven: RELICS OF ASH, BLOOD, AND EXILE   By  Paul Chaderjian     photo by Areg Balayan     A FIRE THAT NEVER GOES OUT A single ember, unremarkable in its origin, finds its way onto a rooftop, silent, unnoticed, until it catches the wind . It glows for just a moment, then vanishes into the vast emptiness beyond. But embers do not truly disappear. They settle, drifting into the air like  forgotten thoughts . I am sitting on my  balcony in West Los Angeles , watching the hills to the north. The city lies beneath a heavy sky, but it’s the  hills I cannot stop staring , the landscape that still bears the  memory of something lost . The smoke is long gone. The flames that  tore through the Palisades  have been subdued. Yet, in their wake, they leave a  silence more profound than the fire itself . The  Palisades Fire  swallowed 23,448 acres with savage force, turned thousands of homes i...
Read more

Producing Reels

-
Documentaries/Newscasts: KTTV Fox 11's Good Day LA @ 10 A.M. Al Jazeera   Inside Story: Western Media Bias Al Jazeera  Inside Story: War on Gaza Al Jazeera  Inside Story: New Armenia PM Al Jazeera: Talk to Al Jazeera Al Jazeera: Nepal in Ruins KITV ABC 11 Honolulu: News at Ten KITV ABC 11 Honolulu: News at Six KITV ABC 11 Honolulu: News at Five KSEE 24 Fresno We Are Fresno LIVE KSEE 24 Fresno: We Are Fresno LIVE KSEE 24 Fresno: We Are Fresno LIVE KSEE 24 Fresno: Stefani's Armenia
Read more

Three Apples: Sing Armenians, Sing

-
Image
a column by Paul Chaderjian for the Asbarez newspaper Once there was and there was not … … one moment in our collective history when we came together despite our differences to celebrate our diversified popular culture. On Sunday, December 13, our hyphenated people came from the north and south of the Equator and the left and right of the Meridian to the entertainment capital of the world, to honor the Armenian stars, the modern makers of Armenian Culture, the ones who shone bright center-stage at the Nokia Theatre. At 777 Chick Hearn Court in the heart of Los Angeles were the sons and daughters of Hayk singing their hearts out and celebrating their vibrant, ancient yet modern culture. Their ancestors had witnessed the formation of a new people and a new culture two thousand years before Christ. Their people had ruled kingdoms and celebrated their golden age of literature just a mere 1500 years before the printing press. These descendants of Noah and the Arc had mastered m...
Read more