Nune: Armenia 2000 Concert in the U.S.
Concert will feature renowned duduk master Djivan Gasparian
By Paul Chaderjian
1. The Call
Lunchtime in Yerevan.
Traffic is as congested as ever on the oval drive around Republic Square. Radio Hayg on 104.1 FM is playing Jennifer Lopez, while Hye FM on 105.5 spins music from the latest Hollywood import, Enrique Iglasias; in heavy rotation at both stations are songs from Yerevan's most popular export, Nune Yesayan -- who at this moment happens to be waiting in line at a bank on Nalbandian Street.
The young teller at the bank is taking his sweet time filling out the application for a business account Nune is opening, but she is patient even though she has other errands to run and a phone call to make to Fresno, California.
"Ah-lo?" She says slowly and deliberately; her voice echoes back from Fresno via microwaves, satellites, cables and fiber optic lines.
"Hi, Nune," I answer. "Inchbes es," how are you, she asks. I hear a man's voice on the other end, demanding five thousand drams from Nune. "What are you doing?" I say.
"Paying bills and making plans," she answers. The dates for her fall 'Armenia 2000' concert tour of the US are set. "We're coming to Fresno!"
"Fresno?" I ask.
"Ayo," she says, "Ayo." But not just Fresno, Nune says she will start in Southern California and perform at the Pasadena Civic Center, on Friday, September 8th. The next night, she'll be on stage at Fresno's Saroyan Theater and then perform at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, on Sunday, September 10th. Five days later on September 15th, Nune will appear at the prestigious Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York City. Plans are also in the works for performances in Boston, Detroit, Washington, D.C. and possibly other American cities.
2. Europe & the Middle East
It's past midnight on the West Coast and shortly after one in the afternoon in Yerevan; our interview continues. A late night talk show host on American TV is making fun of a cellular phone commercial featuring 80s has-been rock star Rick Springfield. On MTV, teen sensation Brittany Spears is talking about how she wrote the lyrics of a song on her new album; and in Yerevan, Nune is getting out of her chauffeur-driven Mercedes on Mashdotz Street.
People recognize her; after all, she is the classically trained 30-year-old performer whose haunting and enchanting renditions of ancient and classical Armenian songs of village life as well as her sensuous and vivacious modern tales of romance and strength resonate in Armenian communities all over the world. With her passport and legal briefs in hand, Nune walks into the Terasani Doon building, a place actors once called home; now, it also houses men and women who act out the law.
Nune's attorney will be filling out more paperwork, which she'll take to some government ministry to file. It's all in a day's work for the Armenian pop icon whose songs are heard from the frequencies of the Republic's many radio stations and seen on nationally televised programs.
Her songs are popular on Diasporan radio and television shows all over the world -- from the world wide web's ArmenianRadio.com to radio and television programs in California, the Eastern US, South America, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Australia. Nune has just returned home from a tour of Europe and Asia, mesmerizing audiences in Paris, Amsterdam, Tehran and Damascus.
"These four places were so drastically different from one another," she says. "They were like four different planets, different audiences, Armenians living in foreign countries, talking foreign tongues, but the energy was the same, their love for our music was the same."
To the East was Tehran, Iran; Nune performed there for seven nights in a row to sold-out halls seating three thousand each night. "They were singing my songs with me. There were young people, adults. All of them new the lyrics. It was incredible."
The number of young people who attended her Paris, France, appearance also surprised Nune. "Even their parents said they were surprised about their children's and teenager's reaction to my music. The kids wouldn't sit down throughout the night. They were up, dancing the whole time."
Nune was also surprised at the warm reception Parisians offered her; she says she had anticipated the cold and stereotypical French attitude, "But they were warm and jovial." Nune's performance in Damascus marked her return to a city where she performed for two years as a lounge vocalist at five-star Meridian Hotel.
Her mother and her friends has sent her to Syria to heal after the emotional breakup of her marriage and the traumatic separation from a physically abusive husband she loved. (The full story of her personal triumph can be found at www.nune.org )
"They knew me there," she says about Damascus, "and I was looking forward to visiting with my old friends." In Holland, Nune's audience was made up of Armenians who had escaped from Turkey and those who had left the homeland to find work in the Netherlands. "Many were homesick, working abroad to feed and cloth their families in Armenia," says Nune. "Some of them were from Turkey and don't speak a word of Armenian. All of them, together, were emotional and crying when they heard the classic horovel's and Sayat Nova."
3. Capital Ventures
After the exhausting European leg of her tour, Nune and her musicians are rehearsing for the US concerts and pounding the pavement in Yerevan coordinating travel plans. "What's weird about the popularity we're enjoying is that people make up things about you," she says with a hint of sadness in her voice. "I had people in Europe tell me that they were expecting this prima donna when I arrived. They expected me to act like a star and demand these absurd things from them."
"There were rumors," says Nune, "that I screamed at people who walked up to me for an autograph. Can you believe that? This is what I heard. One of the promoters said they were worried if the limousine they had for me was good enough." Much to the surprise of those who met her for the first time in Europe, audiences discovered a humble and gentle performer without the ego they had feared. "They said, you're khelok and nor-mahl, a nice person," says Nune laughing.
"Can you imagine me throwing temper tantrums?" she asks on a day she is left waiting for bank tellers, business attorneys and ministry bureaucrats, cutting through red tape to file for a business license for a new beauty shop.
"A beauty shop," I ask? "Yes," she says.
"I want to start a business and will have to pay for the license this afternoon." Nune wants to open the salon in the Ani Hotel and offer women a full service facility which caters to their every needs -- from hair to tanning, massage, manicures, pedicures and facials. "I want to see services offered in Yerevan that are available in Europe and the US, and at the same time invest back into Yerevan's economy and create jobs in an economy that's still struggling."
Nune's success was because of an investment by her producer Garbis Titizian of Levon Travel and Prime Entertainment. "I wanted to make it possible for Nune and the musicians," says Titizian, "to stay and work in Armenia instead of looking elsewhere for an income."
Because of Titizian, Nune is already working on her fifth album and employs a team of professional musicians who are able to work in the homeland and support their families. The success of Nune's albums and her first music video collection in the Diaspora will now help the young superstar launch her own business in Yerevan.
4. Djivan Gasparian
Joining Nune on her American leg of her "Armenia 2000" tour will be the master of the duduk, world renowned musician Djivan Gasparian. For the past decade, Gasparian has introduced the duduk to worldwide audiences.
The ancient Armenian wooden flute dates back to 1200 BC. It's a small instrument made from apricot wood, and the warm, somber and meditative sound it makes is ethereal. Djivan and the duduk gained international popularity after musician Peter Gabriel featured Djivan's performance on the soundtrack of the motion picture "The Last Temptation of Christ."
Since then, the unique and haunting sound of the duduk and Djivan's CD's have become a favorite of "World Music" and alternative radio stations around the globe. Djivan has participated in world music festivals, performed with several symphonies and philharmonics like the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, and he has won several international awards and many world music competitions. However, he has rarely performed for Armenian audiences until now.
Last year, Nune was asked by the Armenian government to perform with Djivan at the recent official commemoration of the Armenian Genocide at the National Opera House. "They asked us to perform Kele Lao," says Nune, "and it was a very moving tribute to millions were who were massacred and displaced, and it also an invitation to Armenians around the world to return to the homeland, to support their homeland."
The 85th Anniversary commemoration at the Opera House was televised in Armenia and across Europe, and audiences wanted to hear more of Nune's haunting voice set to the melodies coming from Djivan's duduk. "When I asked him to perform with me," 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 anymore to persuade Djivan to participate in Nune's concerts. Gasparian quickly called his British management company and asked that they clear his schedule in September so that he could travel and perform with Nune and her musicians. "He told me," says Nune, "that he couldn't imagine a better tour to perform for Armenians around the world."
Also joining Nune on stage is 19-year-old zurna player Anna Sarkissyan, a woman breaking gender barriers. "She's very young," says Nune, "and playing an instrument rarely played by women." Nune first saw Sarkissyan perform the ancient wind instrument at a concert, "and I knew," says Nune, "from the first note she played how talented she is."
In addition to the zurna, Nune's musicians will be playing string, percussion instruments including the Armenian kamancha, dohl and tar. "Djivan introduced our music to the world," says Nune. "Now, he's going to help me introduce our melodies and folk songs to even bigger audiences."
