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Jazz harks back to folk, to traditional melodies, to knowledge and the obscure. Tradition is held up in a mirror of time and newly interpreted. Most of the time the listener should feel how it was "back then", but only most of the time, not always.
No, it is no small matter what music wants to tell us, what music can tell us. Music was always a means of expression and always attests to culture. With this assertion, in this case, is does not matter which culture is in question. Armenian Spirit is about music from and about Armenia and it is refreshing to hear music that does not beat about the bush but rather gets to the point.
Wolfgang Puschnig, Ali Gaggl, Juan Carlos Sungurlian, Karen Asatrian, Herfried Knapp, Ismael Barrios and Reinhardt Winkler are responsible for this array into the past and do it in a wonderful style. It is clear to all of us that music, no matter how good it is, cannot change the world or amend past wrongs. But it can make the world a bit better and make us more keen. The musicians appear to have done just that almost impeccably. The sounds are stirring and make one sensitive, they take away and entice and show what is to be shown. Thinking and hearing can often be one and the same thing.
(akro)
- STANDART
Discography
2009 Karen Asatrian & Armenian Spirit, „DERVISH” CD
2005 Karen Asatrian & Armenian Spirit, „PATHWAY” CD
"PATHWAY" Armenian Grammy 2007 in category best jazz album. Los Angeles (USA)
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Bio
Karen Asatrian
Born on 23 June 1972 in Eriwan, Armenia
1978-1989: Study for classical violin and piano at the Tschaikowsky music school.
1989-1994: Study for violin, piano and composition at the Komitas State Conservatory
of the city Yerevan.
1995-1999: Further study jazz piano at the State Conservatory of Carinthia in Austria.
Class Dr. Professor Harry Neuwirth
1999: Diploma with honor.
1999-2001: Study for course of studies instrument valley (singing -)
Paedagogik the training capability for piano jazz.
2001: Training qualifying certificate with excellent success.
Since 2003 teacher at the Conservatory of Carinthia and University Vienna
Karen Asatrian & Armenian Spirit
Noah's Ark landed on Ararat. In Erewan (Armenia) one can see this mountain from every corner. Karen Asatrian is from Erewan. He has musically landed on his personal Ararat. What had sailed through his thoughts has now landed on stage in Austria. Here he has finally found the musicians, the cast for his musical ark.
And as is proper for an ark, there is a musician from every corner of the earth: Venezuela, Uruguay, Austria and of course, Armenia.
Asatrian has taken along memories from his Armenian childhood on his odessy: folk music which is embedded in his bones. He has fused together outward influences such as jazz and other kinds of music.
Music is the base element of his life, with which he attempts to express his most important values: love, respect and truth. Karen's original compositions interpret the sound of past generations with life today. He calls the result "Avantgarde-Folk."
Seven musicians, a magic number, is only proper for legends. Here is an intersection between orient and occident, yesterday and today, between traditional listening and modern playing.
It is not as if the music world is unfamiliar with the armenian sound (the producers Arto Tuncboyaciyan or George Avakian who worked together with Miles Davis, Ellington and Brubeck come to mind.)
Yet "Armenian Spirit" adds a new nuance: Karen's songs, sometimes melancholic but often sweeping and delighting, are played not only on traditional armenian instruments but also instruments typical of jazz and compelling groove makes it appealing.
"I do not sit down to write music. The music I play is the sound of my life. Something happens: something good or bad- this inspires me. If music becomes the sound of your life, your life will become music."
Asatrian
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