• Ensemble Karot - Vol. I - Traditional Songs of Armenia

Noune Atanasian, Aleksan Harutyunyan, Hasmik Harutyunyan, Heriknaz Harutyunyan
back: Anoosh Harutyunyan, Aram Harutyunyan, Lilit Harutyunyan

The art of Armenian folk music is as old as the Armenian nation itself. The song is the mirror of the people's soul, and in this way, we can become acquainted with the traditions, the mentality, and the history of Armenian life.
The Armenian people have a past with considerable historical events. Armenia was often the object of a tug-of-war between various belligerent nations, struggling to maintain national independence. After the tragedy of the 1915 massacres, Armenia recovered and gained again a foothold to continue on the way to a hopeful future.
The musicologist Komitas has described Armenian music with these words: "The songs of a people are their life; their entire life is inspired by their songs....". Because of the Armenians' difficult fate, their music is rich and of an unparalleled depth and colour. Under the influence of various foreign political and economic tendencies, Armenian musical creativity was enriched, while still following its own path and maintaining the ties to the traditions that link the past with the present.

- more information Traditional Music and Instruments of Armenia


History of Armenia

Armenia and the Armenian people have a history of more than three thousand years. Other nations have given this land, which Armenians call "Hayasdan," the name of Armenia. On the oldest map of the world, the Greek writer Hegatios Miletian (540-489 BC) marked this country as the Land of Armenia. This territory corresponded with the Armenian plateau, where in the ninth century BC existed the country of Urartu, which went through different periods of advanced historical development and changes. In the beginning, Armenia consisted of various small and large kingdoms that had the Armenian language (1) in common. During the period of Tigran the Great (95-55 BC), all Armenian people joined to become one nation covering a territory, which included that of the entire Armenian plateau. In 301 AD, Christianity became the official religion of Armenia. In 387 AD, after the fall of Greater Armenia (2) and until the beginning of the twentieth century, Armenia was under the rule of different neighbouring and non-neighbouring countries. From time to time, the Armenians regain their sovereignty, or were ruled locally, as in the period of the Bagradunis of Ani and Cilician Armenia. Western Armenia was under the rule of Ottoman Turkey, and until the beginning of the twentieth century, Armenians formed the greater part of the population there. Taking advantage of the time of the First World War (1914-1918) and the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Turkish government organised the deportation and massacre of the Armenian population. In 1918, Eastern Armenia became a state, where Soviet rule was established later. In 1990, Armenia declared itself an independent country.

	(1) Armenian was introduced into the mountainous Transcaucasian region (called Greater Armenia by the Greek historians) by invaders, who occupied the region on the shores of Lake Van that had previously been the site of the ancient Urartean kingdom
	(2) The Artaxiads - After the defeat of the Seleucid king Antiochus the Great by Rome at the Battle of Magnesia (winter 190-189 BC), his two Armenian satraps, Artashes (Artaxias) and Zareh (Zariadres), established themselves, with Roman consent, as kings of Greater Armenia and Sophene, respectively, thus becoming the creators of an independent Armenia.
	On the collapse of Greater Armenia many Armenians emigrated to Georgia, Poland, and Galicia, while others crossed into Cilicia, where some colonies had already settled at the end of the 10th century.
	- *Historic region of eastern Europe that was a part of Poland before Austria annexed it in 1772: in the 20th century it was restored to Poland but was later divided between Poland and the Soviet Union (today Ukraine). During the middle Ages, eastern Galicia, situated between Hungary, Poland, and the western principalities of Kiev and Volhynia, was coveted by its neighbours for its fertile soil and its important commercial connections.

- map sketch: The Oriental Empire

- map Greater Armenia

- map sketch: Armenia today


Religion of Armenia

In ancient times, Armenia was a pagan country. Armenians worshipped fire and water, lightening and rain, as brothers and sisters, thus giving them a holy mission. In the first century AD, Christianity was introduced to Armenia by the preaching of the apostles of Christ, Thaddeus and Bartholomew. Due to the efforts of Gregory the Illuminator, Armenia established Christianity as its state religion in 301 AD In the capital of Vagharshabat (later Echmiadzin), the cathedral of Echmiadzin was built in 303. This became the place of residence of the Catholicos* of the Armenian Apostolic Church and the spiritual centre of all Armenians.

*(Greek 'katholikos' = "universal" bishop, in Eastern Christian Churches, title of certain ecclesiastical superiors.

We would like to thank all of our Armenian and Swiss friends for their help in translating;
Datevik Hovanesian, Andranik Michaelian and Silvia Delorenzi-Schenkel.

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