10/30/2006

Concerto del musicista armeno Djivan Gasparyan

Concerto presso Mater Ecclesiae del musicista armeno Gasparyan tenutosi a Bari il 20 dicembre 2005
What a wonderful concert by Djivan Gasparian(jivan Kasparian) and his Duduk ensemble at a performance in Italy. A rare eclectic treat.
You'll hear a sampling of songs collected by father Gomidas. Cultural treasures that would have been forever lost with the people that perished in the genocide. Father Gomidas collected these folk songs from the cities and villages that were ethnically cleansed from its indigenous population, the western Armenians.

10/16/2006

Govdantsi Bar

Traditional Armenian Folk Dance

Sharing

The advent of the internet has enabled us to share ideas, pictures, videos, etc. that would not have been possible before. Within just a couple months, my perceptions of it's capabilities have increased tenfold.
To counteract the effects of the cultural genocide, the internet could become a great tool to share the rescued remnants of that culture.
Hopefully this blog will encourage people from around the world to start posting what they have in their, or in their friends/relatives, possession; whether that be a practiced art such as dance, crafts, music, or rescued cultural relics such as books, poetry, pictures, stories, or memoirs, etc.
I have posted a dance that I discovered on google videos. A great armenian dance, and will be posting an authenthic village dance as practiced by some old timers somewhere in America at a picknick.
As evidenced from watching the Govdantsi Bar, the dancers are advanced in their age and
there are no youngsters among them to learn and preserve the dance. One can only imagine how much livelier and how many more dances were enjoyed by the people from this village in their own town before they were deported, marched to the desert and massacred by the turks.
We should all make an effort with the present technology in our disposal, be it in Australia or Swaziland, to be witnesses to these bits of cultural treasures. Record and post them on the internet whether through personal blogs or through sending them to others if one can not.
Only then would we be able to pay respect the spirits of the martyrs that perished in the first genocide of the twentieth century.
Enjoy the two videos
Share your videos, pictures, literature, or arts and crafts or stories from the lost villages in Western Armenia.
And, above all.
Learn to dance the govdantsi dance as you watch it, save it, share it(and any others like it) whether you are 5 year old or 105 year old so you can join the old timers if you are lucky or teach them to a few others and keep the spirit of our ancestors alive and those who survived and kept what they could alive in far away places.