I woke up and after the usual morning rituals, I was ready to leave the apartment. However, there was something I had to try first. I rushed over to a mirror in the apartment and started a very strange exercise. �Barev�, I bellowed. Again, �Barev�. It still didn�t sound right. �Baaarev� all in one grunt. I tried again, �Baarev�. �Barev, barev, barev, barev, barev, barev�. There, I finally had it down. I finally nailed down the Hayastansi way of saying Parev. It�s-�baarev�- in one deep monotone voice that you have to bellow and drop your voice even though it doesn�t sound natural. Oh yeah, you have to look and sound serious, too. Hey, when in Rome, right?
There was almost a weird urgency to my day on Tuesday May 29th. The sand on the hourglass was slipping and there were only three more full days left in Armenia. I had two appointments that day. Both of them involved obtaining audio samples of musicians. My day started at around 8am by meeting Gor Mkhitarian at the Armenian Volunteer Corp offices. Gor was ready to pick up his guitar and make the trip with me to the Nairi Hotel in the Marash District of Yerevan. The studio was waiting for him. We went to the Metro stop right next to the legendary Vernisage area, took the subway, and then walked a bit toward the Tram. In getting to the recording studio, we decided to take the Tram instead of the autobus. For the cost of 30 cents, we boarded the metallic air buggy, waited for a few minutes for the vehicle to be filled, and then the doors shut. The Tram started the incline up toward the Marash district of Yerevan. Think of a Tram as a sort of mass transit (in this case) pulley system that is used to go up a mountain or hill. Kind of a public transit ski lift is the best way I can put it. For 30 cents, you get some of the best views of Yerevan and a ride up to Marash.
At the conclusion of the ride, we stopped by a small shop and Gor bought some candy for our hosts at the studio. I quickly noticed something that I hadn�t seen much of this time while in Armenia--- Turkish products for sale. Personally, I am kind of down on the idea of Armenian merchants that resort to selling Turkish goods. Do we need Turkish Pringles that much? After picking up the box of candy, we continued our hike up to the Nairi Hotel and finally arrived. As you may recall, Armenians from Baku were settled at the Nairi Hotel after the pogroms in Sumgait and Baku of the late 1980�s. As we strolled into the lobby, we both noticed a kind of calm and peace surrounding the place. Old women were plodding up the stairs avoiding the elevator while men dressed in tattered sports jackets stood around passing their time by chatting with each other. It was my impression that the Baku Armenians were isolated from the rest of Yerevan. It looked as though they felt like outsiders. They lost everything in the barbaric acts that the Azeri�s meted out to them.
We hopped into the elevator and got off on the eight floor where the studio was. As we walked through the hallways of the hotel, I noticed a sign on the wall that said something to the effect of �Russian Radio Studios�. Gor and I walked in and he asked for Mikayel. The woman went toward the back of the room and into another room located through another door. As we looked left from the foyer, there was a mini-kitchen. Tea and coffee were being prepared perpetually it seemed. To the right of us was the bathroom. The woman who greeted us initially popped her head out of the other room while opening the door and signaled for us to come in. We waded our way through the initial room passing a guy doing resume translations while manning a massive mixing board. A Samsung TV-VCR Combo unit was at the end of the room on a basic TV stand. The room looked plain and somewhat unkept. However, there seemed to be a few people milling around in this office area either finished with their recording session or just hanging out. We finally stepped into the studio room and were graciously greeted by Mikayel Margarian, the recording engineer of the studio. Gor and him knew each other previously. They caught up for a few minutes while Mikayel�s wife offered us tea or coffee. I took tea with a few hits of sugar and sat back and watched Gor and Mikayel discuss some technical issues of the impending recording session. Mikayel was a youthful looking 26 years old, married, and seemingly loving his job as a recording engineer. He was previously in a band called �Angels� and preferred hard rock. He kind of looked like Wally from �Leave it to Beaver�. Very pleasant, Mikayel engaged us in some conversation about various rock bands in the States and had said that he would love to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston. He cut away for a second to tend to one of his clients who was finishing up transferring his keyboard composition onto disc to Mikayel�s system. The Korg keyboard was pumping out this medley of music that ranged from Latin pop to American smooth jazz. It was about a 20-minute piece of pure keyboard sounds with the composer looking on in glee. He looked at me and said in Armenian, �it�s sounds good, right?� Although it wasn�t my style of music, the guy had come up with sounds that I just did not think possible to create on a keyboard. I responded, �definitely�. The atmosphere was laid back and Gor and I took our tea and headed out onto the balcony right behind this massive satellite antenna. Like a �Direct TV� dish magnified by 20. He told me of the three songs he intended to record and looked poised and confident. After our �composer friend of the great Korg machine� finished taking his bows for his masterwork of keyboard brilliance, Mika called us into the room and directed Gor to the soundproof room where he was about to lay down the guitar tracks. Gor had forgotten his guitar pick back at his place and we searched for alternatives. No one had a coin on them and there were no extra guitar picks. So, Gor broke off a piece of a plastic cassette cover. He looked at the broken piece of plastic and said, �let�s go, this is good enough.�
Gor closed the door and adjusted his microphone. The soundproof room was in the back of the general room. There was a glass window that allowed Mika and I to peek in and see Gor play. Mika played around with some of his computer equipment and got ready for the recording session. Gor did the sound check and indicated that he was ready to go. For the next half hour, Gor strummed his guitar and did no more than three takes on his songs. The sounds of the acoustic guitar were crisp, clear, and precise. Mika looked satisfied and we moved on to laying down the vocal tracks of the songs. After a slow start, Gor hit his stride and was able to finish off the remaining songs in just under 40 minutes. Mika and Gor began the process of mixing the two tracks together and adding some effects such as echoes, etc. Once that concluded, we had our demo. Just as Mika finished up with Gor�s demo, a group of four people walked in that caught our attention.
The site was interesting. Three heavily made up young ladies in skintight outfits graced our presense. One of the young ladies had a cut- off shirt that accentuating her chest. She had her navel pierced and looked the part of a diva. The other two were dressed in black outfits and seemed pretty bubbly while flanking a man who looked like her was in his late 30�s. He was a rock musician and composer. The whole posse was going into the studio to record some samples. The three women were backup singers in his band and appeared to be taking on the roles that African-American singers often are relegated to in white bands. That of the backup singers giving the song or group a �little soul�. We introduced ourselves to each other and they explained that they were part of a group that was dedicated to playing Armenian rock music in Yerevan. One of the women asked where Gor had played before. He said �Lav Elie�. Once those words were uttered, the three girls who could not have been older than 20 years old blushed and said, �YOU�RE the guitar player from �Lav Elie�? They were incredulous and obviously in �hero worship� mode. In typical Gor fashion, he humbly stated �yes� and the women started to tell him of all the times they had heard of his music on the radio. They could not believe they were next to a member of one of their favorite Armenian bands. The conversations lasted about 5 minutes after which the women were beaming from meeting one of their local rock idols. We thanked everyone for their time and left the studio and headed out of the hotel to catch the Tram back to the center of town. I looked at Gor and asked him, �Gor Jan, how come they didn�t recognize you at first?� He stated that even though his former band �Lav Elie� had heavy rotation on Hye FM and his band was famous in Armenia, the lack of music videos and distribution of their CD�s made their faces anonymous even though their sound was so recognizable. Therefore, people knew Gor as the �guitarist from LAV ELIE�, but didn�t know him by sight. We took the minibus back into the center of town.
After grabbing some pizza for lunch and doing some city wandering in the afternoon, it was time for �Hover�. A diasporan Armenian from America who is now living in Armenia had alerted me to a choir group that he believed was outstanding. It was certainly both his and the choirs desire to get some more exposure and hopefully secure some sort of a recording contract. So, Tom and I headed over to videotape �Hover� at 7pm.
Hover is a choir group that recently won the International Choral Olympics in Linz, Austria. They are headed by Sona Hovanissyan who has molded this group into an international caliber ensemble. Their general repertoire includes Armenian, American, European music. On this particular night, they belted out a full range of pieces including works by Komitas, Britten, and Sayat Nova. This 25-member ensemble consisting of males and females sung with passion, conviction, and purpose. From this edifice the 25 people who called themselves �Hover� sang beautifully. The practice room they were in had a leak on the roof, which caused rainwater to drip into a bucket that was stationed on the floor.
-Raffi Meneshian
There was almost a weird urgency to my day on Tuesday May 29th. The sand on the hourglass was slipping and there were only three more full days left in Armenia. I had two appointments that day. Both of them involved obtaining audio samples of musicians. My day started at around 8am by meeting Gor Mkhitarian at the Armenian Volunteer Corp offices. Gor was ready to pick up his guitar and make the trip with me to the Nairi Hotel in the Marash District of Yerevan. The studio was waiting for him. We went to the Metro stop right next to the legendary Vernisage area, took the subway, and then walked a bit toward the Tram. In getting to the recording studio, we decided to take the Tram instead of the autobus. For the cost of 30 cents, we boarded the metallic air buggy, waited for a few minutes for the vehicle to be filled, and then the doors shut. The Tram started the incline up toward the Marash district of Yerevan. Think of a Tram as a sort of mass transit (in this case) pulley system that is used to go up a mountain or hill. Kind of a public transit ski lift is the best way I can put it. For 30 cents, you get some of the best views of Yerevan and a ride up to Marash.
At the conclusion of the ride, we stopped by a small shop and Gor bought some candy for our hosts at the studio. I quickly noticed something that I hadn�t seen much of this time while in Armenia--- Turkish products for sale. Personally, I am kind of down on the idea of Armenian merchants that resort to selling Turkish goods. Do we need Turkish Pringles that much? After picking up the box of candy, we continued our hike up to the Nairi Hotel and finally arrived. As you may recall, Armenians from Baku were settled at the Nairi Hotel after the pogroms in Sumgait and Baku of the late 1980�s. As we strolled into the lobby, we both noticed a kind of calm and peace surrounding the place. Old women were plodding up the stairs avoiding the elevator while men dressed in tattered sports jackets stood around passing their time by chatting with each other. It was my impression that the Baku Armenians were isolated from the rest of Yerevan. It looked as though they felt like outsiders. They lost everything in the barbaric acts that the Azeri�s meted out to them.
We hopped into the elevator and got off on the eight floor where the studio was. As we walked through the hallways of the hotel, I noticed a sign on the wall that said something to the effect of �Russian Radio Studios�. Gor and I walked in and he asked for Mikayel. The woman went toward the back of the room and into another room located through another door. As we looked left from the foyer, there was a mini-kitchen. Tea and coffee were being prepared perpetually it seemed. To the right of us was the bathroom. The woman who greeted us initially popped her head out of the other room while opening the door and signaled for us to come in. We waded our way through the initial room passing a guy doing resume translations while manning a massive mixing board. A Samsung TV-VCR Combo unit was at the end of the room on a basic TV stand. The room looked plain and somewhat unkept. However, there seemed to be a few people milling around in this office area either finished with their recording session or just hanging out. We finally stepped into the studio room and were graciously greeted by Mikayel Margarian, the recording engineer of the studio. Gor and him knew each other previously. They caught up for a few minutes while Mikayel�s wife offered us tea or coffee. I took tea with a few hits of sugar and sat back and watched Gor and Mikayel discuss some technical issues of the impending recording session. Mikayel was a youthful looking 26 years old, married, and seemingly loving his job as a recording engineer. He was previously in a band called �Angels� and preferred hard rock. He kind of looked like Wally from �Leave it to Beaver�. Very pleasant, Mikayel engaged us in some conversation about various rock bands in the States and had said that he would love to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston. He cut away for a second to tend to one of his clients who was finishing up transferring his keyboard composition onto disc to Mikayel�s system. The Korg keyboard was pumping out this medley of music that ranged from Latin pop to American smooth jazz. It was about a 20-minute piece of pure keyboard sounds with the composer looking on in glee. He looked at me and said in Armenian, �it�s sounds good, right?� Although it wasn�t my style of music, the guy had come up with sounds that I just did not think possible to create on a keyboard. I responded, �definitely�. The atmosphere was laid back and Gor and I took our tea and headed out onto the balcony right behind this massive satellite antenna. Like a �Direct TV� dish magnified by 20. He told me of the three songs he intended to record and looked poised and confident. After our �composer friend of the great Korg machine� finished taking his bows for his masterwork of keyboard brilliance, Mika called us into the room and directed Gor to the soundproof room where he was about to lay down the guitar tracks. Gor had forgotten his guitar pick back at his place and we searched for alternatives. No one had a coin on them and there were no extra guitar picks. So, Gor broke off a piece of a plastic cassette cover. He looked at the broken piece of plastic and said, �let�s go, this is good enough.�
Gor closed the door and adjusted his microphone. The soundproof room was in the back of the general room. There was a glass window that allowed Mika and I to peek in and see Gor play. Mika played around with some of his computer equipment and got ready for the recording session. Gor did the sound check and indicated that he was ready to go. For the next half hour, Gor strummed his guitar and did no more than three takes on his songs. The sounds of the acoustic guitar were crisp, clear, and precise. Mika looked satisfied and we moved on to laying down the vocal tracks of the songs. After a slow start, Gor hit his stride and was able to finish off the remaining songs in just under 40 minutes. Mika and Gor began the process of mixing the two tracks together and adding some effects such as echoes, etc. Once that concluded, we had our demo. Just as Mika finished up with Gor�s demo, a group of four people walked in that caught our attention.
The site was interesting. Three heavily made up young ladies in skintight outfits graced our presense. One of the young ladies had a cut- off shirt that accentuating her chest. She had her navel pierced and looked the part of a diva. The other two were dressed in black outfits and seemed pretty bubbly while flanking a man who looked like her was in his late 30�s. He was a rock musician and composer. The whole posse was going into the studio to record some samples. The three women were backup singers in his band and appeared to be taking on the roles that African-American singers often are relegated to in white bands. That of the backup singers giving the song or group a �little soul�. We introduced ourselves to each other and they explained that they were part of a group that was dedicated to playing Armenian rock music in Yerevan. One of the women asked where Gor had played before. He said �Lav Elie�. Once those words were uttered, the three girls who could not have been older than 20 years old blushed and said, �YOU�RE the guitar player from �Lav Elie�? They were incredulous and obviously in �hero worship� mode. In typical Gor fashion, he humbly stated �yes� and the women started to tell him of all the times they had heard of his music on the radio. They could not believe they were next to a member of one of their favorite Armenian bands. The conversations lasted about 5 minutes after which the women were beaming from meeting one of their local rock idols. We thanked everyone for their time and left the studio and headed out of the hotel to catch the Tram back to the center of town. I looked at Gor and asked him, �Gor Jan, how come they didn�t recognize you at first?� He stated that even though his former band �Lav Elie� had heavy rotation on Hye FM and his band was famous in Armenia, the lack of music videos and distribution of their CD�s made their faces anonymous even though their sound was so recognizable. Therefore, people knew Gor as the �guitarist from LAV ELIE�, but didn�t know him by sight. We took the minibus back into the center of town.
After grabbing some pizza for lunch and doing some city wandering in the afternoon, it was time for �Hover�. A diasporan Armenian from America who is now living in Armenia had alerted me to a choir group that he believed was outstanding. It was certainly both his and the choirs desire to get some more exposure and hopefully secure some sort of a recording contract. So, Tom and I headed over to videotape �Hover� at 7pm.
Hover is a choir group that recently won the International Choral Olympics in Linz, Austria. They are headed by Sona Hovanissyan who has molded this group into an international caliber ensemble. Their general repertoire includes Armenian, American, European music. On this particular night, they belted out a full range of pieces including works by Komitas, Britten, and Sayat Nova. This 25-member ensemble consisting of males and females sung with passion, conviction, and purpose. From this edifice the 25 people who called themselves �Hover� sang beautifully. The practice room they were in had a leak on the roof, which caused rainwater to drip into a bucket that was stationed on the floor.
-Raffi Meneshian
posted by ArmeniaLog at 7:31 AM
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