‘SHOGHER JAN’ AND ARMENIA

Posted on May 5, 2021

By composer and pianist Tatev Amiryan (Find her bio on the Youth Orchestra Commissioning Initiative website)

Just by chance, Portland Youth Philharmonic’s Wind Ensemble premiered my original composition Shogher Jan at a very historic time for Armenia, my home country. April 24, 2021, only a couple of weeks after the premiere, was a day anticipated for more than a century by Armenians around the world, as President Biden became the first President to officially acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.

In 1915-1917 the Ottoman Turks systematically eliminated approximately 1.5 million Armenians, along with other non-Turkish and non-Muslim minorities. This event, which began on April 24 of that year, is known in history as the Armenian Genocide.

The US acknowledgement brought an immense relief to all Armenians, especially Armenian-Americans who had been advocating for decades for their adopted country to join the 30 countries that had already officially recognized the Genocide. It was a hopeful sign that the horrible crimes committed against their ancestors will finally be acknowledged by the rest of the world and, most important, will end the 106 years of denial by the Turkish government.

Events in Armenia last fall, around the time I received PYP’s invitation, directly influenced why I chose to write this particular piece. On September 27, 2020, Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, started a war over territorial conflict in the Artsakh region (Nagorno Karabakh). On November 10, Armenia lost the war, losing over 5,000 soldiers and surrendering the majority of historical Armenian land in the region. Thousands of Armenians lost their homes and have become refugees, and many ancient cultural monuments in the occupied territories have been damaged or completely destroyed by the Azerbaijani government.

As a small Christian country of just 3 million people, which has experienced massacres and attempted extermination, enormous loss of human life and cultural heritage, and is still under constant existential threat, Armenia must protect our heritage, and promote our history and culture to keep the traditions alive. Music is one aspect of our culture which Armenians hold most precious.

The inspiration behind my piece “Shogher Jan” (Շողեր ջան in the Armenian alphabet) was an original song by the world-famous Armenian composer Komitas (Soghomon Soghomonian 1869-1935). He is considered the founder of the Armenian national school of music. He was also a priest (Komitas Vardapet), ethnomusicologist, choirmaster, singer and music educator.

Komitas is the first Armenian composer who obtained Western music education and integrated western music traditions into Armenian music. Like Bartok did in Hungary, Komitas went to many Armenian villages and transcribed thousands of Armenian folk songs, giving them new life and preserving them for future generations. He arranged many folk songs for choir and for different instruments, and wrote many original songs inspired by folk music as well. He also organized a male choir and toured with them as conductor and soloist. They performed his folk song arrangements at concerts in Western Europe, generating international interest in Armenian music.

Unfortunately, in April 1915, along with hundreds of other Armenian intellectuals, Komitas was arrested and deported to a prison camp by the Ottoman government. He was later released thanks to international intervention on his behalf, but the horrors of the Genocide left him with severe post-traumatic stress disorder. He never composed again, and after WWI he was transferred to a psychiatric hospital in Paris, where he lived until he passed away in 1935. Komitas is thus seen as a martyr and symbol of the attempted cultural destruction of the Armenian Genocide.

Komitas’s Shogher Jan (“Beloved Shogher”) is one of his most popular folk-inspired songs; it portrays the radiant grace and beauty of Armenian women. I wanted to continue the music traditions put forward by Komitas, and to present Armenian music to wider audiences.

In particular, I chose this song because at the time I was writing we had just lost the war, and I felt I needed to make something bright and uplifting for my people. I wanted to do something bright and sunny also for myself, because I was so heartbroken, to give myself again some hope and light. For the musicians, I wanted to share a positive, loving image of the Armenian people.

So, in addition to learning about Komitas and Armenian music, I hope you will keep in mind everything from the despair of the Artsakh War to the relief of President Biden’s long-awaited recognition of the Genocide, as you remember playing in the first ensemble to bring my setting of Komitas’s “Shogher Jan” to life.