Rhythms of the World - The Naghash Ensemble - Armenia

Performance 15 april 2023 - Amersfoort - The Netherlands
Spiritual folk songs and energetic classical music with jazz and rock.
The Naghash Ensemble from Armenia combines the earthy spirituality of Armenian folk songs with new classical music, contemporary post-minimalism and the energy of jazz and rock. Three brilliant singers and some of Armenia's best instrumentalists on duduk (apricot oboe), 'ud (lute), dhol (percussion) and piano play new music based on sacred texts by the medieval Armenian mystic poet and priest Mkrtich Naghash. Written by Armenian-American composer John Hodian, Songs of Exile is a meditation on man's relationship with God from the perspective of a monk forced to live many years in exile.
The press praises this ensemble: 'An unusually subtle, yet accessible world of sound. Lure bell-like voices with trembling melodic arcs, canon-like shifts and contrapuntal lines.' And: 'Deeply moving, out of this world'.
Hasmik Baghdasaryan - soprano
Tatevik Movsesyan - soprano
Arpine Ter-Petrosyan - alt
Tigran Hovhannisyan - dhol
Aram Nikoghosyan - ud
Harutyun Chkolyan - duduk
John Hodian - piano/compositions