On the coming Sunday, the Armenian Apostolic Church will celebrate the fourth of her five major feasts, the Assumption or Dormition of the Holy Mother of God. This episode of our program covers the origin of this feast, some aspects of its ritual, and its individual manifestations in Armenian sacred and folk music.

The image of the Holy Mother of God takes a pivotal place in Christian dogmatics and various layers of Christian culture. The broadcast presents the Metsatsustse sharakans dedicated to the Mother of God that are among highest achievements of Armenian medieval song culture along with the taghs, odes, and other compositions devoted to the Holy Virgin.

Today's episode presents the feasts of the Holy Cross in the Armenian Apostolic Church and their sharakans.

The episode is dedicated to the main musical and poetic parts of the Divine Liturgy, the central rite of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

The episode is dedicated to the main musical and poetic parts of the Divine Liturgy, the central rite of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

This episode is about the chants traditionally performed  in the Armenian Apostolic Church during Holy Week, the final week of Lent.

The program is dedicated to the musical-poetical heritage of one of the greatest geniuses of Golden era of the Armenian literature (V c.) ‒ historiographer, theologian, philosopher, and translator Movses Khorenatsi.

The second part of the broadcast dedicated to the founder of Armenian ethnography and folkloristics Garegin Srvandztyants presents his literary and folkloristic heritage.

The broadcast is dedicated to Garegin Srvandztyants, an Armenian famous ecclesiastical and public figure, philologist and folklorist, ethnographer, and the founder of Armenian folkloristics. The first part of the broadcast presents Srvandztyants's life and a general sketch of his activities.

Tagh is one of the main genres of the medieval Armenian professional music, which manifested itself in fields of folk and sacred music. The flourishing of the spiritual taghs comes on the X century, receiving its perfect expression in the works of st. Gregor Narekatsi. The program discusses the Resurrection Taghs of st. G. Narekatsi.

During the first three centuries of the existence of the Armenian spiritual art of singing there were created a mass of various spiritual songs dedicated to each holiday of the Church. Starting from the 8th century, the spiritual songs for the same holiday are united in cycles consisted of eight series. Each unit of the series is called sharakan, and the whole series is called canon, karg or sark.  Each canon is composed from eight different sharakans, each of which has its name. The two broadcasts of the program are dedicated to the observations of the sharakans included in the structure of canon.

During the first three centuries of the existence of the Armenian spiritual art of singing there were created a mass of various spiritual songs dedicated to each holiday of the Church. Starting from the 8th century, the spiritual songs for the same holiday are united in cycles consisted of eight series. Each unit of the series is called sharakan, and the whole series is called canon, karg or sark.  Each canon is composed from eight different sharakans, each of which has its name. The two broadcasts of the program are dedicated to the observations of the sharakans included in the structure of canon.

The two issues of the broadcast are dedicated to prominent Armenian musicologist, folklorist, and music and public figure Aram Kocharyan (1903-1977).

The two issues of the broadcast are dedicated to prominent Armenian musicologist, folklorist, and music and public figure Aram Kocharyan (1903-1977).

This episode is dedicated to the activity of the notable musician and folklorist, student of Vardapet Komitas, Mihran Toumajan (1890-1973). The guest of our program is musicologist Zaven Tagakchyan, a candidate of art history, senior researcher at the Institute of Arts of NAS RA, head of the Aram Kocharyan Audio Library of the same institute.

Akn, a town in the Sebastia region of the historical Lesser Armenia, was famous for its rich and varied musical folklore. A number of samples of Armenian folk music of old tradition, which had preserved their Armenian image, reached the 20th century thanks to the residents of Akn and were preserved in their environment. Antunis of Akn are one of such samples which are considered to be the inheritors of the medieval hayrens of gusans. In 1895 Komitas recorded 25 songs of the Akn region from the repertoire of the resident of Akn Hovsep Janikyan and published in the ‟Collection of folk songs of Akn”. Two of our broadcasts are dedicated to the review of the content of this collection.
 

Akn, a town in the Sebastia region of the historical Lesser Armenia, was famous for its rich and varied musical folklore. A number of samples of Armenian folk music of old tradition, which had preserved their Armenian image, reached the 20th century thanks to the residents of Akn and were preserved in their environment. Antunis of Akn are one of such samples which are considered to be the inheritors of the medieval hayrens of gusans. In 1895 Komitas recorded 25 songs of the Akn region from the repertoire of the resident of Akn Hovsep Janikyan and published in the ‟Collection of folk songs of Akn”. Two of our broadcasts are dedicated to the review of the content of this collection.
 

The episode is dedicated to one of the perfect examples of Armenian epic folklore, the epic song "Prince of Moks" ("Mokats Mirza"), which has reached us in the version recorded by Komitas.

The song "Crane" ("Krunk"), created in the late Middle Ages, is a masterpiece in the genre of antuni or Armenian songs of wandering. During its existence, it has become a symbol, an artistic generalization of the historical fate of the Armenian people. This song has come down to us in numerous versions transmitted by oral tradition and recorded in the 20th century, four of which are discussed during this episode of our program.

This episode is dedicated to the epic song "Karos Khach" (Celery Cross), which is one of most unique and valuable manifestations of the veneration of the cross in Armenian folk music culture.

Since the earliest times of the history of Armenian people, the region of Shirak has been famous for its developed and rich music culture. The two parts of this broadcast are dedicated to the folk music culture of Shirak. Our guest is PhD in Musicology, researcher at the Shirak Center for Armenian Studies at the National Academy of Sciences Hasmik Harutyunyan.

Since the earliest times of the history of Armenian people, the region of Shirak has been famous for its developed and rich music culture. The two parts of this broadcast are dedicated to the folk music culture of Shirak. Our guest is PhD in Musicology, researcher at the Shirak Center for Armenian Studies at the National Academy of Sciences Hasmik Harutyunyan.

The broadcast is dedicated to the work of 13th-century prominent Armenian theologian, grammarian, philosopher, aesthete, poet and musician John of Erznka (Hovhannes Yerznkatsi).

The song type Gorani is a unique sub-type of Armenian folklore. Some typological features of the Goranis that survived in oral tradition until the 20th century allowed the specialists in folklore to throw partial light upon this unique dance song.