· Classical
"Stone Dreams": Instalation based on Mihran Toumajan's recordings
An interactive sound installation by American-Armenian composer Joseph Bohigian "Stone Dreams" will be presented at the Komitas Museum-Institute on October 15 at 5:00 p.m.
How is memory preserved when physical sites of memory are destroyed? When collective memory is separated from a place, how can it be revived in a new context? In the installation, a stone acts as an instrument that brings forth fragments of Armenian folk songs collected by MihranToumajan in the United States in the 1930s. This act of remembering is an active response in the face of a century of imposed forgetting.
The installation includes recordings of four songs collected by folklorist Mihran Toumajan as part of his effort to preserve the remnants of oral literature surviving in the Armenian diaspora post-genocide. They are: “Orim, orim” (collected in New York 1930-35) sung by Hasmik Harutyunyan, “Es kisher Hampartsum e” (collected in New York 1930-35) sung by Koriun Davtyan, “Nenni usim kntsnim” (collected in New York 1930-35) sung by Anush Stepanyan, and “Esor don e Surp dznntyan” (collected in Boston 1936) sung by Anush Harutyunyan.
How is memory preserved when physical sites of memory are destroyed? When collective memory is separated from a place, how can it be revived in a new context? In the installation, a stone acts as an instrument that brings forth fragments of Armenian folk songs collected by MihranToumajan in the United States in the 1930s. This act of remembering is an active response in the face of a century of imposed forgetting.
The installation includes recordings of four songs collected by folklorist Mihran Toumajan as part of his effort to preserve the remnants of oral literature surviving in the Armenian diaspora post-genocide. They are: “Orim, orim” (collected in New York 1930-35) sung by Hasmik Harutyunyan, “Es kisher Hampartsum e” (collected in New York 1930-35) sung by Koriun Davtyan, “Nenni usim kntsnim” (collected in New York 1930-35) sung by Anush Stepanyan, and “Esor don e Surp dznntyan” (collected in Boston 1936) sung by Anush Harutyunyan.
