SOUNDTRACK: TIGRAN HAMASYAN-Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #110 (November 11, 2020).
I have never heard of Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan. I really enjoyed his solo pieces here and am somewhat surprised to read that he often plays with others.
The first piece,
“Road Song,” features a melody Hamasyan wrote in 2008, but recorded with a quintet on his imaginative 2013 album, Shadow Theater. He frequently plays a solo version of it live, but had never played it alone in a studio until now.
It starts quietly. Then he begins whistling (!) which makes it even more haunting. At around 4 minutes his left hand rhythm remains slow and steady while his right hand flies all around the keyboard. It’s wonderful.
That’s followed by “Our Film,” from Hamasyan’s latest and most enterprising release, The Call Within. This performance mirrors the intensity and sentimentality of the album version, but here it’s more intimate and fanciful.
It also has pretty, haunting melody (with more whistling). It picks up the pace in the middle and gets almost frenetic (around 11 and a half minutes into the video) before settling down again. It’s amazing how it all holds together with the more staid left hand.
The last tune, “A Fable,” is the title track of his 2011 solo album, which was inspired by 13th century Armenian writer Vardan Aygektsi.
This piece is flowing and a bit more upbeat. He really gets into it and starts grunting at one point.
Hamasyan is a jazz pianist, but his foundation comes from Armenian folk music. Perhaps that’s why i like this so much–it is very jazzy, but is grounded in traditional melodies.
[READ: November 30, 2020] “Ema, The Captive”
This is one of Aira’s earlier (and longer) stories.
I’m fascinated that his earlier stories seem to be grounded much more in reality–blood and gore–rather than fantastical ideas. Although calling this story grounded in reality is a bit far fetched as well.
This is the story of Ema (at one point in the book it is mistyped as Emma) a woman who goes from being a concubine to running a successful business. The story (translated by Chris Andrews) is broken into several smaller anecdotes as Ema’s life progresses.
But it starts out with no mention of Ema at all.
Indeed, the opening chapter is revolting. A wagon train carrying prisoners is heading across the Argentinian desert (set in the nineteenth century). (more…)