For Love of the Music: It is in Our Blood

Ara Dinkjian from the Smithsonian Video

     The Smithsonian Institute sponsors a Folklife Festival on the National Mall each summer. They usually feature two countries in the several day festival. This year Armenia and Catalan were the two countries featured from June 27 – July 1 and July 4 – 8. I was fortunate enough to be in DC over the 4thof July holiday and was able to attend the festival on July 4thand 5th. The festival was very well done and provided education, entertainment, and nourishment of both body and soul that only good music and delicious khorovadz can bring.
     Ara and Onnik Dinkjian were among the featured artists. It was great to see our style of Armenian Music so strongly represented at this very well done festival. While at the festival, Ara was interviewed and short video of that interview was posted on the Smithsonian website: An Introduction to the Oud with Ara Dinkjian. I became aware of it via Facebook, watched it several times, and, of course, shared it.
     Midway through this short two-minute video, Ara said something that really resonated with me. “It doesn’t matter where you are born. If you know your history, your ancestry, your identity, then you need to be who you are wherever you are. So, the sounds, the land, the smells of the land, the tastes of the food, the architecture, the modes, the instruments, the looks [of the people], these are all in my blood even if I am born in New Jersey.”
     I couldn’t agree more. In fact, I have written the same for years in my monthly letters and blogs. This being Armenian, this Armenianess, is in my blood. It is in my heart and soul. It is in my genetic code.  The primary conduit for me is what Ara calls “our music.” I am not alone. Besides, myself and Ara, I know many musicians and countless dancers and fans of the music who feel the same. Everyone has their own nuance, their own twist, and their own interpretation. But, at the core, there is a deep connection that almost everyone says is in their very blood.
     Is it really in our blood? Or was it nurtured into us? The answer to both questions is yes. I was most certainly raised to know, as Ara said, the language at the Saturday Armenian School level, history, architecture, of course the food, and most certainly the music. The music, however, is and has always been something else, something at a higher level, some much more impactful. My father often told me that when I was a baby and we lived with his parents in Watertown, MA, my grandfather would play his favorite Armenian and Turkish 78s. I would be lying on his chest and when Udi Hrant came on, especially singing Engin, I would lift my head up. I have come to believe there is something magical in modes and melodies where even the happier songs are tinged with lament and dripping with history.
     Why do I feel a greater sense of high, a greater connection, to my heritage when I hear or play Husenigin Sazeruh, Dersim Dort Dag Icinde, Bu Dere, or the Hars u Pesa (Eddie Mekjian lyrics)? When I fell in love with these tunes, I was unaware that they were from Kharpert, the region from where three-quarters of my grandparents hailed. Why is it my friend Vahan loves Neden Geldim Amerikaya (Achilles Poulos) while not knowing it was a lament for Bandirma where his grandmother was born? Yes there is some nurture. My grandfather and Vahan’s grandmother exposed us to this music and their world view from our births. I know this music surrounded Ara Dinkjian growing up. But, I am also convinced there is a strong spiritual, genetic, and blood-based component given the depth of this affinity.
     Please post your views, feelings, and experiences on this most fascinating subject. I would love to read them.