Following Komitas: Bedros Alahaydoian’s Ethnographic Collection

Armen Adamian, Ph.D. student, Ethnomusicology, UCLA, and ARISC Fellow
Ani Hakobyan, Ph.D. student, Art Institute NAS RA, and ARISC Fellow

Date: 30th of September, 2021, at 7 pm Yerevan time

Location: Komitas Museum-Institute, 28 Arshakunyats Ave, Yerevan

The presentation presents the project of digitization and cataloging the ethnographic field recordings collected by Armenian folklorist-musicologist Bedros Alahaydoian. Archiving Armenian music making on a global scale across a history of 40 years from 1979-2019, Alahaydoian’s collection of songs, interviews and photographs provides the most geographically expansive audio-visual document of western Armenian vernacular music complied in the post-genocide diaspora to date.

Armen Adamian is a Ph.D. student in Ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His research investigates the politics of music-making among Armenians and the involvement of musical and choreographic discourses in the production of geopolitical and national narratives. He received his MA in Ethnomusicology from UCLA, a BA in Psychology and a BA in Music Composition from Humboldt State University.

Ani Hakobyan is a Ph.D. student at Art Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia. Her PhD topic is “Armenian Traditional Lullabies”. She received her MA in Musicology from Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan. Ms. Hakobyan is an author of several publications, such as “Armenian Folk Songs and Melodies: Ijevan.”, “Collecting the Seeds. Mihran Toumajan”, catalogue and articles, “The Lullabies in Mihran Toumajan’s Collection”and ”Lullabies of Shatakh region”.

Armen Adamian and Ani Hakobyan are the recipients of ARISC Collaborative Heritage Management in Armenia Grant that supports collaborative teams working to preserve and conserve archaeological or historical heritage. This talk is co-sponsored by the American Research Institute of the South Caucasus (ARISC). 

The presentation will take place as part of the annual Komitas International Conference-Festival which hosts scholars from all over the world to present papers and engage in scientific discussions and dialogue. It is open and free for public.

ARISC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, physical or mental disability, medical condition, ancestry, marital status, age, sexual orientation, citizenship, or status as a covered veteran.