Armenian Spirit

 

Wolfgang  Puschnig: sax, flute

Ali Gaggl: vocals

Juan Carlos Sungurlian: oud, bouzouki

Karen Asatrian: keyboards

Herfried Knapp: bass

Ismael Barrios: percussion

Reinhardt Winkler: drums

 

Description:

Noah’s Ark landed on Ararat. In Erewan (Armenia) one can see this mountain from every corner. Karen Asatrian is from Erewan. He has musically landed on his personal Ararat. What had sailed through his thoughts has now landed on stage in Austria. Here he has finally found the musicians, the cast for his musical ark.

And as is proper for an ark, there is a musician from every corner of the earth: Venezuela, Uruguay, Austria and of course, Armenia.

 

Asatrian has taken along memories from his Armenian childhood on his odessy: folk music which is embedded in his bones. He has fused together outward influences such as jazz and other kinds of music.

 

Music is the base element of his life, with which he attempts to express his most important values: love, respect and truth. Karen’s original compositions interpret the sound of past generations with life today. He calls the result “Avantgarde-Folk”.

 

Seven musicians, a magic number, is only proper for legends. Here is an intersection between orient and occident, yesterday and today, between traditional listening and modern playing.

 

It is not as if the music world is unfamiliar with the armenian sound (the producers Arto Tuncboyaciyan or George Avakian who worked together with Miles Davis, Ellington and Brubeck come to mind).

Yet “Armenian Spirit” adds a new nuance: Karen’s songs, sometimes melancholic but often sweeping and delighting, are played not only on traditional armenian instruments but also instruments typical of jazz and compelling groove makes it appealing.

 

“I do not sit down to write music. The music I play is the sound of my life. Something happens: something good or bad- this inspires me. If music becomes the sound of your life, your life will become music.”

Karen Asatrian