“This story tells me that if we wish to change the world, we will all need to change individually. I feel it’s time to tell this tale, with its universal message of spiritual awakening.” Tigran Hamasyan’s new double album, The Bird of a Thousand Voices is a deeply personal project which pulls together many strands of the prolific pianist and composer’s life and music. On one level it is the retelling an ancient Armenian folktale, inviting us along on an epic adventure. But there is much more to this “astonishingly pivotal” album. Tigran will be at the EFG LJF.
When speaking to Tigran Hamasyan about his latest musical voyage, it quickly becomes clear that The Bird of a Thousand Voices is more than a conceptual double album, it is an eye-opening manifesto marking a momentous stage in the 37-year-old’s career. This impressive project entails not only 90 minutes of adventurous music, but also a two-part feature film, a documentary, an interactive computer game and a transmedia stage show created in collaboration with Dutch director Ruben Van Leer. “Ruben and I started working together on a couple of my music videos in 2012 and since then, we’ve always wanted to do something bigger, something huge.” Hamasyan recalls: “So when I started writing the music for this album, I phoned Ruben up, told him the whole story, sent him my ideas and we both said: ’This is what we’ve been waiting for. This is it.”
The creative symbiosis between Hamasyan and his esteemed contemporaries is on display in this spectacular performance,which sold out its premier at the Holland Festival 2024. The music from the album is played live, accompanied by an aerial creature spreading its wings in the midst of a captivating light show. Hamasyan’s quintet is also performing the music in a more conventional concert format, spreading the message of the Armenian folktale around the globe. “This story tells me that if we wish to change the world, we will all need to change individually” says Hamasyan, ”I feel it’s time to tell this tale, with its universal message of spiritual awakening” and this is exactly what he has done with this astonishingly pivotal album.
The sonic reverberation of Hamasyan’s native Armenia is breathtakingly present in his music. Through seductively cyclical and seemingly immortal melodies, he fearlessly weaves the threads of mystical folklore into his jazz-infused improvisations and synthesiser-heavy compositions, fuelled by the stamina of progressive rock and heavy metal.
The music conveys the story of Areg, the youngest son of a benevolent king that sends him on a quest to find an anthropomorphic songbird, the only creature that can bring redemption to their kingdom. The prince is confronted by endless deserts, cold mountain winters, turbulent rivers, condemnations, betrayal and forty-headed demons on his journey through black, white and red worlds.
The idea of setting the folktale to music was sparked as Hamasyan was reading a book in which the author, Armenian composer and musicologist Arthur Shahnazaryan, depicts Medieval concepts of musical healing through analysing different versions of The Bird of a Thousand Voices – a tale so ancient that no one really knows when it was first told.
Hamasyan explains his instant fascination for the tale: ”In his book, Arthur talks about how each of the four modes in Armenian music (there are inversions which makes them eight, but essentially there are four) are represented by one of the four elements. Each element corresponds to specific colours which in turn correspond to the vital organs in our body. So depending on what mode and in what inversion and register you play, you can direct the music to heal specific parts of the body. Arthur discovered the connection between this musical healing system and the colours of the different worlds that the hero is passing through on his quest in the story.” Hearing Hamasyan speak so passionately about the philosophical depth of this tale, it is obvious that it needed to be voiced through music, music written by no other than him.
The recognition of music being healing, meditative and spiritual is paramount in Hamasyan’s creative process. ”How come the youngest brother is asked to go on the quest?” Hamasyan asks with a glimmer in his eye, ”His older brothers are stronger, wealthier and more powerful. He just likes to play music and wonder around in the nature…” The question answers itself. ”The hero is not afraid to go after the unseen, something in another world…I like how that connects to improvisation in jazz and the creation of any sort of art” says Hamasyan. It is irresistible not to draw parallels between this open minded pianist and the pure hearted hero of the story in which he has immersed himself. They seem to share a mutual dexterity of receptiveness, curiosity and drive to discover the world without any judgement or greed.
Reading different versions of the folktale was the ultimate catalyst for Hamasyan’s musical mind: ”I wanted to write something similar to an opera, like a libretto. I started thinking about how to tell the story through developing leitmotifs for each character.” The ambience and melodic material of the album was mostly generated through improvising and evolved throughout the recording process, which took place in the spring of 2020. Hamasyan – who was based in Los Angeles at the time – and the American multi-instrumentalist Nate Wood started recording the album together, but were interrupted by the COVID lockdown. ”That was a really intense period.” says Hamasyan thinking back, ”This tale contains profound philosophical and spiritual knowledge that definitely helped me get through these tough times.”
The music on the album is an infusion of different versions of the folktale. The version that became most essential to the project is the one written by the Armenian poet Serine, who first heard the tale in the traditional way, being told by a famous storyteller living in the village where she grew up in the late 1800’s. Serine escaped the genocide of WWI and ended up in Eastern Armenia (what we today know as ‘Armenia’) and she brought her culture and stories with her. ”She was a phenomenal woman, she was a hero.” Hamasyan says, describing the truly remarkable story of Serine’s life, ”She worked in orphanages, helped elderly during WWI and wrote incredible poetry”.
Serine’s version of The Bird of a Thousand Voices was published in the 1960’s and is now being vocalised by the Armenian singer Areni Agbabian, who symbolises two essential characters: the bird in the story and the mother reading it to her children. In her improvisations, Areni compliments the sonority of Hamasyan’s music through ingeniously intertwining the timbre of traditional Armenian repertoire with elements of contemporary experimental music. Ever since they met in 2007, the combined mastery of Hamasyan and Agbabian has been a deep and constantly overflowing well of creativity. ”When I am writing music for a female voice, it is Areni’s voice that I am imagining. She understands my music on another level and is a crucial part of my musical development.”
In the beautifully animated online video game you get to engage with the music and experience the story through illustrator Khoren Matevosyan’s vivid imagination. Hamasyan describes working with his accommodating label Naïve on this project: ”The most important thing for a label is to give space for art and creation to happen. The PR, including the game and the artwork for the album, needs to be part of the creative process”. When asked what his high score is on the game, Hamasyan laughs and says ”really bad”. Tigran Hamasyan might not be about to break any records playing computer games, but there is no doubt he will continue to break boundaries with his musical storytelling.
