The Music of Armenia, Volume 5: Folk Music

Unlike the earlier volumes in this series, which have featured a single ensemble or soloist, the folk songs and dances in this collection are performed by no fewer than two ensembles and a number of vocal soloists. As with all folk music, these songs and dances reflect the people's own history and their land. Songs about the landscape and the various rivers, mountains, and regions of Armenia comprise one of the most distinctive parts of their folk repertoire; the plowing and farming songs are especially haunting and memorable. The area known as Western Armenia has proven to be a particularly fertile ground for folk song and dance. This region is the subject of much nostalgic and patriotic song. The music of the ashugh, the wandering poet/minstrels of Armenia, is also part of the folk music tradition, although, typically for Armenian music, it can also be considered a type of classical music tradition.