Djivan Gasparyan

Djivan Gasparyan
Djivan Gasparyan playing at concert in Oktyabrsky concert hall, St. Petersburg, Russia, October 2008.
Background information
Born	1928 Solag, Armenia
Genres	Armenian folk
Occupations	composer, score composer, musician
Instruments	duduk
Years active	1948–present
Labels	All Saints Records, SLG Records
Associated acts	Derek Sherinian, Hans Zimmer, Peter Gabriel
Website	http://www.gasparyanjivan.com/
Notable instruments
Duduk

Djivan Gasparyan (Armenian: Ջիվան Գասպարյան; born 1928) is an Armenian musician and composer. He plays duduk, an Armenian double reed woodwind instrument related to the orchestral oboe. Gasparyan is widely known as the Master of the duduk.^[1][2][3]

Biography

Born in Solag, Armenia, Gasparyan started to play duduk when he was six. In 1948 he became a soloist of the Armenian Song and Dance Popular Ensemble and the Yerevan Philarmonic Orchestra. He has won four medals at UNESCO worldwide competitions (1959, 1962, 1973, and 1980). In 1973 Gasparyan was awarded the honorary title People's Artist of Armenia^[4] and in 2002, he received the WOMEX (World Music Expo) Lifetime Achievement Award. A professor at the Yerevan State Musical Conservatory, he has instructed and nurtured many performers to professional levels of performance in duduk.

He has toured the world several times with a small ensemble playing Armenian folk music. He has collaborated with many artists, such as Hossein Alizadeh, Sting, Erkan Ogur, Michael Brook, Peter Gabriel, Brian May, Lionel Richie, Derek Sherinian, Ludovico Einaudi, Boris Grebenshchikov, Hans Zimmer and Andreas Vollenweider.

Gasparyan receiving applause

Djivan Gasparyan and Hossein Alizadeh were jointly nominated for a 2007 Grammy Award for their 2006 collaboration album Endless Vision (an album featuring a trilingual arrangement and recording of Sari Galin).

Discography

• I Will Not Be Sad in This World (All Saints Records, 1989)
• Moon Shines at Night (All Saints Records)
• Ask Me No Questions (Traditional Crossroads 4268, 1996)
• Apricots From Eden (Traditional Crossroads 4276, 1996)
• The Crow, soundtrack
• Black Rock, with Michael Brook (Realworld 46230, 1998)
• Djivan Gasparyan Quartet (Libra Music 1998)
• The Siege, soundtrack (1998)
• Eden Roc (Ludovico Einaudi, 1999)
• Heavenly Duduk (Network 1999)
• Cosmopoly, as guest of Andreas Vollenweider (EDEL Records, SLG Records (USA/Canada)
• Armenian Fantasies (Network 34801, 2000)
• Gladiator: More Music From the Motion Picture, soundtrack
• Fuad, with Erkan Ogur (Traditional Turkish & Armenian songs) (2001)
• Blood of the Snake, Derek Sherinian (2006) (Gaspayran appears on the track "Prelude To Battle")
• RockPaperScissors, Michael Brook (EQR 0006, 2006)(Gaspayran appears on track "Pasadena part two")
• Pangea with Lian Ensemble (Houman Pourmehdi & Piraye Pourafar), Swapan Chaudhuri and Miroslav Tadić (Lian Records 118, 2006)
• The Soul of Armenia (Network Medien’s double-CD package 2008)
• Penumbra, with Michael Brook (Canadian Rational/bigHelium, 2008)

External links

• Jivan Gasparyan
• Jivan Gasparyan & Grandson

References