Kouyoumdjian: Silent Cranes
This item is made to order and typically ships within 2-3 weeks.
- Composer: Mary Kouyoumdjian (1983-)
- Instrumentation: String Quartet (Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello), Electronics
- Work: Silent Cranes (2015)
Description
Duration| 30'
for string quartet, prerecorded backing track, and live processing
In commemoration of the Armenian Genocide Centenary, Silent Cranes is inspired by the Armenian folk song Groung (Crane) in which the singer calls out to the migratory bird, begging for word from their homeland, only to have the crane respond with silence and fly away. Those who were lost during the genocide are cranes in their own way, unable to speak of the horrors that happened, and it is the responsibility of the living to give them a voice. The prerecorded backing track includes testimonies by genocide survivors, recordings from the genocide era of Armenian folk songs, and a poem from investigative journalist David Barsamian in response to the question "Why is it important to talk about the Armenian Genocide 100 years later?"
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