Music of Georges I. Gurdjieff
The Gurdjieff Folk Instruments Ensemble
Levon Eskenian

Label: ECM records
Release date: 2011

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Andean Region . Argentina . Australia . Austria . Belgium . Bulgaria . Brazil. Canada. Chile . China . Croatia . Czech-Republic . Denmark . Estonia . Finland. France . Germany . Greece . Hong Kong . Hungary . Iceland . Israel . ItalyJapan . Latvia . Lithuania . Mexico . Netherlands . New-ZealandNorway . Philippines . Poland . Portugal . Romania . Russia . SerbiaSingapore . Slovakia . Slovenia . South-Africa . South Korea . Spain. Sweden . Switzerland . Taiwan . Turkey . Ukraine . United Kingdom. Republic of Ireland . USA

The Gurdjieff Folk Instruments Ensemble
Levon Eskenian: director
Emmanuel Hovhannisyan: duduk
Avag Margaryan: blul
Armen Ayvazyan: kamancha
Aram Nikoghosyan: oud
Meri Vardanyan: kanon
Vladimir Papikyan: santur
Davit Avagyan: tar
Mesrop Khalatyan: dap, dhol
Armen Yeganyan: saz
Reza Nesimi: tombak
Harutyun Chkolyan: duduk
Tigran Karapetyan: duduk
Artur Atoyan: duduk

Fascinating and highly attractive project which returns the music of Gurdjieff (c. 1866 – 1949) to its ethnic inspirational sources. To date Gurdjieff’s compositions have largely been studied, in the West, via the piano transcriptions of Thomas de Hartmann. Armenian composer Levon Eskenian now goes beyond the printed notes to look at the musical traditions that Gurdjieff encountered during his travels, and rearranges the compositions from this perspective. Eskenian draws attention to the roots of the pieces in Armenian, Greek, Arabic, Kurdish, Assyrian, Persian and Caucasian folk and spiritual music. Enlisting the assistance of some of the leading players in Armenia, Eskenian founded the Gurdjieff Folk Instruments Ensemble in 2008, and with them he has now realized a remarkable album.