Liberal Arts Blog — Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People XXXI — Armenia — Karoun, Karoun, Karoun e
Liberal Arts Blog — Thursday is Joy of Music Day
Today’s Topic — Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People XXXI — Armenia — Karoun, Karoun, Karoun e (Spring, Spring, Spring is here)
Want to make an Armenian smile? Sing the first few bars of “Karoun, Karoun, Karoun e.”
Ear-to-ear, guaranteed. It’s the equivalent of the Nigerian tune “Sweet Mother.” No social gathering of any sort would be complete without it. Or so I am told. The tune is probably an ancient regional folk melody as there are also versions in Azerbaijani, Greek, and Arabic. It’s quite irresistible. Experts — please chime in. Correct. elaborate, elucidate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVTYifPsiJs
LYRICS — Refrain in Armenian and English
1.) Karoun, Karoun, Karoun e (Spring, spring, it’s spring,)
2.) Seeroon, seeroon, seeroon e (Lovely, lovely, it’s lovely.
3.) Etu ko sev, sev acherov, (With those black, black eyes)
Yar jan eenz doo aeeroom es. (You burn me)
NB: Above is Mt. Ararat, the symbol of Armenia, located across the border in Turkey, but visible from the Armenian capital of Yerevan.
ADISS HARMANDIAN (1945–2019) son of Armenian Genocide survivors
1.Harmandian is the Lebanese-Armenian pop singer who made the song famous.
2. Born in Beirut, he emigrated to the USA during the Lebanese Civil War.
3. “Doubtless, his songs will continue to fill Armenian homes and weddings for generations to come.” (obituary in the Armenian Weekly).
NB: But is the song originally Greek, Azerbaijani, Turkish, Arabic? Unclear. Research suggests that there are countless regional variations. The Arabic version is “Fatoum, Fatoum, Fatoumeh.” Was the original Azerbaijani composer Alekper Taghiyev? The original lyricist Azerbaijani Mikayil Mushfig? I’d love to learn more. Experts?
ARMENIA — A LITTLE BACKGROUND
1. At its peak, Ancient Armenia (321 BC to 431 AD) once stretched from the Mediterranean to the Caspian.
2. But Armenia has most of the time has been a vassal state of one great empire or other (from Roman to Byzantine to Sassanid to Ottoman to Soviet). The Armenian genocide (1915–1923) was part of a broader genocidal policy targeting Assyrians and Greeks as well.
3. Armenia was the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion (301) and has its own quarter in Jerusalem — the others being the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian.
NB — Famous Armenians include Charles Aznavour, Andre Agassi (changed from Aghassian), Gary Kasparov, William Saroyan, and Cher (father John Sarkisian).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adiss_Harmandian
Vatche & Adiss — Karoun Karoun [1993 Video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCNFQB50uJE
فطوم فطوم فطومة — طوني ابو جودة كارلا حداد
Filippos Nikolaou Pare pare pare me Aranje EmirZai
APPENDIX: Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People — Past Posts in This Series
This is the list of songs with which, now masked and distanced, I greet tourists from around the world at the North Bridge in Concord or wherever I else I happened to meet them — eg. waiting in line at grocery stores, pharmacies, banks, or the Department of Motor Vehicles. I feel strongly that the core humanities curriculum of every school in the world should consist of the most beloved songs of the world’s peoples. Music unites.
The opportunity cost of any other texts is infinite. Why not give every 18 year old the keys to hearts of seven billion people? I am not sure this is the perfect list. But I have spent 10 years testing the hypothesis. And the results are not scientific but they are pretty convincing. Proposals welcome.
4/9/20 — Nkosi — South African National Anthem
4/16/20 — Sweet Mother — unofficial national Anthem of Nigeria
4/23/20 — Jambo — the Swahili equivalent — Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda
4/30/20 — Sakura — Japan — the cherry blossom song
5/7/20 — Arirang — Korea (North and South)
5/14/20 — Chuang Qian Ming Yue Guang” — China — Li Bai — Gong Linna
5/21/20 — Ode to Joy — German — Beethoven/Schiller
5/28/20 — La Marseillaise — French — France plus many more french-speaking nations
6/4/20 — Volare — Italian — Domenico Modugno
6/11/20 — Arrorro and Cielito Lindo — Spanish speakers
6/18/20 — La Garota de Ipanema — Brazil and other Portuguese speakers
6/22/20 — Gayatri Mantra — Hindus
7/2/20 — Pokarekare Ana — Maori — New Zealand
7/9/20 — Aseda Yede Ma Onyame — Ghana
7/16/20 — “Al Fatihah” — most sacred Islamic prayer (Arabic)
7/23/20 — “Tavaszi Szel” — Hungarian Folk Song
7/30/20 — “Modeh Ani” — the Jewish Waking Up Prayer
8/6/20 — “Stolat, Stolat” — Polish Birthday Song
8/20/20 — “Lang Zal Ze Leven” — Dutch Birthday Song
8/27/20 — “Oh Danny Boy” — Ireland
9/3/20 — “Mul Mantra” — most sacred Sikh prayer
9/10/20 — “Warwindar Friska” — Swedish song of spring
9/17/20 — “Desteapta-te Romane!” — Romanian national anthem
9/24/20 — “Kad Ja Podjoh Na Bembasu” — Bosnian folk song of lost love
10/1/20 — “Waltzing Matilda” — Australia
10/8/20 — “Calon Lan” — Wales
10/15/20 -”Ngoromera” — Zimbabwe — Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi
10/22/20 — “Holka Modrooka” — Czech Republic
10/29/20 — “Tis Dikaiosinis” — Mikiis Theodorakis — Greece
11/5/20 — “Finlandia” Sibelius — Finland
11/12/20 — “Karoun, Karoun, Karoon” — Armenia
Here is a link to the last three years of posts organized by theme:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
YOUR TURN
Time to share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to music. Or the coolest thing you learned in your life related to music. Say your favorite song or songs. Or your favorite tips for breathing, posture, or relaxation. Or some insight into the history of music….Or just something random about music… like a joke about drummers. jazz, rock….or share an episode or chapter in your musical autobiography.
This is your chance to make some one else’s day. And perhaps to cement in your memory something important you would otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than you otherwise would about something that matters to you.
