Historian and translator, Dr. Nora Arisian has released the Arabic version of the book “Gomidas and Armenian Music” in Damascus, report Hayern Aysor’s sources.
This is the first book about Gomidas in Arabic and contains 11 studies and articles selected from various books, including the translated versions of several studies from Robert Atayan’s book “Gomidasian” such as the study entitled “The Musical Heritage of Gomidas”, Muradian’s “Gomidas’s Evaluation of Yegmalian’s Liturgy”, Tahmizian’s “Issues on the Study of Armenian Spiritual Songs” and more. The book also includes the translated versions from Khachig Safarian’s book “Gomidas the Marvel”, including the articles entitled “Problems with Deciphering Notches”, “Gomidas and Russian Music” and “Gomidas and Kurdish Music”, as well as excerpts from Hrant Kevorkian’s book “To Breath and Live with Gomidas”. The article “Living Martyr” from Vartan Vartanian’s book “Eternal Traveler” has also been translated.
The music for the book was edited by director of Syria’s symphony orchestra, Maestro Misak Baghbudarian who, in his preface, encourages the young musicians of the Arab World to take the path that Gomidas took and document Armenian folk music.
The 160-page book was translated by Nora Arisian who, in her preface, wrote that the book is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and to the 80th death anniversary of Gomidas. Arisian also voices hope that the book, which presents Gomidas the genius and the person who embodies Armenian culture and history, will serve as a contribution to Arabic literature.
