Devotion by Jivan Gasparyan Jr. , Sasha Shlain

The year 2021 was a year we lost an incredible Armenian musician and composer, Jivan Gasparyan Sr. This name, for most people, is known for his memorable Duduk performance in numerous Hollywood movies - “The Crow”, “Gladiator”, “Ronin”, to name a few.
 UNESCO proclaimed the Armenian Duduk and its music as a Masterpiece of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2005 and inscribed it in 2008. For pop music lovers, Jivan Gasparyan Snr. is known for his collaborations with Peter Gabriel, Brian May, Derek Sherinian and even the worldwide acclaimed Swiss harp player and outstanding composer, Andreas Vollenweider.

 My story with the music of Jivan Gasparyan started in my twenties, when I was introduced to the wonders of Armenian music through a Greek musician who gave me a compilation of different traditional melodies on a tape (at the age of cassettes and real magnetic tape recorders). At first, Duduk sounded to me like a human voice - very soft, sensitive and with an incredible range of emotional expression. I instantly fell in love with the music, the instrument, and the performer. Since then, I closely followed all the releases and, when possible, TV appearances of Jivan Gasparyan Snr.
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Many years later, I become part of a revolutionary Swiss digital platform “Beyond Music” that was co-founded by Regula Curti, Beat Curti, and Tina Turner. The platform was created for professional musicians from all over the world, regardless of the style, background, or any other possible differences. The idea behind it is “uniting music professionals across borders”. The platform encourages musicians to collaborate in different creative projects. Once a year, the foundation also proposes participation in a collaborative presentation on the platform. Collaborative projects may be chosen for a recording session and released under the “Beyond Music Project” for worldwide distribution.
This is where I met Jivan Gasparyan Jr. (the grandson of the “Grande Maestro”, J.G. Sr., and his most dedicated student). The first tune we created together won the First Award and the Project Award of the “Beyond Music Foundation” competition in 2019. Our “Egyptian” can now be heard on all major music digital platforms, and as part of the “Same Sky” CD album released on the same year by the Beyond foundation.

Since recordings in France in 2019 (Studio’s “La Fabric” in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence), Jivan and I have become close friends and have been working closely for two years . We have created different tunes together and have even released a traditional Armenian song, “Ov Sirun Sirun”, with a group of singers from Europe, Africa, and the US. Initially, we had a performance idea, but the situation in the world did not let it to come to fruition (lockdowns, travalling ban et.c.)

 After the unexpected death of Jivan Gasparyan Snr., both of us decided to release an album dedicated to this great musician and passionate promoter of the stunningly beautiful Armenian music and the “culture of Duduk”.
 The album consists of a variety of original tunes, as well as traditional Armenian melodies in a new light of contemporary arrangement. The tunes are played on Duduk and accompanied by wide range of percussion, piano, and electronic instruments. Both of us are big fans of exploration of new stylistic possibilities.
In this album, we merge our musical cultures and musical experiences in a complementary way without losing the traditional spirit of the melodies, but enhancing the colors and boosting the harmonic and rhythmic possibilities of the originals.

An electro-acoustic chamber band (small classical orchestra and pop / jazz band ) founded by composer and music producer Sasha Shlain. It represents a versatile modern formation capable of performing in any given genre and style.
The orchestra including combination of various classical and electronic instruments to fully express the challenging instrumental music material of theatrical nature.

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