Columns

The programme of the concert is composed of traditional Armenian liturgical chants in their modal and monophonic setting accompanied by drone. The repertoire comprises chants of different genres from the Offices and the Divine Liturgy. Most of the songs are classified in an oktoechos (eight modes) system, as in many other church music traditions. The cantors of the Church of Armenia, who are trained in this modal system by master-singers, have been the pillars of musical transmission for many centuries. All the modes used in the Armenian oktoechos are based on a system of natural intervals. The modes produce different sound environments and specific auditory sensations according to their configuration.

The Columns concert, presented by members of Teatr ZAR and Virginia and Aram Kerovpyan, founders of the Centre for Armenian Liturgical Chant Studies and the Ensemble Akn in Paris, also Murat İçlinalça, master singer at the Saint Gregory the Illuminator Church in Istanbul, portrays the three year-long experimental work they have accomplished on the basis of immersion in the modal world and learning by imitation.