Tweet
FILMMAKER GOUDSOUZIAN LAUNCHES "WORLD MUSIC" CROWD-FUNDING PROJECT
16:44, June 4, 2013
By Hagop Goudsouzian
Entertaining cultural documentaries get sent to the backburner. For
the last several years I have challenged that premise and have
produced four World Music documentaries filmed in Armenia with a
glimpse of people's lives. Luckily my challenge has been successful
and all my films have aired on TV. This week they will be released
on video-on-demand for wider distribution.
Now I will continue that journey and film the music of Georgia with
three documentaries. I will produce two Georgian folk music films as
well as one on Armenian folk music of Georgia. With this article I
take you on my personal journey of documentary filmmaking that spans
a lifetime and leads to my new crowd-funding project for which I seek
your involvement. World Music lovers join me.
~U ~U ~U
It wasn't as though I did not have a choice, I did, but there was
nothing more stimulating for me than making films.
I never thought much about making feature films. My father made
documentaries and that was the way it was and now my son continues. To
me making films was the most honorable route. Well maybe not the most
honorable because I first thought writing poetry was the summit of
self-expression. Then I no longer found words to express what I felt
because I had found a new way to voice my inner vision: photography,
but that, too, was temporary.
The independence of Armenia was also the start of my own independence,
but at the time I didn't know it. I was just doing what I had to do. I
knew I had to go to Armenia and explore with a camera and that stayed
with me for the next twenty years.
I knew the time had come to go to Armenia. This was my calling, but
I was afraid. It was spring 1993. While I was getting ready to go,
I was looking for people who had just come back to give me an idea
of what it was like on the ground. Finally a friend of a friend of
a friend returned and, coincidentally, he was a cameraman. Excited,
I called him to get his impressions.
The call lasted almost thirty minutes and when I hung up I was
depressed. I was ready to abandon not only my journey but Armenia
as well. In my mind I was selling all the equipment I had already
purchased. Fruit of my disastrous phone call: I cancelled my trip in
my mind.
A little later, during my afternoon nap, as if it was a message from
a higher power, my life was playing in my dream. I was filming in the
home of a Brazilian painter in Mexico then the film jumped to a scene
of a car driving through Central America as I reached Panama. There I
was photographing the Kuna Indians on remote islands near Panama. It
just went on and on from one country to the other. It was a surreal
and hazy movie. I could not make sense of it.
I woke up filled with energy because I knew these were scenes from
films I had made and I also knew Armenia could not be a hostile land
for me even though it was going through extreme difficulties. They were
part of my extended family. After all, I had been welcomed wherever
I had travelled in the past and why would the lost son returning home
be rejected?
I knew I was on the right path. A few weeks later I landed in Armenia.
I immediately felt connected to the people and to the land but, when
I heard the music, I felt the mountains and the rivers in every song,
I heard old bards and minstrels roaming this ancient land. I no longer
had doubts in my mind. I knew what I had to do but it took almost 18
years for the dream to become a film.
I returned to Armenia countless times to make an unprecedented 7 films
(See: www.HagopGoudsouzian.com). In 2010, hours after I arrived in
Armenia, I visited the Minister of Culture but unfortunately I did not
have an appointment. While I was describing why I wanted to see the
Minister, it was made clear to me that no one could give me advice
without prior arrangement. Serendipitously, one of the secretaries
overheard my conversation and invited me to her desk. Little did
I know that she was about to give me a list of the most important
people in Armenian Folk Music.
A few days later, I visited Professor Alina Pahlivanian at the Komitas
Conservatory and with her was Marqarit Sargsyan. I was telling them
of my passion for music and what I was looking for. Suddenly, she
interrupted the conversation, picked up the phone and said, "Tovmas,
I need two tickets for your concert tomorrow." and hung up. She
looked at me and said, "Tomorrow you are going to the concert of the
Sayat-Nova Minstrel Song Ensemble" and went on to give me directions.
She was right! I sat for three hours watching and listening in awe!
While Marqarit and I were talking at a nearby cafe after the concert,
Professor Tovmas Poghosyan, the artistic director of the ensemble,
came to our table to greet Marqarit.
(See: www.ArmenianMinstrels.com)
My love for world music pre-dates my discovery of Armenian music. For
me it was a way to explore new cultures through music. I felt that
it was through their music that I was getting to the very essence of
a people. My interest and love became deeper as I realized that folk
music - passed down through generations - was telling the story of
their past through music, songs and dance. I became convinced that
folk and spiritual music were the bridge to a culture's past and the
way to feel the beauty of their legacy. Folk Music changed how I saw
the world and I felt it was very important to share this with the
world the only way I knew how: by making entertaining documentaries
that explore the beauty of ancient cultures through music.
(See: www.ArmenianEchoes.com)
Now, I invite you to join me in this new film adventure as we explore
the beauty of the exotic Georgian and Armenian cultures through their
amazing dances, unique songs and instruments.
I seek your support for my newest project (on the crowd-funding site
www.indiegogo.com). I hope you are as moved as I am when you hear
and see the music, dances and the songs of the world's exotic cultures.
To contribute or get involved in my new music documentaries and for
more information, visit the indiegogo page.
© 2013 Hagop Goudsouzian
http://hetq.am/eng/news/27061/filmmaker-goudsouzian-launches-%E2%80%9Cworld-music%E2%80%9D-crowd-funding-project.html
16:44, June 4, 2013
By Hagop Goudsouzian
Entertaining cultural documentaries get sent to the backburner. For
the last several years I have challenged that premise and have
produced four World Music documentaries filmed in Armenia with a
glimpse of people's lives. Luckily my challenge has been successful
and all my films have aired on TV. This week they will be released
on video-on-demand for wider distribution.
Now I will continue that journey and film the music of Georgia with
three documentaries. I will produce two Georgian folk music films as
well as one on Armenian folk music of Georgia. With this article I
take you on my personal journey of documentary filmmaking that spans
a lifetime and leads to my new crowd-funding project for which I seek
your involvement. World Music lovers join me.
~U ~U ~U
It wasn't as though I did not have a choice, I did, but there was
nothing more stimulating for me than making films.
I never thought much about making feature films. My father made
documentaries and that was the way it was and now my son continues. To
me making films was the most honorable route. Well maybe not the most
honorable because I first thought writing poetry was the summit of
self-expression. Then I no longer found words to express what I felt
because I had found a new way to voice my inner vision: photography,
but that, too, was temporary.
The independence of Armenia was also the start of my own independence,
but at the time I didn't know it. I was just doing what I had to do. I
knew I had to go to Armenia and explore with a camera and that stayed
with me for the next twenty years.
I knew the time had come to go to Armenia. This was my calling, but
I was afraid. It was spring 1993. While I was getting ready to go,
I was looking for people who had just come back to give me an idea
of what it was like on the ground. Finally a friend of a friend of
a friend returned and, coincidentally, he was a cameraman. Excited,
I called him to get his impressions.
The call lasted almost thirty minutes and when I hung up I was
depressed. I was ready to abandon not only my journey but Armenia
as well. In my mind I was selling all the equipment I had already
purchased. Fruit of my disastrous phone call: I cancelled my trip in
my mind.
A little later, during my afternoon nap, as if it was a message from
a higher power, my life was playing in my dream. I was filming in the
home of a Brazilian painter in Mexico then the film jumped to a scene
of a car driving through Central America as I reached Panama. There I
was photographing the Kuna Indians on remote islands near Panama. It
just went on and on from one country to the other. It was a surreal
and hazy movie. I could not make sense of it.
I woke up filled with energy because I knew these were scenes from
films I had made and I also knew Armenia could not be a hostile land
for me even though it was going through extreme difficulties. They were
part of my extended family. After all, I had been welcomed wherever
I had travelled in the past and why would the lost son returning home
be rejected?
I knew I was on the right path. A few weeks later I landed in Armenia.
I immediately felt connected to the people and to the land but, when
I heard the music, I felt the mountains and the rivers in every song,
I heard old bards and minstrels roaming this ancient land. I no longer
had doubts in my mind. I knew what I had to do but it took almost 18
years for the dream to become a film.
I returned to Armenia countless times to make an unprecedented 7 films
(See: www.HagopGoudsouzian.com). In 2010, hours after I arrived in
Armenia, I visited the Minister of Culture but unfortunately I did not
have an appointment. While I was describing why I wanted to see the
Minister, it was made clear to me that no one could give me advice
without prior arrangement. Serendipitously, one of the secretaries
overheard my conversation and invited me to her desk. Little did
I know that she was about to give me a list of the most important
people in Armenian Folk Music.
A few days later, I visited Professor Alina Pahlivanian at the Komitas
Conservatory and with her was Marqarit Sargsyan. I was telling them
of my passion for music and what I was looking for. Suddenly, she
interrupted the conversation, picked up the phone and said, "Tovmas,
I need two tickets for your concert tomorrow." and hung up. She
looked at me and said, "Tomorrow you are going to the concert of the
Sayat-Nova Minstrel Song Ensemble" and went on to give me directions.
She was right! I sat for three hours watching and listening in awe!
While Marqarit and I were talking at a nearby cafe after the concert,
Professor Tovmas Poghosyan, the artistic director of the ensemble,
came to our table to greet Marqarit.
(See: www.ArmenianMinstrels.com)
My love for world music pre-dates my discovery of Armenian music. For
me it was a way to explore new cultures through music. I felt that
it was through their music that I was getting to the very essence of
a people. My interest and love became deeper as I realized that folk
music - passed down through generations - was telling the story of
their past through music, songs and dance. I became convinced that
folk and spiritual music were the bridge to a culture's past and the
way to feel the beauty of their legacy. Folk Music changed how I saw
the world and I felt it was very important to share this with the
world the only way I knew how: by making entertaining documentaries
that explore the beauty of ancient cultures through music.
(See: www.ArmenianEchoes.com)
Now, I invite you to join me in this new film adventure as we explore
the beauty of the exotic Georgian and Armenian cultures through their
amazing dances, unique songs and instruments.
I seek your support for my newest project (on the crowd-funding site
www.indiegogo.com). I hope you are as moved as I am when you hear
and see the music, dances and the songs of the world's exotic cultures.
To contribute or get involved in my new music documentaries and for
more information, visit the indiegogo page.
© 2013 Hagop Goudsouzian
http://hetq.am/eng/news/27061/filmmaker-goudsouzian-launches-%E2%80%9Cworld-music%E2%80%9D-crowd-funding-project.html