Aram Bajakian consistently find inspiration for his music from places few or no one else thinks to look. Kef applied a good ol’ fashioned American avant-rock twist to Armenian folk songs, while Dálava restored to life the nearly-lost traditional music of the central European Moravia region.
Come this spring, the former Lou Reed and Diana Krall guitarist will again put forth an album of music sourced from an exotic place, but this time, the ‘place’ isn’t a physical location but rather, a motion picture.
The great Soviet filmmaker Sergei Parajanov made an innovative biographical film of the Armenian musician and poet Sayat Nova, The Color of Pomegranates (1969), which is widely considered his masterpiece. A richly colorful film that contained no moving cameras or real dialog, the lush visual tapestry of Pomegranates seems a prime subject for which to apply a new ‘soundtrack’ of sorts motivated directly by the footage (the original score, by the way, was by the Armenian composer Tigran Mansurian).
That’s where Aram Bajakian applies his art. Armed with only a solo acoustic guitar, he plays this brief piece (of which I don’t have the name handy) from the upcoming album in an arpeggiated, classical style that closely matches the accompanying imagery.
Aram Bajakian is quickly gaining a reputation as one of the most creative and adventurous guitarist/composers around and it is all but assured that this latest venture will only enhance that reputation.
*** Preorder Aram Bajakian’s upcoming The Color of Pomegranates-inspired album here. ***
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