Miatsoom, by Charles Amirkhanian

Miatsoom

by Charles Amirkhanian

supported by

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

$7 USD or more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Glass-mastered CD with 32-page booklet featuring an essay by Peter Garland

Includes unlimited streaming of Miatsoom via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

ships out within 7 days

$15 USD or more
Subscription

Subscribe now to receive all the new music Other Minds Records releases, including 14 back-catalog items, delivered instantly to you via the Bandcamp app for iOS and Android. You’ll also get access to subscriber-only exclusives. Learn more.

Subscribe Now $6 USD/month or more

1.	Dzarin Bess Ga Khorim 05:18	buy track
2.	Roussier (not Rouffier) 04:01	buy track
3.	Three Armenians 02:28	buy track
4.	Miatsoom 26:22	buy track

about

Other Minds Records announces a new album from composer Charles Amirkhanian titled Miatsoom (mee-aht-SOOM)—a collection of pieces that draw on his Armenian heritage—central to the composer’s identity but until now unexplored in his discography.

The centerpiece of the album is the 30-minute title track, “Miatsoom” which means “Reunion” in Armenian. A long form radio play of sorts, the work’s source material comes from recordings made during the course of a trip the composer took to Armenia with his father, Benjamin Amirkhanian in August 1994. At that time, shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union, the economic and social systems in Armenia were in virtual collapse, with no banks, restaurants, or retail stores functioning. Electricity was available only one hour out of every twelve.

In “Miatsoom,” Amirkhanian documents the sounds of this disjointed environment. The piece opens a window onto the interaction between Armenian culture and that of its vast diaspora, focused through the lens of the composer and his father, for whom this would be their first and only trip to their homeland. As Garland notes in his introductory essay, “Armenians have always been (almost) everywhere.” Folk music, found sound, and spoken interactions in English and Armenian are woven into a deeply personal narrative with universal implications. And a visit to the recently active war zone of Nagorno-Karabakh provides dramatic color.

In addition, the CD begins with a minimalist text-sound composition “Dzarin Bess Ga Khorim” (I Think Like the Tree), based on an Armenian language text recited by the composer. Amirkhanian’s use of repetition and studio manipulation of the solo voice will be familiar to fans of his 1980 album Lexical Music. The following piece, “Roussier (not Rouffier)” takes a different approach to studio manipulation, with the composer reading his own entry in Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Music and Musicians written by Nicolas Slonimsky. Amirkhanian’s voice is fed through a system of tape delays that dissects the text into fragments out of which phrases emerge: “khan-khan-khanian Charles;” “of Armenian extraction;” “music, environmental,” closing with a humorous coda of guttural sounds, a prominent feature of this ancient language.

“Three Armenians” has its roots in Amirkhanian’s childhood—the composer uses two 78rpm records his father brought home as the piece’s only source material. Works of Armenian-American composer Alan Hovhaness and of John Cage, performed by pianist Maro Ajemian and produced by the legendary George Avakian, are sampled and manipulated by the composer on a Disklavier provided by Henry Kaiser.

credits

released November 5, 2021

All selections are electroacoustic compositions by Charles Amirkhanian.

Executive Producer – Charles Amirkhanian
Producer & Mastering Engineer – Andrew Weathers
Cover Artwork – Carol Law (with Michelle Friedman): Reuben & Araxi Amirkhanian, August 26, 1906, NYC
Package Design – Mark Abramson

Other Minds Records OM 1029-2

© ℗ 2021 Other Minds®
otherminds.org

license

about

Other Minds Records San Francisco, California

Other Minds is a global New Music community where composers, students, and listeners discover and learn about innovative music by composers from all over the world.

otherminds.org

contact / help

Contact Other Minds Records

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Miatsoom, you may also like:

a softer focus
by claire rousay

supported by 8 fans who also own “Miatsoom”

Evocative and engrossing. burntstick
go to album
Stolen Car
by Carl Stone

supported by 6 fans who also own “Miatsoom”

Carl Stone at his absolute best with madcap pop re/deconstructions. Surprisingly beat-heavy, in the way only Starl Cone can do. Peter Hollo
go to album
A Secret Code
by Pamela Z

supported by 6 fans who also own “Miatsoom”

I saw/heard/was blown away by her performance in Seattle last night(On the Boards) bekkruse
go to album
THEMA MABONENG
by Abacothozi

The South African band's reissued 1975 debut features addictive grooves shaped by American soul and R&B. Bandcamp Album of the Day Apr 15, 2024
go to album
Where I've Been, isn't Where I'm Going
by Shaboozey

Fresh off his appearance on “Cowboy Carter,” Shaboozey presents his killer alt-country debut, available here on limited wax. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 15, 2024
go to album
The Bea Gaddy Soup Kitchen
by Jay Royale

The excellent Baltimore rapper Jay Royale punches his way through icy, noir-ish production with take-no-prisoners bars. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 15, 2024
go to album
Superstar
by Harry Pussy

supported by 6 fans who also own “Miatsoom”

Fifteen 30-second songs of sputtered splatter-gunk from the archives. An absolutely deranged racket. Lars Gotrich
go to album