How Komitas Preserved Armenian Folk Music

Cara Rosehope

In the 1990s, the duduk found its way into movie soundtracks, radio playlists and record collections of the west. Yet as Cara Rosehope writes, the music of Armenia’s national instrument might never have survived the Armenian genocide were it not for Komitas Vartabed—a priest, musician, composer and so much more.

Seven Reasons to Visit Yerevan

 Jennifer Walker

While Tbilisi gets all the love in the Caucasus, Yerevan is often left as an after thought. Which is a pity, because Yerevan has a lot to offer its visitors. We love Yerevan, and we’re going to tell you why you should love Yerevan too!

Georgia and Armenia: a Spiritual Journey

Peter Hughes

For the people who live there, the upheavals in the Middle East have been disastrous. But for travellers they have also placed many of the region’s great archaeological sites out of bounds, leaving big blanks in the atlas of cultural tours.

Yet one site’s quarantine is another’s discovery, and holidaymakers in need of their annual history fix are casting around for new lands and new epochs for their edification. It was in that prospecting spirit that I went to Transcaucasia and the former Soviet republics of Armenia and Georgia. They were two countries that hitherto had not loomed large on my list of places to go. I was wrong.

Armenia: el paraíso en las montañas

Pablo Benítez

Mística, orgullosa de su cultura ancestral y encantadora a los ojos –y el alma–, Armenia es un destino cautivante aun para aquellos cuyo apellido no termina en ian

Pequeña y montañosa rodeada de gigantes. Ancestral y sobreviviente. Culta y mágica. Armenia lo tiene todo para ser un destino soñado. Lo afirmo después de haber estado en su capital, Erevan, durante 37 días. De respirar su magia. De embelesarme con su silueta. De maravillarme con su gente. De cautivarme con su cultura.  Lo primero que regala Armenia es la imponencia del Ararat apenas uno se baja del avión. La montaña pequeña y la mayor, de 5.165 metros de altura, un volcán inactivo desde 1840 con nieve en el pico a pesar de que ya es verano y que el calor nunca bajará de los 30 grados.