The Armenian Folk Ensemble, Shoghaken (http://www.road-to-armenia.com/music/music.html), that was founded by Gevorg Dabaghyan, my duduk teacher and friend, in 1990, toured the US in January - March 2008. I was depressed because the closest they were coming to Washington State was Berkeley and San Francisco. They started their tour at Carnegie Hall. This is a group of absolute world-class musicians.
But my dear companion and wife, Kristina, wasn't about to give up. Without my knowing, she emailed our friends and family members and asked for a donation to get me to California for the end of their tour. And she succeeded. For my 60th birthday present, we went down there for a four-day weekend. We got hold of Harold Hagopian, the tour producer, and he suggested that we get a motel room in the same motel as the band. So an added bonus was that we got to meet the band members and get to know some of them. We particularly enjoyed our time with Hasmik Harutunyan, the singer, and her husband, Andranik.
I got a couple of duduk lessons from Gevorg and also bought a piccolo duduk that he had made. We had a good time renewing our friendship although I don't know how he manages to listen to me mangling the potentially beautiful sounds of the duduk.
We heard and danced to Shoghaken Saturday night in an old bar/dance hall from the 60's called Ashkenaz. This was a demonstration of instruments, dance instruction and a dance. The next day, Sunday, was a formal concert at the Armenian Cultural Center in San Francisco.
It was a wonderful time and one that I'll treasure forever.
