I am so happy today to present a beautiful Armenian song that has been used for belly dance. My friend Linda gave me a stack of vintage belly dance albums over the summer, all of them by Armenian musicians, and that’s how I found this lovely recording of Sev Acher (Black Eyes) by Artie Barsamian and his Orchestra.
I’ve been able to find out that Artie Barsamian was from Massachusetts. He was a very accomplished clarinet and saxophone player, and he performed both Armenian music and jazz. He recorded 13 78s and then another 14 albums over his long career, and he also loved to play live shows. In the YouTube clips below, which feature performance footage interspersed with interviews, he tells a very funny story about how his dad wanted him to learn to play Armenian music, but Artie wasn’t that interested in it. He would play a few Armenian songs with his father, who was a violinist from South Boston, in order to get permission to take the car out! But of course, he later loved playing it.
Here is my performance to Sev Acher for the Winter Cairo Shimmy festival this past weekend. Due to the festival’s time limits I had to cut short the beautiful clarinet solo at the beginning, but I hope to perform to this magical song again when in-person performances resume. Enjoy, and please subscribe to my Monthly Newsletter while you are here. I share class information, my dance research, music and cultural notes and more!
San Francisco Bay Area Belly Dancer Alisa Greer performs to Sev Acher by Artie Barsamian and his Orchestra for Winter Cairo Shimmy 2020.
The is the musical life story of Artie Barsamian with interviews live performances.
You can read a bit more about Artie Barsamian in this Boston Globe article.
And here’s something quick and free you can do to help preserve Armenian heritage - sign this Change.org petition asking UNESCO to protect Armenian cultural and historical sites.