Chants Sacrés d'Arménie

Keram is a traditional Armenian music ensemble, founded in 1980 within the Center for the Teaching and Dissemination of Armenian Culture (CEDCA – TIVOLI) in Marseille. Made up of 17 musicians and 9 singers, KERAM is one of the largest Armenian musical ensembles outside Armenia. Keram’s repertoire consists of songs and music that reveal the broad scope of Armenian music. It includes sacred and popular songs, as well as ashugh songs, performed by Armenian troubadours whose tradition extends from the 17th century to the present day. Among the most famous are Sayat Nova, Chirin, Cheram, Achod and Djivani. The ensemble also presents a broad repertoire of folk dances, peasant songs and wedding songs... It includes numerous pieces composed or transcribed by Father Komitas, the great Armenian musicologist of the early 20th century. Contemporary composers who have enriched the Armenian repertoire with melodies and songs that have since become “standards” are also given considerable space. Armenian instruments belong to all the familiar families—strings, winds and percussion. Keram offers the opportunity to discover a great variety of these instruments, including the dehol (two-headed drum), dap (single-headed frame drum), duduk (oboe with a gentle, haunting sound), shevi (shepherd’s flute), zurna (oboe with a powerful, nasal sound), kamantcha (fiddle with a spherical body), kamani (a type of viola), pampir (a type of cello), tar (long-necked lute), kanone (plucked-string zither) and santour (struck-string zither).