The Naghash Ensemble: Songs of Exile - Volume I - Produced by the Naregatsi Art Institute

The CD album of the Naghash Ensemble was released in 2014 under the support of the Naregatsi Art Institute. The album includes John Hodian’s new musical arrangements based on the texts by the medieval Armenian poet and priest, Mkrtich Naghash: “On Behalf of Ghareebs”, “Lamentations for Those Who Die in a Foreign Land”, “Prelude to Lamentations for the Dead”, “Lamentations for the Dead”.

This CD comes with a beautiful book containing essays on Naghash the poet, the ensemble and texts of the poems in four languages (English, Armenian, German & French).

Mkrtich Naghash was a 15th century poet, priest and painter who lived during the time of great hardship for Armenian people.

The story goes that Naghash while living in Tigranakert ran afoul of the local Muslim authorities when he erected a church taller than the nearby mosques. After this incident, he was forcibly evicted from their homeland, but the poet's migratory existence gave rise to a special folkloric genre of extemporaneous oral poetry based on the plight of the wanderer or “ghareeb”.

Part of what makes Naghash so remarkable is that being a great scholar and high ranking clergyman, he wrote poetry as a means of reaching out to the ordinary people. This more colloquial oral style is associated with scholars and the church.

John Hodian is a composer, conductor, and pianist who has worked in a wide variety of idioms—from classical to jazz, rock to rap, and traditional to avant-garde theater. Hodian's music conveys emotions ranging from profound melancholy to bold exuberance. His music has been used in various films. In collaboration with theater workers he has also created music for the theater, which was released as a separate album.

- The idea for the Naghash Ensemble came when I first heard the Luys vocal quintet singing in Garni temple outside of Yerevan, Armenia. They sang mostly medieval Armenian spiritual music and the acoustics at Garni are astounding. The sound remained in my mind for days after and I was determined to write something that would use this sound in a new way.

It took years to discover the right text. Without a specific ensemble in mind (other than female voices) I let the texts dictate what the music should be.

The "Nagash" ensemble was founded in 2010, which should perform this newly composed music. The Ensemble's debut performance featuring the best singers and instrumental performers from Armenia took place on October 14, 2012 at the Komitas Chamber Music Hall, -says John Hodian.