Music » Chamber » Twelve Folk Duets for Two Horns
Armenian-Canadian composer Petros Shoujounian has used folk songs from his homeland in the Twelve Duets for Two Horns (2018). He brings the songs to life using the horn's vocal quality.
These beautiful duets are suitable for advanced performers.
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1. Herin Hererin
The shepherd boy takes the sheep in herds to be milked; during his journey, he finds his lover and dreams of the day they return to the village to be married.
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2. Sarer Seyran
The singer is imagining his beautiful lover and praising her outward appearance as well as her beautiful spirit.
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3. Laloukhan
The singer praises his lover, named Laloukhan, and begs her not to leave him for someone else. He questions why she seems to be indifferent about him.
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4. Song from Van
A man from Van laments his bad luck for being a stranger in a faraway land; it is New Year’s Eve and he is far away from home, imagining his mother crying in his absence. He also imagines his wife alone and needy. He describes his sorrow as so unbearable that he says: “if I give this sorrow to the mountains, the mountains will melt like snow. If I give it to the seas, they will dry like rocks. How will my heart bear such sorrow?”
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5. Bostan
The singer asks his lover not to leave him, as he could not give her the gifts he intended. Nothing he planted came to fruition, which is why he could not secure a gift for her.
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6. Akh Mare
A girl begs her mother to persuade her father to agree on marrying her. She claims she is becoming an old maid while her parents refuse all the men who propose marriage to her.
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7. Vana Yerg
A woman laments her unlucky marriage. She blames her mother and begs her to find a solution to her tragic situation.
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8. Armaghan
A man, the lover of Armaghan, laments the fact that she was married to another man even though he was in love with her for a long time. He praises her beauty and describes his torture and sadness now that she is with someone else.
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9. Arar-Varar
The singer sings about passing by a beautiful woman. He thinks: “You passed by quickly and took with you my eyes, my heart, and my thoughts. You passed and took away my vivid being and left me burning.”
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10. Shoghgam’s Song
Babig planted a turnip, and it grew to be huge. Everyone tried to pull it out of the ground but it is too big. They lament at the wasted work.
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11. Yot Or - Yot Gisher
A man wishes to see his lover. He dreams of her for seven days and seven nights, wishing to buy her gifts and hoping the relationship will last.
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12. Tagh Tzynndyan
A Christmas carol, sung in the peasant style, wishing members of the village good things.
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