Kami Bordet-Sturla: To Speak, to Sing, to Feel Armenian

One hundred percent! I agree in different ways. Most singers have to nurture a very healthy lifestyle (sleep and eat well, stay away from alcohol and smoking, etc.). Of course, there are exceptions, but it most of us can’t mess up. Singing, like sports, requires an excellent understanding and control of our body and mind. In addition, singing is a result of an important muscular work that, like memory, must be trained to remain healthy. On a psychological level too, singing and sports are similar. The world of music is not easy, especially when you didn’t walk on the usual tracks. Since I started to study professionally later than others, it seems to me that I have to overcome more challenges to achieve my goals, because I am about five years late. Like athletes, singers have to be very strong mentally also. We must learn to manage failure, to fall, rise again, never give up, until the light finally shows up.

It is true that opera’s audience is mostly older people? How can opera in the 21^st century appeal to the young?

This is a very good question, and I think about it a lot, because I do not have a proper answer. I think that, maybe, the first step is education. Music is not well taught in traditional schools, at least in my country. Opera is the deepest, the most precious form of Western music. It does not mean that it has more value than other styles, but from all points of view (harmonic, rhythmical…) it is more developed, therefore more complex. Even as a professional musician, who listens to classical music all day long, I know that I can understand ten percent of it. Someone who is just discovering opera can probably get two percent of the composer’s intentions. This is a huge problem and it happens in every field. The more educated people are, the richer their taste is, and more likely they are to go towards more complex artistic forms.

On the other hand, we should not be “polite” with opera. While respecting a composer’s wishes, we have to adapt opera to our time and bring out the elements that speak universally. Despite texts or themes that may seem old fashioned, the main questions raised in the plots are ageless. I like directors who build bridges between the music of past centuries and our reality, allowing me to feel close to the characters and their problems. For example, when I was working on “Orpheus” I always tried to make the story talk. What message, what metaphors, what symbols are embedded in this story? What does Hell represent, what does it symbolize? What does teenage love feel like? What does it mean to fall in love for the first time, to do anything for it? And so on. This way my work becomes much more interesting, because I start to imagine, dream and finally, I become creative, so that in my turn I can build a bridge with the audience.

You speak several languages. How did it happen that you mastered Armenian, even in writing?

This is a very beautiful story. I started to learn Armenian just before the last war. I did not know anything about Armenia at that time. Since I wanted to learn German, I started using a website that connects people who want to learn languages. I met a German-speaking Armenian guy, who started to talk about his country and to show me words in Armenian. I was struck by the beauty of this alphabet. Progressively, we got closer and I wanted to learn more about his country, which seemed very interesting to me. I loved this very rich and diverse culture, mixing Russian, Middle-Eastern, European influences. A few days later the war started. I do not know why, I felt very strongly your people’s pain and I could not stop thinking about what was happening in Armenia. I started learning the alphabet, then gradually the language. At some point, I thought that I should definitely find a connection with my work, because I couldn’t eat, sleep, I was losing interest in music. I started to dig into the Armenian music, among which I discovered Komitas. In Gordes, in the south of France, I won a song contest thanks to Komitas’ Lullaby, that I performed a cappella, improvising. I try as much as possible to perform Komitas at my concerts. During the war, I tried to get in touch with many Armenians on the Internet. I wanted to show to your people that they are not alone. Accidentally, I met an Iranian musician who spoke fluent Armenian. Since he was also a foreigner, it was easier for him to explain the rules of the language to me, and he taught me Armenian. The reason I learned so quickly was that I am impatient, so I practiced every day, trying to speak as much as possible without fear of making mistakes, writing every new word in a notebook to learn it later… To this day, I have been using this method. I learnt to write with the book Eastern Armenian for English Speakers. And since I have studied art, I am very sensitive to lines and shapes, my eye gets it quickly.