By Marianna Gevorgyan
YEREVAN — This year, the Tagharan Ancient Music Ensemble is celebrating its 45th anniversary, under the direction of artistic director and conductor is Sedrak Yerkanyan.
With nearly half a century of history behind it, this unique ensemble, through its sacred and temple music, leaves even the most discerning audiences deeply impressed. At every concert, Tagharan appears with renewed spirit, keeping pace with the times and presenting, from the academic stage, the exceptional values of Armenian national culture from the 5th to the 15th centuries — sharakan chants, tagh songs, spiritual and secular gems, as well as ancient world music.
In the past 45 years, Tagharan has preserved, protected, popularized and passed on both national and universal cultural heritage to future generations.
The organization’s story began in 1981, when Grigor Danielyan — also known as Daniel the Musician — founded the ancient music ensemble Sharakan, leading it until 1985. The name of the ensemble was suggested by his teacher, musicologist Robert Atayan. He was guided by the idea that if countries with only 200–300 years of cultural history could have ancient music ensembles, then the Armenian nation, with its millennia-old history and culture, undoubtedly deserved an ensemble that would professionally perform and promote its ancient musical creations.
In 1985, the ensemble Sharakan recorded at the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall under the “Melodiya” label. In 1986, the ensemble’s record was released.
