Tigran Hamasyan: Manifeste- Introspective Music as a Path to Self-Discovery

 

Tigar Hamasyan: Manifeste: Naïve Records 

The Armenian born pianist Tigran Hamasyan has been a bit of an outlier.  He played rudimentary music on his family piano from the age of three and was in music school from the age of six. By the age of nine Hamasyan was immersed in jazz, but he was also highly influenced by the abrasive power guitar sounds of thrash metal! The man is a bit of an enigma; not a pure jazz pianist in the traditional sense, but a prolific improvisor. He is armed with the weapons of dexterity, skill, classical piano training, Armenian folk music influences, deftly using his voice instrumentally, and his own brand of fusion-inspired, prog-rock jazz, peppered with electronica. The pianist/composer is a percolating caldron of musical creativity that can inspire you with his pure talent and acumen and yet surprise you with his unpredictable excursions. If you listen to what this artist has already said in interviews, you get some insight into what is driving this man. Hamasyan once said “When I solo, I tend not to think of myself as a pianist.” He also has a seemingly unsatiable appetite for music from many disparate styles and origins. “I get into different types of music and really immerse myself in each one and then I move on…” These inclinations and the strong identification with his culture and its indigenous music remain driving forces that motivate his creativity.

At the age of 16, Hamasyan went to California to study and became entrenched in the LA jazz scene.  I was aware that Hamasyan won the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz  Piano Competition back in 2006 at the age of nineteen, edging out Gerald Clayton and Aaron Parks! My first exposure to the pianist was from his well-received Verve album Shadow Theater from 2013. This album scratched the surface of the creativity that this composer and his musical mind held. The music was powerful, ethereal and different. The pianist utilized elements of jazz, prog rock, Armenian folk music, creative choral voice work and a deft use of strings and woodwinds. I was hooked by this man’s vision.

The latest album, released on Naïve Records on February of this year, is titled Manifeste and offers fourteen compositions that the artist uses as a vehicle for exploring into and discovering himself.

Hamasyan plays piano, synth, synth bass, drum programs, whistles, and provides vocals. He is joined by Nick Lierandi on guitar, Marc Karapetian on bass, and four different drummers- Mark Garskta, Arthur Hbnatek, Arman Mnatsakanyan and Nate Wood. There are also guest appearances by trumpeter Daniel Melkonyan on “Yerevan Sunrise” and “Years Passing (For Akram), Evan Marien plays bass on “Dardahan” , Agtghik Mamikonyan adds her voice on “Per Mane ( E Flat Venice Song)” and the Yerevan State Chamber Choir provide their angelic voices on  “One Body, One Blood” and “National Repentance Anthem.” The production of this project is obviously no small task. It speaks volumes about the details and thought that Hamasyan invests into the creation and execution of his multi-layered music.

Manifeste is a lot to process. Can this music be assigned to a particular genre? Not likely in my humble opinion. But if you marvel, as I do, at the process of a fertile, creative mind exploring the possibilities of musical expression, then you can clearly not ignore this man’s offerings.

There is much to be listened to like the restless prog rock-drive of the opening number “Prelude for All Seekers.”   The gorgeously swelling sounds of “Yerevan Sunrise” as Hamasyan layers multiple electronically generated aural colors and his synched-in whistling into his musical landscape. Daniel Melkonyan’s trumpet adds another element to this one as Hamasyan’s rhythmic vibe carries the pulse in tandem to Hnatek’s intuitive trap work.

The title cut “Manifeste” revels in Hamasyan’s powerful ostinato opening before the pianist is joined by Karapetian’s throbbing bass, Mnatsakayan’s syncopated drums and Tigar’s haunting overlayered vocals. The music has a foreboding feel to it. There is drama and it conjures up Black Sabbath and Emerson Lake and Palmer coming to my mind.

“One Body, One Blood” finds the pianist creating a hauntingly repeating theme upon which he incorporates the gorgeous, celestial voices of the Yerevan State Chamber Choir and the electronics and drum programming of Arthur Hnatek.

“Seven Sorrows” opens with clanging church bells over which Hamasyan plays some beautiful repeating piano flourishes. Artyom Manukyan’s cello adds some poignancy before the pianist adds his own fluid, chicanery of exploration including some Jarrett inspired moans. Mnatsakayan’s propulsive drum work is on display before Manukyan’s cello reenters and Hamasyan’s voice matches the cellists bowing in an moving and eerie coda.

“Years Passing” is a song dedicated to British/Bangladeshi choreographer Akram Khan. Hamasyan composed the music for Khan’s 2014 dance production iTMOi  (In the mind of Igor) a celebration of Stravinsky’s music. The two have a rhythmic connection that the pianist seems to have reflected on in this composition. The music features a beautiful repeating theme that Hamasyan plays on piano and that is supplemented by a searching trumpet solo by Melkonyan.

“Dadanhan” is a fusion-like song that features Hamasyan’s synth work and his tracking, almost primal vocals. Marien’s electric bass work and Hnatek’s explosive drum work complete this trio.  

“War Time Poem” has a heavy metal fierceness. Led by Hamasyan’s relentless and almost frantic synth work and Lierandi’s guitar, the band is rounded off with Karapetian on bass and Garstka on drums.

“The Fire Child” (Vahagn is Born) is a reference to the Armenian god Vahagn who by legend was born from a splitting reed in a fiery cosmic birth. The origin is as an Indo-European warrior god that is a dragon killer. Hamasyan’s music is like a chant. The pianist plays all the electronics and overdubs his vocals to the music unassisted. There is a ceremonial reverence to this Armenian mythical tradition that the artist expresses here touchingly.

“Ultradance” is a composition that transposes driving prog rock pulses in contrast to lyrical folk-inspired rifts. The music is driven by Nate Wood’s drums and Karapetian’s throbbing bass working in conjunction with Hamasyan’s repeating synth and piano lines.

 The remaining album includes “Per Mane (E Flat Venice Song) featuring the voice of Agtghik Mamikonyan and some agitated piano work by Hamasyan.  “A Window from One Heart to Another” a song inspired by the work of the poet Rumi, featuring the percussionist Hamin Honari and Blul (wooden flute) played by Yessai Karapetian. “A Eye” (The Digital Leviathan) is an ostinato-driven piece with Lierandi’s singing guitar, Hamasyan’s slashing synths, and Karapetian and Garstka supplying rhythm.

The final composition is “National Repentance Anthem” which opens with Hamasyan’s tinkling piano entre setting the stage for the Yerevan State Chamber Choir to enter tracing the music’s somber melody. Manifeste seems to culminate the theme of self-exploration, revelation and catharsis that Hamasyan is exploring by his creation and performance of this music.