Seda Garibyan
Seda Garibyan is a renowned Armenian singer and poetess.
She was born in Iran, trained in Yerevan, Armenia and as for 2005 was based in Glendale.
In September 2005 Garibyan had a concert in Chicago. The concert itself was officially advertised as a summer `celebration' for the beloved 11-plus year old local Armenian monthly newspaper `Parev Monthly'. The night was sponsored mainly by Dr. Seta Sultanian -- a local M.D. with strong ties to the Armenian community here. In the northwest corner of Chicago, the large carpeted hall of the Armenian General Benevolent Union was the setting.
Chicago is a home to a small but tight-knit, highly-educated Armenian community that gets its fair share of Armenian music stars passing through. The `city that works' has relatively few local Armenian bands per capita compared to, say, Los Angeles, New York, Detroit or Montreal, so visitors are always welcome.
The audience in Chicago was nearly floored with a world-class performance of a mysterious, Mesrobian-esque harvest song called `Gharabaghi Horovel.' The 31 songs and readings - mostly songs - included songs from Sayat Nova, Ashough Jivani (3 songs), Kousan Ashod (Zepyuri Nman), and numerous beloved folk and dance songs. It would take a paragraph just to list all the songs in the 3-hour concert!
Few knew beforehand who Seda Garibyan was. Few Chicago Armenians had satellite TV to watch Horizon on satellite T.V. to know who the singer, poetess Seda Garibyan was, but they learned it firsthand, and clapped wildly after every song and poem. Garibyan's dramatic readings (not necessarily rhyming poetry and definitely not rap) are so lyrical and mesmerizing that they seemed from an Armenia of the future.
Not just a singer, Seda is also a poet. Her poetry speaks of love from heaven and bonds in cyberspace. The lyrics appeal to late teenagers as well as to those well past middle age. The audience, young and old, are won over quite quickly.
Folk and national songs and dances popularized in the 1980's and 1990's with deep roots in the Armenian people's musical cultural tradition also constitute part of Garibyan’s repertoire.
Sources
- Unique Seda G. Impresses Chicago Armenians in Debut Performance, By K. Sarkis Dakarian, MD van1915 @ yahoo.com, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, September 22, 2005