Guldeste - 3-24-2016 at 01:13 AM
Dear collective wisdom
Does anyone have liner notes / more info on Nubar Nubar (Expressions East album by John Berberian)? I'd like to know what this melody is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp0NwCvN52M
Thank you!
hartun - 3-29-2016 at 03:21 PM
It's an old Armenian folk song. Nubar is a girls name in this context, coming from Persian. The rhythm is a 10/8 jurjina very common in the Armenian
American community coming from Eastern Turkey. This recording is definitely a dance recording. Some would do solo dancing to this but personally I
would do line dancing (group dancing, halay, dabke) with this music (the Berberian version). Many of the numbers they play in 10/8 were adopted from
Soviet Armenian recordings originally in slow or medium 6/8. (See my other comments on the thread on Dzaghe Poonch). Similarly Nubar was also recorded
earlier in Soviet Armenia. Here is the first recording by Lousik Kochyan.
http://youtu.be/c5xtwLiN_e4
However, the language is the Western Armenian dialect which was formerly spoken in Turkey and the song is very very widely known so it's possible it
was known in Turkey originally as well. (Typically Armenian folk music is divided into songs originating in Turkish Anatolian Armenia and Russian
Caucasus Armenia, and there isn't too much overlap. Again the two regions each have their own dialect, numerous subdialects and different music style
culture cuisine etc due to being divided for at least 400 years) Alternatively the song could come from the Gumri area which originally spoke a
dialect more Anatolian though it was part of Russia. This is one of those very old common songs that I don't think anyone knows the origin of.
Noobarin boye chinar e
Achkere noosh oo khoomar e
Yerek orva loosni nman
Oonkere ger oo gamar e
Nubar's stature is like the plane tree
Her eyes are almond shaped and dreamy
Like three-day-old moons
Her eyebrows are curved and arched
(First verse is also used as chorus)
Arev tsolats sarin karin - The sun shone on the rock on the mountain
Noobar gerta hantuh verin - Nubar goes up on the plateau
Ov vor desni im Noobarin - Whoever sees my Nubar
Chi moranar ampoghch darin - Will not forget it for the whole year
Noobar gerta oror shoror - Nubar walks swaying
Noobarin yar gayne molor - Let Nubar's love stand distracted
Akh ge kashe kisher oo zor - He groans night and day
Oo man goo ka kiughi polor - And wanders the entire village (or the entire countryside)
hartun - 3-29-2016 at 03:25 PM
You will note as in all Armenian songs there are Turkish loan words: humar, yar, boy, cinar.
Guldeste - 4-5-2016 at 01:57 AM
Thank you so much Hartun! This is just wonderful.
hartun - 4-11-2016 at 04:30 PM
No problem any Armenian songs or artists you want to know about I can let you know
Don Z - 5-20-2016 at 07:38 AM
Love this tune !