Joseph Bohigian's guest appearances

Joseph Bohigian

Let's Talk Off The Podium

Ajam Media Collective Podcast

The Process: a podcast about creativity and experimental music.

Robert Dick

David Harrington

Jovino Santos Neto

Evelyn Glennie

Simon Cowell

Yolanda Kondonassis

Richard Stoltzman

Jacob Cooper

Robbie Lee

Brian Chase

Tim Hall

George Jackson

JoAnn Falletta

Mark O'Connor

Joseph Young

OwlTail

In this episode, Kamyar and Rustin interview Armenian-American composer and performer Joseph Bohigian about his latest musical composition, “The Water Has Found Its Crack” (2020), which explores concepts of displacement, dispersion, and cultural preservation in Armenian music. The composition’s title refers to an anecdote shared by Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink about a French-Armenian woman who died while visiting the village of her youth in Turkey. When the question of where she should be buried arose, a man from the village responded “Let her be buried here...the water has found its crack.” It is a story of Armenians longing to be reunited with their indigenous land, not to take it but, in Dink’s words, “to come and be buried under it.” The discussion begins with Bohighian’s reflections about his family’s displacement during the 1915 Armenian Genocide, his upbringing in the diaspora, and his nine-month stay in Yerevan during which he wrote “The Water Has Found Its Crack.” The conversation then turns to the Armenian music theories and folk songs that influenced the piece, specifically the works of the Komitas (1869-1935), a Kütahya-born priest and musicologist widely known for documenting rural songs of the Armenian countryside. Finally, Bohigian takes us through the composition, highlighting various sections and reciting lyrics sung throughout. Visit Joseph's Soundcloud to listen to "the Water Has Found Its Crack."

In this episode, Kamyar and Rustin interview Armenian-American composer and performer Joseph Bohigian about his latest musical composition, “The Water Has Found Its Crack” (2020), which explores concepts of displacement, dispersion, and cultural preservation in Armenian music. The composition’s title refers to an anecdote shared by Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink about a French-Armenian woman who died while visiting the village of her youth in Turkey. When the question of where she should be buried arose, a man from the village responded “Let her be buried here...the water has found its crack.” It is a story of Armenians longing to be reunited with their indigenous land, not to take it but, in Dink’s words, “to come and be buried under it.” The discussion begins with Bohighian’s reflections about his family’s displacement during the 1915 Armenian Genocide, his upbringing in the diaspora, and his nine-month stay in Yerevan during which he wrote “The Water Has Found Its Crack.” The conversation then turns to the Armenian music theories and folk songs that influenced the piece, specifically the works of the Komitas (1869-1935), a Kütahya-born priest and musicologist widely known for documenting rural songs of the Armenian countryside. Finally, Bohigian takes us through the composition, highlighting various sections and reciting lyrics sung throughout. Visit Joseph's <a href="https://soundcloud.com/joey-bohigian/the-water-has-found-its-crack" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Soundcloud to listen to "the Water Has Found Its Crack."</a>

Ajam Podcast #34: Finding Home through Armenian Music with Joseph Bohigian

This episode on "The Process" I talk with Armenian/American Composer Joseph Bohigian.  We listen to "The Water Has Found Its Crack." Joseph and I discuss Identity, isolation, and the importance of others in the creative process.

This episode on "The Process" I talk with Armenian/American Composer Joseph Bohigian.  We listen to "The Water Has Found Its Crack." Joseph and I discuss Identity, isolation, and the importance of others in the creative process.

Joseph Bohigian - The Journey of an Armenian/American Composer

Joseph Bohigian is a composer and performer whose cross-cultural experience as an Armenian-American is a defining message in his music. His work explores the expression of exile, cultural reunification, and identity maintenance in diaspora. His music, described as “delightfully accessible and inventive” (SoundWordSight), has been heard around the world at the Oregon Bach Festival, June in Buffalo, Walt Disney Concert Hall, New Music on the Point Festival, TENOR Conference (Melbourne), and Aram Khachaturian Museum Hall. His recent piece Khazeri Yerazhshtutyun focuses on the gesturality of the ancient Armenian musical script called khaz and was written for the Festival Mixtur Composition and Sound Experimentation Workshop in Barcelona. He has also worked with performers including Mivos Quartet, Decibel New Music, Great Noise Ensemble, Argus Quartet, Fresno Summer Orchestra Academy, and members of Yarn/Wire. Currently, Bohigian is composing a work on the resettlement of Syrian-Armenians in the Republic of Armenia in collaboration with the Rerooted Archive. In addition to composing, Bohigian performs as a percussionist, pianist, and laptop musician. He has premiered many new works and curated concerts of contemporary music for the Composer’s Voice Concert Series in New York, for which he was called a “triple-threat” by Time Out New York for his role as curator, composer, and performer. He founded the Fresno State New Music Ensemble and is a member of Ensemble Decipher, a group dedicated to the performance of live electronic music, with whom he has recently performed at the International Computer Music Conference, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, Society of Electro-Acoustic Music Conference, and Network Music Festival. Having grown up in the large Armenian community of Fresno, California, the themes of displacement, dispersion, and reclamation in Armenian culture are important influences on his work. In 2012, he traveled to Yerevan, Armenia where he wrote his piece Dzirani Dzar, based on the folk song of the same name, while studying with composer Artur Avanesov. In 2015, he wrote In the Shadow of Ararat, a work commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Ararat was premiered alongside other works by living Armenian composers and featured on NPR’s Here and Now and The California Report. He recently spent nine months in Armenia, where he composed The Water Has Found its Crack based on his archival research at the Komitas Museum-Institute and taught a laptop orchestra workshop at the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan. Bohigian is a graduate of Stony Brook University, where he held a Graduate Council Fellowship, and California State University Fresno. He has studied with Nirmali Fenn, Matthew Barnson, Margaret Schedel, Perry Goldstein, Dan Weymouth, Kenneth Froelich, and Benjamin Boone.

Joseph Bohigian is a composer and performer whose cross-cultural experience as an Armenian-American is a defining message in his music. His work explores the expression of exile, cultural reunification, and identity maintenance in diaspora. His music, described as “delightfully accessible and inventive” (SoundWordSight), has been heard around the world at the Oregon Bach Festival, June in Buffalo, Walt Disney Concert Hall, New Music on the Point Festival, TENOR Conference (Melbourne), and Aram Khachaturian Museum Hall. His recent piece Khazeri Yerazhshtutyun focuses on the gesturality of the ancient Armenian musical script called khaz and was written for the Festival Mixtur Composition and Sound Experimentation Workshop in Barcelona. He has also worked with performers including Mivos Quartet, Decibel New Music, Great Noise Ensemble, Argus Quartet, Fresno Summer Orchestra Academy, and members of Yarn/Wire. Currently, Bohigian is composing a work on the resettlement of Syrian-Armenians in the Republic of Armenia in collaboration with the Rerooted Archive. In addition to composing, Bohigian performs as a percussionist, pianist, and laptop musician. He has premiered many new works and curated concerts of contemporary music for the Composer’s Voice Concert Series in New York, for which he was called a “triple-threat” by Time Out New York for his role as curator, composer, and performer. He founded the Fresno State New Music Ensemble and is a member of Ensemble Decipher, a group dedicated to the performance of live electronic music, with whom he has recently performed at the International Computer Music Conference, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, Society of Electro-Acoustic Music Conference, and Network Music Festival. Having grown up in the large Armenian community of Fresno, California, the themes of displacement, dispersion, and reclamation in Armenian culture are important influences on his work. In 2012, he traveled to Yerevan, Armenia where he wrote his piece Dzirani Dzar, based on the folk song of the same name, while studying with composer Artur Avanesov. In 2015, he wrote In the Shadow of Ararat, a work commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Ararat was premiered alongside other works by living Armenian composers and featured on NPR’s Here and Now and The California Report. He recently spent nine months in Armenia, where he composed The Water Has Found its Crack based on his archival research at the Komitas Museum-Institute and taught a laptop orchestra workshop at the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan. Bohigian is a graduate of Stony Brook University, where he held a Graduate Council Fellowship, and California State University Fresno. He has studied with Nirmali Fenn, Matthew Barnson, Margaret Schedel, Perry Goldstein, Dan Weymouth, Kenneth Froelich, and Benjamin Boone.

Ep. 144: Joseph Bohigian, composer and performer