The “Aybuben” project approaches the Armenian alphabet as a primary source and an object of artistic research. Its roots delve into the realm of pre-verbal utterance, where the simple sound of a letter, liberated from the dictate of meaning, acquires an independent sacred and plastic value. This same movement—from a primary sound to a complex symbol—can be found in ancient spiritual practices and the poetic avant-garde, where the phoneme becomes a powerful vehicle for an emotional artistic image.
The project is based on a generative score for a cappella performance and electronic processing, where the voice and the sound of letters become the material for the sonic utterance.
The score, created during the hosq Notations residency in Yerevan in collaboration with Eliza Baghdiyan, exists within a defined compositional field: its rhythmic structure and the set of phonemes (vowels and consonants) are strictly defined, while the content (the specific letters) is subject to chance.
The soundscape of the piece references Avet Terteryan’s Third Symphony, whose tonality and rhythm became the semantic and structural foundation of the project. Thus, the performance, first presented within the walls of the Yerevan Philharmonic Hall, becomes an act of dialogue with the musical tradition, where the archaic letter, elevated to an absolute, meets contemporary compositional technique.
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