Akounq ensemble – Mer tan itev (Armenian folk song)

English translation of the text is by Ani Toroyan (Անի Թորոյան).
Armenian folk song “Mer tan itev” (Behind our house) from Shatakh Region of Historical Armenia (now in Turkey). Performed by “Akounq” ensemble.
Կարդացեք հայերեն (in Armenian):
First, let us get acquainted with the content of the song. This is most probably a duet of a young man and a girl who are neighbors and have been close since childhood. They talk about their daily life. A house lies opposite a melilot field. It is the house where the young man lives. Horses neigh nearby either because they are hungry or because of some other need. The girl suggests letting her sister-in-law know that she has forgotten to take care of the horses. And let her strike her hand against her knee and anxiously play with the coral bracelet on her hand.
Names of mountains in the Historical Armenia are mentioned in the next quatrain. So we can guess where exactly the song was born. The heroes say that they have sown barley on the lands between Mount Arno and Mount Arto. They are located south of Lake Van, near the borderline of the regions Shatakh and Mokk. The height of the both mountains is nearly equal, about 3550 meters. In the end, they sing that they will exchange barley with apples which they will send to their beloved ones, i.e. each other.
We had described the song this way when a Youtube user named Droog Tchekhova gave an interesting explanation. So, horses neigh nearby, the girl suggests letting her sister-in-law know it, let her strike her hand against her knee because the coral bracelet on her hand was broken. What does it mean? It is hard to say. The user thinks this may have a close connection to a wedding ritual that is why symbolic images are used. It is known that in most Armenian regions there was the habit of taking the bride and the bridegroom to the church on horseback. Thus the neighing of the horses can hint at a wedding. Let us take into account another fact. The barley is ripe, it is time to reap it, i.e. it is autumn, the season when after finishing field works people make wedding preparations.
Droog Tchekhova draws attention to another fact. The heroes give apples to each other. What does that mean? Ethnographer Arusyak Sahakyan notes that in old times a young man sent an apple to the girl he liked as a symbol of love or threw it from the roof into the girl’s house. And if the girl accepted it, that would mean she liked the young man too. So there are all the prerequisites for a wedding.
Now let us see the connection of the sister-in-law and her bracelet to wedding and why she should strike her hand against her knee. “As the girl is already the young man’s fiancée by mutual agreement, so his brother’s wife is her sister-in-law. And there are two opinions about the bracelet which was broken:
a/ The coral bracelet is broken because half of it should be given to the bride.
b/ The sister-in-law shouldn’t sit idly and play with her bracelet because wedding preparations should be made and there is a lot of work. So her let strike her hand against her knee, get up and get to work.
The photograph depicts Mount Arto, Lake Van, Aghtamar Island and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross (X century).
The Armenian lyrics in Latin letters:

Mer tan itev art korenkan,
Le, le, le, le, le, le jan.
Dzer tan itev art korenkan,
Le, le, le, le, le, le jan.

Dziyanq ini Ke khrkhenjan
Le, le, le, le, le, le jan.
Havar tareq tegerkynkan,
Le, le, le, le, le, le jan.

Рavar tareq tegerkynkan,
Le, le, le, le, le, le jan.
Togh dzer zarki ver our tsenkan,
Le, le, le, le, le, le jan.

Togh dzer zarki ver our tsnkan,
Le, le, le, le, le, le jan.
Ktrav, tapav dzerats marjan,
Le, le, le, le, le, le jan.

Amen marjan qants patenjan,
Le, le, le, le, le, le jan.
Amen marjan qants patenjan,
Le, le, le, le, le, le jan.

Arnosasar tsanats gari,
Le, le, le, le, le, le jan.
Artosasar tsanats gari,
Le, le, le, le, le, le jan.

Garin tanem tam khndzori,
Le, le, le, le, le, le jan.
Khndzor horokhkem di yarin,
Le, le, le, le, le, le jan.

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