Gurdjieff Ensemble filmed at Karahunj prehistoric archeological site in Syunik province, in Armenia.
Music by G.I.Gurdjieff
Arranged by Levon Eskenian
- Levon Eskenian: artistic director
- Emmanuel Hovhannisyan: duduk
- Norayr Gapoyan: duduk
- Avag Margaryan: blul
- Armen Ayvazyan: kamancha
- Aram Nikoghosyan: oud
- Astghik Snetsunts: kanon
- Vladimir Papikyan: santur
- Davit Avagyan: tar and saz
- Mesrop Khalatyan: dap, tmbuk
All of these pieces and many more could be listened to on the Music of Georges I.Gurdjieff album produced by ECM Records, To hear the complete album and for more information visit the website of the Gurdjieff Ensemble.
G.I.Gurdjieff, born in Armenia in the late 19th century, is considered to be one of the most influential spiritual leaders of the 20th century, created the approach of the Harmonious Development of Man in the course of his journeys throughout the world. His extraordinary musical repertoire was based on the music he heard while traveling in Armenia, the Caucasus, the Middle East, Central Asia, India, and North Africa, where he witnessed a myriad of folk and spiritual music, rituals, and dance traditions. Gurdjieff’s music consists of 300 pieces and fragments for the piano he composed in the 1920s by dictating them orally to his student, the Russian composer, and pianist Thomas de Hartmann. Gurdjieff’s compositions have been studied in the West, largely via the piano transcriptions of Thomas de Hartmann. Along with The Gurdjieff Ensemble, Levon Eskenian goes beyond the printed notes to look at the musical traditions that Gurdjieff encountered during his travels and the rearrangements were created to preserve their authenticity. With this project and internationally acclaimed album Music of Georges I. Gurdjieff released on ECM Records, the ensemble returns the music of Gurdjieff to its inspirational sources.
