Duduk virtuoso Jivan Gasparyan was fascinated even by Stalin
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I have a photograph hanging in my studio: me and two people. And there is only one signature: “Jivan Gasparyan”. And they are full namesakes, grandfather and grandson. The eldest of them is a unique person, he was a good friend of mine. Unfortunately, he passed away two years ago. He was 92 years old, and he lived an absolutely phenomenal life, full of bright events and incredibly meaningful, deep creativity.
He played with almost all the orchestras of the world on an instrument called the duduk. Wind reed instrument of ancient Armenian origin, which has a soft melodious sound. The 5th century Armenian historian Khorenatsi mentioned this instrument under the name tsiranapokh. “Relatives” of the duduk are also common among other peoples of the Caucasus, the Middle East, Central Asia and the Balkan Peninsula. A pipe with nine holes, in Armenia it is made exclusively from a branch of an apricot tree, which itself is a sacred national symbol – the tree of life.
The duduk sound is very difficult to reproduce on a synthesizer. Now, of course, some musicians believe that this is possible, and in fact, when you just hold a note, it still turns out similar, and when you start playing, it becomes obvious that the sound is not the same. Duduk cannot be synthesized. It sings the soul, the voice of man. Jivan Gasparyan is an absolutely incredible musician, one in a million, if not the whole world. Playing the duduk, he created absolutely enchanting music, it was incredible to listen to him – it gave not just aesthetic delight and perfection, but a feeling of weightlessness, flight into space.
We knew each other, he visited me several times. Once I invited him to my program “Dairy Brothers – Conversations about Rock and Jazz”, which I conducted for seven years on the radio with Sergey Dorenko. We talked with him for a long time about music, about concerts. Jeevan not only talked about his favorite instrument and creativity in a fascinating way, his life was full of amazing stories. After the war, in 1948, while still a young musician, Jivan performed at the Bolshoi Theater, and Stalin was sitting in the box. The leader was so fascinated by his game that he ordered his people to bring Gasparyan to his box. He praised him, said a lot of pleasant things about his playing, and then, as a token of gratitude, took the watch off his hand and presented it to the young musician. The way “Stalin himself gave the watch to Jivan Gasparyan” was perhaps the most quoted fact of his biography all over the world. As they would say now, it has become a meme.
When he told this story on my air, I asked: “Where is this watch now?” “Igor, I have told this story many times,” Jivan answered, “many journalists in the world know about it, but no one asked where the clock had gone. In fact, the story is very banal. My friends and I went to the square in front of the Bolshoi Theater, and there one grandmother was selling pies. The boys and I were so hungry that we gave her Stalin’s watch and ate all the pies.
In general, Gasparyan possessed Stalin’s watch, according to his own calculations, 5-7 minutes after he left the theater. I asked why, when this story later became widely known, he did not go to some antique shop to buy a similar watch and show it to everyone as Stalin’s watch, because no one would know anyway. To which Jivan replied: “No, Igor, I will never do this, because it is not good to deceive.” And I once again noted for myself how unique, decent and talented a person he is, who does not need any additional evidence of recognition and confirmation of his talent.
Jeevan spoke very interestingly about death. He said that he was not going to die or quit music. For him it was the same. He joked (or maybe he wasn’t joking): “Nobody has ever returned from there, who said that it’s better there?”
The legendary musician died on July 6, 2021, this is, of course, a sad occasion, but the memories of this person are always filled with light and joy. For me, as for many people around the world, this was a huge loss. But it was an incredible happiness to know this man, to talk to him, to be his friend, to listen to how he plays. I believe that it is these people who change our world for the better.
Newspaper headline:
Even Stalin was fascinated by Gasparyan
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