Toumanian Mek, in its first album, invites us to discover the musical culture of Armenia, along with singer Dan Gharibian. We are given four faces of Armenia: Sayat-Nova, the 18th-century bard who elevated and heavily influenced Transcaucasian music; Komitas and his indispensable Miniatures; and, finally, recent arrangements for string quartet of some of the most beautiful pieces from Khatchatourian.
With a sensitive ear to contemporary music Toumanian Mek performs two original pieces for string quartet by Ruben Altunyan, rounding out this musical portrait straddling the worlds of traditional and classical music.