Archeology of Madness: Komitas, Portrait of an Armenian Icon [Hardcover]

Rita Soulahian Kuyumjian (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2002

A psychiatrist looks into the tortured psyche of Komitas, the great compiler and arranger of Armenian folk music. After surviving a death camp, Komitas developed a severe form of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and spent twenty years in virtual silence in mental asylums.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A captivating journey." The Gazette --Montreal

From the Inside Flap

Two great strands of human life are interwoven in the Armenian psyche: suffering and art. Komitas's life combines both to create a tragic yet delightful tapestry of an artist's life.

Born in Kütahya, Turkey, in 1869, Komitas rose from orphan street urchin to prominence as an internationally recognized musicologist. He popularized Armenian classical music by organizing mixed choirs in many cities with large Armenian populations. Komitas was idolized by the members of the choirs, who came to see him as the savior of their musical heritage.

His quest was to rediscover the pre-Christian roots of Armenian ecclesiastic music, to bring high standards to performances of Armenian folk music, and to build a conservatory of music to promote musical education. His melancholic songs exert a profound healing effect on listeners and draw audiences, Armenian and non-Armenian alike, to their feet.

Komitas, the founder of Armenian classical music, became a symbol of the Armenian suffering of the 1915 genocide in Turkey. He was elevated in the eyes of Armenians to martyrdom.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: Gomidas Inst; 2 edition (February 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1903656109
• ISBN-13: 978-1903656105
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,684,588 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A precious find, March 15, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Archeology of Madness: Komitas, Portrait of an Armenian Icon (Hardcover)

I have been exposed to Komitas's music all my life and I have heard so much about him. I had heard that the genocide of 1915 had driven him crazy. I did not know he lived another 20 years, mostly in asylums in France.

The author of this book went digging for information about those two decades and about earlier events that led to Komitas's mental illness. She found that 1915 did not suddenly drive him mad. An accumulation of earlier events (e.g., he was an orphan) had him on the edge. Well, all great artists are slightly mad, I suppose.

She writes about his strained relations with the church (he was a celibate priest) and about his "relationship" with a certain woman.

All in all a very informative book about an important person for Armenians.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The truth about Komidas' childhood by his close relatives, April 5, 2002

By 

Sebouh Z. Tashjian (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Archeology of Madness: Komitas, Portrait of an Armenian Icon (Hardcover)

Dear Sir,
As a close relative of Komidas I disagree and reject the statements of the author about Komidas' childhood. My maternal grandmother Marig who is referred to in the book is Komidas' cousin and they have been brought up together and fed by my great grandmother. Having been supplied our family's version of the true story told by Marig herself, the author has totally disregarded the truth and even misquoted Marig's statements, (footnote-21 page-18) that is, the words published in the author's book were taken out of context to reflect the opposite meaning, thus distorting the childhood life of Komidas. The author has consciously manipulated the words of the original article of my mother and grandmother Marig and used the manipulated version to prove her own point.
The Karakashian and Tashjian families regretfully reject the author's opinion and false statements about Komidas' childhood life.
Sincerely,
Sebouh Z. Tashjian
Sydney - Australia

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Seminal Work, May 16, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Archeology of Madness: Komitas, Portrait of an Armenian Icon (Hardcover)

Archeology of Madness weaves a magnificent story and analysis of a life lived with faith, great creativity, tragedy, madness and, possibly, love. Profound and thorough, the book offers incites into the creativity and madness of Komitas through an interdisciplinary analysis that elegantly ties the fields of psychiatry, art, music, history and geopolitics.

People are always fascinated by the creative process, by what inspires great works of art and the great artists that produce them. The Archeology of Madness, seemingly through exhaustive research and original thought, draws lines between this great artist's childhood, life's experiences, relationships with the Church, the Armenian nation, friendships and love, music, creativity, the tragedy of the Armenian Genocide and his madness.

I recommend this book to all who wish to gain an incite into a great creative mind, its making and destruction.