The fabulous Sayat-Nova

Sayat-Nova (born as Harutyun Sayatyan (1712 or 1722 – 22 September 1795), was an Armenian poet, musician and, ashik, a mystic troubadour or travelling bard, in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, and Iran, who sings and plays the saz, a form of lute, who had compositions in a number of languages.

In Armenia, Sayat Nova is considered a great poet who made a considerable contribution to the Armenian poetry and music of his century. About 220 songs have been attributed to Sayat-Nova, although he may have written thousands more. He wrote his songs in Armenian, Georgian, Azerbaijani and Persian. His compositions assume the form of traditional Armenian songs.

One of the greatest masterpieces of the 20th century, Sergei Parajanov’s “Color of the Pomegranate” is a biography of the Armenian troubadour Sayat Nova (King of Song) that reveals the poet’s life more through his poetry than a conventional narration of important events in Sayat Nova’s life.

We see the poet grow up, fall in love, enter a monastery and die, but these incidents are depicted in the context of what are images from Sergei Parajanov’s imagination and Sayat Nova’s poems, poems that are seen and rarely heard.

Sofiko Chiaureli plays 6 roles, both male and female, and Sergei Parajanov writes, directs, edits, choreographs, works on costumes, design and decor and virtually every aspect of this revolutionary work void of any dialog or camera movement.

Sayat-Nova

Monument of Sayat Nova in Yerevan

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