{"id":1017,"date":"2012-02-08T12:52:17","date_gmt":"2012-02-08T08:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barevarmenia.com\/travelblog\/?p=1017"},"modified":"2012-02-15T12:53:36","modified_gmt":"2012-02-15T08:53:36","slug":"jivani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barevarmenia.com\/travelblog\/jivani\/","title":{"rendered":"Jivani"},"content":{"rendered":"

Born Serob Stepani Levonian (1846\u20131909)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jivani was born in Kartsakh, near Akhalkalaki, Javakheti. He became an orphan when he was 8, his uncle looked after him. He\u00a0learned music composition and performance on kemanche and violin with the support of master Ghara-Ghazar. In 1866 along with\u00a0gusan Sazain (Aghajan) Jivani moved to Tbilisi, where he continued his musical activities. The further development of Jivani\u2019s art is connected to Alexandropol (Gyumri<\/a>) and its musical culture. He lived and worked there in 1868-1895. In Alexandropol he headed a circle of fellow gusan-singers, and was awarded by the honorary title of ustabashi (leading master). Jivani had concerts all over Transcaucasia, including Batumi, Baku, Kars and Tbilisi. In 1895 he returned to Tbilisi.
\nJivani was an author of more than 800 songs, written in romantic, ironical or realistic styles. He had the good knowledge of 19th\u00a0century Armenian literature, and was influenced by it. He used clear forms of Armenian language, avoided of foreign transliterations. His songs were mainly devoted to the problems of social protest, poverty and lawlessness (\u201cThe Life in the Village\u201d, \u201cWorker\u201d, etc.). In his songs Jivani condemned oppressors, represented the struggle of Armenian people against foreign rule, sang about the brotherhood of people. Many of Jivani\u2019s songs (\u201cThe Unhappy Days\u201d, \u201cMother\u201d, \u201cAt this night\u201d, \u201cA good comrade\u201d, \u201cI am an apricot tree\u201d, \u201cLook at them\u201d) became popular.
\nThe first compilation of Jivani\u2019s poems was published in 1885. His music was performed or used by Kristapor Kara-Murza, Komitas,\u00a0Aram Khachaturian and many others, Maxim Gorky and Valeri Briusov were interested in his poetry. He is recognized as the \u201cgreatest Armenian ashik of the 19th century\u201d.<\/p>\n

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