collapsing folk melodies

April 11, 2008 11:05 AM

What are the sources used in Einstürzende Neubauten's Armenia and Armenia II?

Armenia is built around a sample of a choral rendition of an Armenian folk song . Armenia II features a (live? sampled?) duduk, playing a few melodic lines, presumably from another folk song.

Any background information on these songs would also be appreciated. Thanks!

posted by Benjamin Nushmutt to media & arts (4 comments total)

Where can we hear these online?
posted by londongeezer at 12:37 PM on April 11, 2008

I don't know the songs but would love to hear them. I'll try and dig them up tonight and maybe I can give you a little more information. I've heard a lot of Armenian music in my time on this earth, hopefully I'll be able to shed some light...
posted by crinklebat at 1:05 PM on April 11, 2008

Per this Armenia blog, "This track is called Armenia because it includes a sample of the song, "Toun en kelkhen imastoun yes," though don't expect to sing along to it!
posted by mykescipark at 1:06 PM on April 11, 2008

Armenia identified, thank you mykescipark! I will mark your answer later, so more people can weigh in on Armenia II. The Neubauten version is here (NSFW-ish noise, unless you work in a factory), and here is a folk version, about 40 minutes into a radio show.

One down, one to go.

Here are some clips of Armenia II from the album Strategies Against Architecture II, Disk 2-- hopefully it's enough to help. One clip is towards the beginning of the song, the other around the middle.
posted by Benjamin Nushmutt at 2:01 PM on April 11, 2008