ArmInfo.The unveiling of Komitas Vartabed's monument in Montreal took place. According to the Armenian National Committee of Canada, the official opening ceremony of the monument (sculptor Dr. Megerditch Tarakdjian) took place at the end of last week.
" The father of Armenian Folk Music, persecuted in 1915, survived the genocide physically, but was driven into emotional trauma by it. Thanks to him, thousands of our Folk songs Survived the Armenian Genocide," the Organization said.
Komitas (Soghomon Soghomonyan) - Armenian clergyman, musicologist, composer, arranger, singer. He is considered the founder of the Armenian national school of music and ethnomusicology. Thanks to Komitas's labors, his scientific research, efforts to preserve his musical heritage and his own musical compositions, he became a source of great inspiration for Armenian musicians and non-musicians.
During the First World War, the Young Turk government began to implement its program for the cruel and inhuman destruction of the Armenian people. In April 1915, Komitas was arrested along with a number of prominent Armenian writers, publicists, doctors, lawyers. After being arrested, accompanied by violence, he was exiled deep into Anatolia, where he witnessed the brutal destruction of the bright minds of the nation. Despite the fact that Komitas was returned to Constantinople thanks to influential personalities, the nightmare he experienced left a deep, indelible imprint on his soul. Komitas retired from the outside world, took refuge in his gloomy and heavy thoughts - broken and sad.
In 1916, Komitas's health deteriorated and he was placed in a psychiatric clinic. However, there was no hope of recovery. Medicine was powerless in the face of a devastating disease. The genius of Armenian music found his last refuge near Paris, in the hospital in the town of Villejuif, having spent almost 20 years there. Komitas died on October 22, 1935. In the spring of 1936, his ashes were transported to Armenia and interred in Yerevan. Today Komitas rests in the Pantheon of cultural figures.