Armenian folk troupe charms audience at Jerash festival

JERASH — Jordanian Armenians on Wednesday enjoyed songs and dances from their ancestral homeland at Jerash’s northern theatre.

Coming from Armenia, Sasna Tsrer, an Armenian folk ensemble, performed a variety of traditional songs and dances. 

“To the ancient city of Jerash for the first time to represent Armenia at the 32-year-old Jerash festival,” the group wrote on their Facebook page.

The ensemble performed “authentic” songs and dances, without the aid of modern technology, to give a clear idea of Armenian traditions, Arsen Grogoryan, adviser of the Armenian culture minister, told The Jordan Times.

“The last dance was Yarkhushta, which is a four-thousand-year-old dance that used to be performed before battles to see who is more able to survive,” said Grogoryan.

Yarkhushta belongs to a wider category of Armenian “clap dances”. The dance is performed by men who face each other in pairs. The key element of the dance is a forward movement when participants rapidly approach one another and vigorously clap onto the palms of hands of dancers in the opposite row, according to Gorgoryan.

The group also performed a number of other dances such as Kochari, Mairoku and Msho Khr.

“Participation in the Jerash Festival for Culture and Arts is an important achievement for the troupe,” the adviser said.

One of the patriotic songs talked about of the persecution of the Armenian people, he added.

The participation in the Jerash festival represents a “new experience” that enhanced the group’s career, group leader Hovhannes Mkrtchyan said.

It is a chance to support cultural exchange between the two nations, he noted.

“During the four-day stay in Amman, we visited a church, a school and a club, where we met up with Jordanian Armenians and enjoyed chatting with them,” Mkrtchyan said.

“We are also scheduled to visit the Baptism Site at the Jordan River,” he added.

Belal Ajour, a local, said tjavascript:void(0);hat the group introduced him to Armenian culture, commending the festival administration for organising such a “fantastic” event.

Eva, a Jordanian Armenian, thanked organisers for bringing her authentic ancestral dances and songs to Jordan.

She said the group performed pure pieces of music and dances without “additives”.

The Jerash Festival is held in the ancient Greco-Roman town of Jerash, 48km north of Amman.

The north theatre was built during the Roman era, 2nd century AD, as the city’s local council. It was expanded in the 3rd century to be used for theatrical performances such as concerts and plays, which can still be seen today in carvings of the Muses, goddesses of the arts and culture, according to historians.

Sasna Tsrer is an ethnographic ensemble that was formed in 2011 by an initiative of its current leader Hovhannes Mkrtchyan. The band went on stage for the first time with eight people, and today their number is 50.