Old Armenian Songs: Yarkhushta, Zartir Lao, Krunk & More

Old Armenian songs are some of the oldest living records of the Armenian language. They include war dances clapped out in the mountains of Sasun, lullabies and laments carried across the world by exiles, and village tunes that the priest-composer Komitas wrote down before they could vanish. This guide covers the most famous ones: Yarkhushta, Zartir Lao, Krunk, Dle Yaman, Hov Arek and more. For each song you get the Armenian title, what it means, where it comes from, the story behind it, the words it can teach you, and two recordings you can play right on this page, from Komitas's own 1912 Paris recordings to modern choirs and dance ensembles.

If you're learning Armenian, these songs are one of the most enjoyable ways to build vocabulary and train your ear. We'll show you how at the end.

Contents

• Old Armenian songs at a glance
• Komitas: the man who saved Armenian folk music
• 1. Yarkhushta: the clapping war dance of Sasun
• 2. Zartir Lao: "Wake up, my son"
• 3. Krunk: "Crane"
• 4. Dle Yaman
• 5. Hov Arek: "Send a breeze, dear mountains"
• 6. Antuni: "Homeless"
• 7. Garun a: "It's spring"
• 8. Chinar Es: "You are a plane tree"
• 9. Sareri Hovin Mernem
• 10. Lorva Horovel: the ploughing song of Lori
• 11. Mokats Mirza: a medieval ballad
• 12. Sayat-Nova, the 18th-century troubadour
• 13. Oror: the Armenian lullaby
• Why so many old songs are in dialect
• How to learn Armenian with folk songs
• Frequently asked questions

Old Armenian songs at a glance

Komitas: the man who saved Armenian folk music

You can't talk about old Armenian songs without Komitas (Կոմիտաս, ko-mi-tas). He was born Soghomon Soghomonyan in 1869 in Kütahya, in the Ottoman Empire, and took the name Komitas when he was ordained a monk in 1894. He then studied music in Berlin from 1896 to 1899.

Komitas travelled from village to village writing down songs that had only ever been passed on by ear. He is credited with collecting more than 3,000 folk songs. Much of that work was later lost, and around 1,200 of his transcriptions survive. In 1903 he and the linguist Manuk Abeghyan published Hazar u mi khagh ("A Thousand and One Songs"). In 1912 he made gramophone recordings in Paris, singing himself and accompanying the tenor Armenak Shahmuradyan on piano. Several of those recordings are embedded below, so you can hear these songs as they sounded more than a century ago.

On 24 April 1915 Komitas was arrested in Constantinople with other Armenian intellectuals and deported. He was allowed to return, but he never recovered from what he had witnessed. He spent his last two decades in psychiatric clinics and died near Paris in 1935. His ashes rest in the Komitas Pantheon in Yerevan.

Today he is honoured in the Komitas Museum-Institute in Yerevan, which opened in 2015. In 2023, UNESCO added his collected works to its Memory of the World register.

1. Yarkhushta: the clapping war dance of Sasun

Յարխուշտա (yar-khush-ta) is probably the most electrifying piece of Armenian folk heritage you can watch. Strictly speaking it's a war dance rather than a song. It comes from Sasun, the mountain region famous as the home of the epic David of Sasun, and it was also danced across the wider Mush area.

How Yarkhushta is danced

In its traditional form Yarkhushta is danced by men, and the number of dancers has to be even. They split into two groups facing each other: one side attacks, the other defends. The lines rush toward each other, and partners strike their palms together above their heads, imitating the clash of weapons. Some versions also have dancers drop to one knee. The formation keeps switching between a circle and two lines. The music is in 2/4 time, starts at a moderate pace and keeps speeding up. It's traditionally played loudly on the dhol (drum) and zurna (a double-reed pipe).

Yarkhushta belongs to the family of Armenian "clap dances" (ծափ-պարեր, tsap'-pa-rer), and it has regional variants. In Tak (or Kharzani) Yarkhushta one side strikes with one hand while the other "shields." In Slivani Yarkhushta both sides strike with both hands at once. Older accounts describe dancers clapping so hard their hands bled. Historically there was also a short shouted chant (recorded as «Թոզըլբանո», t'o-zəl-ba-no), which was probably a battle cry; nobody knows what it means. Modern stage versions are usually instrumental, punctuated by shouts.

What does "Yarkhushta" mean?

Nobody knows for certain. One common explanation combines Persian yar ("friend, companion") with khisht, a short spear, giving roughly "companion of the weapon" or "comrade in arms." Scholars treat this as one theory among several. The syllable յար (yar) will look familiar, though: in Armenian folk songs it's the everyday word for "beloved," and you'll meet it in almost every love song below.

Yarkhushta today

Early Armenian historians wrote about war dances performed before battle to lift fighting spirit, and Yarkhushta is one of the best-known living examples of that tradition. The choreographer Srbuhi Lisitsian staged it in the 1930s after villagers near Talin showed it to her. It is still danced in villages around Talin and Aparan where families from Sasun settled. Ensembles such as Maratuk and Karin later revived it, and a 2004 feature film is named after it.

Yarkhushta is on Armenia's national list of intangible cultural heritage. People often confuse it with Kochari, a different Armenian group dance, which is on UNESCO's list (inscribed in 2017).

Did you know? Since March 2026, Yarkhushta has been the official anthem of Armenia's national football team. The Football Federation of Armenia announced it, and it is performed by the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra.

Watch Yarkhushta

Yarkhushta, performed by the State Dance Ensemble of Armenia

Yarkhushta, performed by the Karin Folk Dance and Song Group

Words to learn: պար (par): dance · ծափ (tsap'): clap · դհոլ (dhol): drum · զուռնա (zurr-na): zurna · յար (yar): beloved

2. Zartir Lao: "Wake up, my son"

«Զարթի՛ր, լաո» (zar-t'ir, la-o) is a stirring patriotic song. Many people assume it's an ancient anonymous folk song, but it dates from the 1890s and is credited to the ashugh (folk minstrel) Fahrat. It praises Arabo, a fighter who defended Armenians in the Mush and Sasun region and was killed with his band in the 1890s. The song circulated under several names ("Song of Arabo," "Song of Brave Arabo," "Song of the Mush Man") before a 1907 Tiflis songbook printed it as Zartir Lao.

What "Zartir Lao" means

• Զարթի՛ր (zar-t'ir): "Wake up!" This is an older, literary command form. In everyday Eastern Armenian you'd say Արթնացի՛ր (art'-na-tsir).
• լաո (la-o): a dialect word for addressing one's child, especially a son, used in Mush, Sasun, Van and Shirak. It was borrowed from Kurdish lawo, "boy." In standard Armenian you'd say տղա՛ս (tgha-s), "my boy."

So the title means "Wake up, my son!" The song works like a lullaby turned inside out. Instead of singing her child to sleep, a mother wakes him. Verse by verse she tells him about the suffering of Mush: soldiers have surrounded the town, and the poor people of Mush die far from home, still paying their debts. She mourns Arabo, whose death has left the people's hopes "in the cradle," and every verse returns to the same refrain: wake up, my son, I'd give my life for you.

Musically it is simple and steady, closer to a march or a call to arms than to a real lullaby. That's part of why it is so easy to sing along with.

The opening lines

This is how the first verse appears in a modern Armenian songbook:

Խուժան ազգեր զորք ժողովել,
Եկել Մշո բերդն են պատել։
Սուլթան կուզե ջնջել մեզի.
Զարթի՛ր, լաո, մեռնիմ քեզի։

Khu-zhan az-ger zork' zho-gho-vel, / ye-kel msho berdn en pa-tel. / Sul-tan ku-ze jnjel me-zi, / zar-t'ir la-o, mer-nim k'e-zi.

"Hostile hordes have raised an army, / they have come and besieged the fortress of Mush. / The Sultan wants to wipe us out. / Wake up, my son, I'd give my life for you."

Older versions differ in small ways. Some say the enemy surrounded the plain (դաշտ) of Mush rather than the fortress (բերդ).

Dialect vs. standard Armenian in Zartir Lao

This one verse is a mini-lesson in how regional Armenian differs from the standard language:

"I'd die for you" (մեռնեմ քեզ) isn't morbid in Armenian. It's one of the language's warmest endearments, and you'll hear its cousin ցավդ տանեմ (tsavd ta-nem, "let me take your pain") from grandparents every day.

Well-known recordings include versions by Hovhannes Badalyan, Ruben Matevosyan, Nune Yesayan and the KOHAR Symphony Orchestra and Choir. The song also featured in Henrik Malyan's 1967 film Triangle.

Did you know? The song travelled well beyond Armenia. In 1979 the Greek singer Vasilis Papakonstantinou recorded a Greek version, «Ξύπνα λαέ», on his album Armenia.

Listen to Zartir Lao

Zartir Lao, KOHAR Symphony Orchestra and Choir (live in Beirut)

Zartir Lao, sung by Ruben Matevosyan

3. Krunk: "Crane"

«Կռունկ» (krrunk) is perhaps the most beloved song of Armenian exile. An unknown author wrote it in the late Middle Ages. Its words survive in 17th-century manuscript song collections, the oldest known copy dates from 1679, and it was first printed in Venice in 1847. Its free, improvised-sounding melody belongs to the medieval secular song genre known as tagh. The version most people know is Komitas's arrangement.

In the song, a wanderer far from home (a pandukht, «պանդուխտ») sees a crane flying past and begs it for news of the homeland:

Կռո՛ւնկ, ուստի՞ կուգաս, ծառա եմ ձայնիդ,
Կռո՛ւնկ, մեր աշխարհեն խապրիկ մը չունի՞ս։

Krrunk, us-ti ku-gas, tsa-ra em dzay-nid, / krrunk, mer ash-khar-hen khap-rik mə chu-nis?

"Crane, where do you come from? I am a servant of your voice. / Crane, have you no news from our land?"

As the song goes on, the exile tells the crane that he left his lands and his vineyard behind. Autumn comes, the crane gathers its flock and flies away, and his question is never answered. The crane has since become a symbol of the Armenian diaspora.

Notice the Western Armenian features: կուգաս (ku-gas, "you come") instead of Eastern գալիս ես, and the article մը (mə, "a"). Krunk has been arranged for voice and piano, choir, violin and cello, and a performance of it is often treated as a test of an Armenian singer's artistry. Modern recordings include Isabel Bayrakdarian's Grammy-nominated album Gomidas Songs, and the violinist Maxim Vengerov played it at a 2015 concert commemorating the centenary of the Armenian Genocide.

Did you know? The composer Edgar Hovhannisyan wove Krunk into his 1969 ballet Antuni.

Listen to Krunk

Krunk, sung by Armenak Shahmuradyan (1912 Paris recording)

Krunk (Groong), sung by Isabel Bayrakdarian

Words to learn: կռունկ (krrunk): crane · ձայն (dzayn): voice · աշխարհ (ash-kharh): world, homeland · պանդուխտ (pan-dukht): exile, wanderer

Pronunciation tip: the ռ in կռունկ is Armenian's strongly rolled R, unlike the light tapped ր. Singing along is a great way to practise it. Our Armenian pronunciation guide explains the difference.

4. Dle Yaman

«Դլե յաման» (dle ya-man) is one of the saddest and most recorded songs in the Armenian repertoire. It comes from the Vaspurakan region around Lake Van. Komitas wrote it down from village singers and arranged it for voice and piano, and people often credit him with writing it, which he didn't. One tradition attributes the original to a blind village woman.

The song tells of secret love between neighbours: "our house and yours stand facing each other," and the two loved without anyone knowing. The sun strikes Mount Masis (Ararat), and the singer is left longing for the beloved. Every line is framed by the lament vay, dle yaman… yaman, yaman. Because Armenian has no grammatical gender, the song works equally well for a man or a woman singing.

Even the meaning of the title is debated: it's often rendered as "alas, alas," while another reading takes it from Kurdish words meaning "my aching heart." After 1915 the love song took on a second meaning. Many listeners came to hear it as mourning for a loved one who was killed, and today it is closely tied to the remembrance of the Armenian Genocide on 24 April.

The duduk master Djivan Gasparyan's instrumental version, first released in 1983, carried it around the world. It has also been recorded by the soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, Lusine Zakaryan and many others, and it is the main theme of Henri Verneuil's 1991 film Mayrig.

Did you know? In 2025 the 11-year-old Yerevan singer Albert Armenakyan sang Dle Yaman at his blind audition on The Voice Kids France. He later represented Armenia at Junior Eurovision 2025 and finished fourth.

Listen to Dle Yaman

Dle Yaman, Djivan Gasparyan (duduk)

Dle Yaman (Komitas arrangement), tenor Liparit Avetisyan at the Komitas Museum-Institute

Words to learn: սիրտ (sirt): heart · յար (yar): beloved · կրակ (krak): fire · ծով (tsov): sea · տուն (tun): house

5. Hov Arek: "Send a breeze, dear mountains"

«Հով արեք» (hov a-rek') is a slow, aching village lament, traditionally sung by a solo male voice. It opens Hazar u mi khagh, the 1903 collection Komitas published with Manuk Abeghyan. The editors built each song text from the quatrains that villagers sang, and this one was pieced together from several verses that were originally sung separately. The singer begs the mountains to cool and soothe his sorrow:

Հո՛վ արեք, սարե՜ր ջան, հո՛վ արեք,
Իմ դարդին դարման արեք։

Hov a-rek', sa-rer jan, hov a-rek', / im dar-din dar-man a-rek'.

"Send a breeze, dear mountains, send a breeze, / bring a cure for my sorrow."

The mountains don't answer, so he turns to the clouds and asks them for a flood of rain. In the last verse he calls on the mountains, valleys, fields and springs to rise up and see the pain in his heart.

Grammar hook: արեք (a-rek') is a plural command ("do!"), because he is addressing many mountains at once. And ջան (jan), "dear," is a word you'll use constantly: Անի ջան, մամ ջան, ընկեր ջան.

Outside Armenia, Hov Arek became famous as the first movement of the American composer Alfred Reed's Armenian Dances, Part II, a staple of concert bands. Modern recordings range from choirs to Jordi Savall's early-music ensemble and the Gurdjieff Ensemble.

Did you know? Hov Arek is one of the very few songs you can hear Komitas himself sing, on his 1912 Paris recordings. That's the first player below.

Listen to Hov Arek

Hov Arek Sarer, sung by Komitas (1912 Paris recording)

Hov Arek, Sarer Jan, Yerevan State Chamber Choir

Words to learn: սար (sar): mountain · հով (hov): cool breeze · դարդ (dard): sorrow · դարման (dar-man): remedy · ամպ (amp): cloud · ջան (jan): dear

6. Antuni: "Homeless"

«Անտունի» (an-tu-ni) is a monologue of a homeless exile. The word itself teaches a useful pattern: ան- ("without") + տուն (tun, "home"). The text was first written down in 1876 as a song of the Rshtunik region near Van. Komitas edited it for Hazar u mi khagh and published his setting for voice and piano in Paris in 1907.

Սիրտս նման է էն փլած տներ,
Կոտրեր գերաններ, խախտեր է սներ։

Sirts nman e en p'lats tner, / kot-rer ge-ran-ner, khakh-ter e sner.

"My heart is like those ruined houses, / their beams broken, their pillars fallen."

The image keeps darkening: wild birds will nest in the ruins of his heart, and he wishes he could throw himself into the river and become food for the fish. The Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia calls Komitas's setting a "dramatically tense, tragic song-monologue."

Antuni is also the name of a whole genre of old Armenian folk song: ornate, improvised-sounding laments about life in exile, which grew out of medieval verse and were sung by only the most skilled singers.

Grammar hook: սիրտս (sirts) means "my heart." Armenian can mark "my" with the suffix -ս instead of a separate word, the same way տունս means "my house."

The French composer Claude Debussy is widely quoted as saying that if Komitas had written only Antuni, it would have been enough to rank him among the great composers.

Did you know? Edgar Hovhannisyan's 1969 ballet Antuni takes its name from this song and is built on folk melodies arranged by Komitas.

Listen to Antuni

Antuni, sung by Armenak Shahmuradyan (1912 Paris recording)

Antuni, Ruzan Mantashyan (soprano) and Kirill Gerstein (piano)

7. Garun a: "It's spring"

«Գարուն ա» (ga-run a) opens with an image of spring snow: Garun a, dzun a arel, "It's spring, and yet it has snowed." The unexpected snow mirrors the singer's heartbreak, because the beloved has turned cold:

Գարուն ա, ձուն ա արել…
Իմ յարն ինձնից ա սառել։

Ga-run a, dzun a a-rel… / im yarn indz-nits a sa-rrel.

"It's spring, and it has snowed… / my beloved has grown cold toward me."

Each line is answered by the sighing refrain vay le le. The singer blames gossip ("may the tongue of the wicked dry up"), feels the cold wind burning inside her, and grieves that her beloved has left and taken his love away.

This is a lovely song for learners because it's in colloquial Eastern Armenian. ա (a) is the spoken form of է (e, "is"), so Գարուն ա is how people actually talk, while a textbook would write Գարուն է.

Garun a was already on Komitas's concert programmes in 1903. Its words appeared in Hazar u mi khagh, and his arrangement was published in Leipzig in 1912. Modern recordings include Isabel Bayrakdarian's Gomidas Songs and the violist Kim Kashkashian's album Hayren.

Did you know? A 1969 film about Komitas took its title from this song's first line, «Գարուն ա, ձուն ա արել».

Listen to Garun a

Garun a, sung by Armenak Shahmuradyan (1912 Paris recording)

Garun a, Hover Chamber Choir

Words to learn: գարուն (ga-run): spring · ձյուն (dzyun): snow · սառել (sa-rrel): to grow cold, to freeze · քամի (k'a-mi): wind

8. Chinar Es: "You are a plane tree"

«Չինար ես» (chi-nar es) is a short love song from Komitas's collection, published in his arrangement around 1905. The singer compares the beloved to a tall, graceful plane tree and pleads: «Չինար ես, կեռանալ մի», "You're a plane tree, don't bend." In other words, don't lose your pride, and don't leave.

In the commonly sung text, the verses move from pleading to heartbreak. Don't go away from our door; you're far away, so don't forget me; your garden gate is open, my feet are wet with dew, and my eyes are full of tears. In the last verse the singer dreams of the beloved being taken away. The refrain yar, yar, yar runs through it all, and the singer is a young woman.

Grammar hook: մի (mi) means "don't." In standard Armenian it comes before the verb, as in մի՛ գնա (mi gna, "don't go"). The folk line puts it after the verb, which is typical of song and dialect.

Did you know? The same image appears in Sayat-Nova's poetry, where a beloved's waist is praised as slender "like a cypress or a plane tree." Tall trees were a classic symbol of beauty in the region's love songs.

Listen to Chinar Es

Chinar Es, sung by Isabel Bayrakdarian (Gomidas Songs)

Chinar Es, soprano Hasmik Papyan with the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra

Words to learn: չինար (chi-nar): plane tree · ծառ (tsarr): tree · դուռ (durr): door · հեռանալ (he-rra-nal): to go away · մոռանալ (mo-rra-nal): to forget

9. Sareri Hovin Mernem

«Սարերի հովին մեռնեմ» (sa-re-ri ho-vin mer-nem) literally means "I'd die for the breeze of the mountains." Once again «մեռնեմ» works as an endearment rather than a literal wish:

Սարերի հովին մեռնեմ,
Իմ յարի բոյին մեռնեմ։

Sa-re-ri ho-vin mer-nem, / im ya-ri bo-yin mer-nem.

"I'd die for the mountain breeze, / I'd die for my beloved's tall figure."

In the popular version, the singer hasn't seen the beloved for a year and would "die for the eyes" that last saw him. She stands frozen, too full of sorrow even to cry, carrying a name she can't say aloud, and the rivers no longer bring any news.

The words are folk, although songbooks credit the lyrics differently. The popular melody is credited to Hovhannes Badalyan (1924–2001), the tenor who was the long-time lead voice of Armenian Radio's folk ensembles and made the song famous. It shouldn't be confused with an older folk song of almost the same name, which the composer Grikor Suni arranged and published in 1903. Suni's version shares the opening couplet but continues differently, with verses addressed to the moon.

Grammar hook: սարերի = սար ("mountain") + -եր (plural) + -ի ("of"). That's three building blocks in one word.

Did you know? You can hear both songs below. The first is the popular melody, the second is a 1957 radio recording of Suni's older arrangement.

Listen to Sareri Hovin Mernem

Sareri Hovin Mernem, KOHAR with Stars of Armenia (live in Yerevan)

Sareri Hovin Mernem (Grikor Suni arrangement), sung by Avag Petrosyan, 1957

10. Lorva Horovel: the ploughing song of Lori

A horovel (հորովել, ho-ro-vel) is a ploughman's work song, sung to keep the oxen, and the boys who drove them, moving through long hours in the field. Singers improvised on inherited phrases, mixing long calls to the animals with melodic passages and even words of prayer, so a single horovel could grow into a large, many-part piece. «Լոռվա հորովել», the horovel of the northern Lori region, is the most famous.

Komitas wrote it down in the village of Vardablur in Lori and published a study of it, "The Lori ploughing song in the style of Vardablur village." He described ploughing as a communal effort: a heavy plough pulled by many yoked oxen, boys riding on the yokes, and a song that begins with a call to God. His choral arrangement turned that field chant into concert music. You'll often see it listed under his own title, «Լոռու գութաներգ» ("Ploughing song of Lori").

Like Hov Arek, it also reached concert halls worldwide as the closing movement of Alfred Reed's Armenian Dances, Part II.

Did you know? Vardablur, the village where Komitas recorded the song, unveiled a monument to the song and to Komitas in 2016.

Listen to Lorva Horovel

Komitas, Ploughing Song of Lori, National Chamber Choir of Armenia

Lorva Horovel in folk style, sung by Shara Talyan

Words to learn: գութան (gu-t'an): plough · վարել (va-rel): to plough · եզ (yez): ox · հոտաղ (ho-tagh): ploughboy · դաշտ (dasht): field

11. Mokats Mirza: a medieval ballad

«Մոկաց Միրզա» (mo-kats mir-za, "Mirza of Moks") is a medieval ballad from Moks, a mountain district south of Lake Van. Komitas called it a heroic epic song. Four versions survive, all in the local Moks dialect.

The story is a tragedy. A letter arrives for Prince Mirza; he reads it, turns pale, and orders his horse saddled for the city of Jezire. There the pasha who invited him poisons him in order to take his bride, Nazlukhan. Every verse closes with the mourning refrain «Հազա՜ր ափսոս Մոկաց Միրզեն», "a thousand pities for Mokats Mirza." Հազար ափսոս (ha-zar ap'-sos) is still a common Armenian way of saying "what a terrible shame."

Musically the ballad alternates between recited, story-telling passages and long, ornamented sung lines, the typical style of Armenian epic singers. Its melodic turns are related to the melodies of the epic David of Sasun and to old church hymns.

Did you know? Komitas's own recording of Mokats Mirza survives. It's usually dated to his 1912 Paris sessions, and it's one of the rare chances to hear him sing.

Listen to Mokats Mirza

Mokats Mirza, sung by Komitas

Mokats Mirza, sung by Mavr Mkrtchyan (live in Yerevan)

Words to learn: ուրբաթ (ur-bat'): Friday · շաբաթ (sha-bat'): Saturday · նամակ (na-mak): letter · ձի (dzi): horse · հազար ափսոս (ha-zar ap'-sos): what a pity

12. Sayat-Nova, the 18th-century troubadour

Sayat-Nova (Սայաթ-Նովա) was born Harutyun Sayatyan. He wasn't a village singer but an ashugh (troubadour) at the court of King Erekle II of Georgia in Tiflis, and he accompanied himself on the kamancha, a bowed fiddle, to which he even dedicated a poem. He composed in Armenian, Georgian and Azerbaijani. Later he was ordained a priest, and he was killed in 1795 when Agha Mohammad Khan's army sacked Tiflis. The meaning of his pen name is still debated: readings include "king of song" and "hunter of song."

One of his best-known Armenian songs begins «Աշխարհումս ախ չիմ քաշի» (ash-khar-hums akh chim k'a-shi), "In this world of mine I will not sigh." It's a love poem in five stanzas that heaps image on image. The beloved is a golden cup of the water of immortality, a silken tent of shade, a new garden fenced with roses that the poet circles like a nightingale. Every line ends with a variation on the same phrase, roughly "you are … to me."

It's written in the old Tiflis dialect of Armenian: չիմ stands for standard չեմ ("I don't"), and ախ քաշել (akh k'a-shel) means "to sigh, to grieve."

Sergei Parajanov's cult film The Color of Pomegranates is a poetic portrait of his life. It was originally called Sayat Nova and was re-edited and renamed on the orders of Soviet censors.

Did you know? Sayat-Nova is buried in the courtyard of St George's Armenian Church in Tbilisi. Since 1914 people have gathered there for Vardaton, a "feast of roses," laying red roses on his grave.

Listen to Sayat-Nova

Ashkharums Akh Chim Kashi, sung by Mkhitar Avetisyan

Ashkharums Akh Chim Kashi, sung by Araksia Gyulzadyan, 1974

13. Oror: the Armenian lullaby

Every Armenian region had its own lullabies. The words for them vary from place to place, including oror, nani and lorik. The repeated oror imitates the rocking of the cradle, and the word for cradle itself, օրորոց (o-ro-rots), comes from it. Village lullabies were sung mostly by women, and besides soothing the baby they often carried a mother's own worries: longing for a husband working far away, and prayers to God, the Virgin Mary or saints to protect the child.

One of the best known today is the «Օրոր» (o-ror) by the composer Barsegh Kanachyan (1885–1967). He wrote it for voice and piano while he taught at the Melkonian school in Cyprus in the late 1920s. It opens:

Քուն եղիր, բալաս, աչերդ խուփ արա…

K'un ye-ghir, ba-las, a-cherd khup a-ra…

"Go to sleep, my child, close your eyes…"

The mother asks her child to sleep, and to let her sleep too, and asks the Holy Mother of God to bring her little one sleep, all over a gently rocking refrain of oror and nani.

It's in Western Armenian, and it's full of words that parents still use: քուն (k'un, sleep), բալաս (ba-las, "my child," again with the "my" suffix -ս), and աչք (achk', eye).

Did you know? Kanachyan also arranged the music of «Մեր Հայրենիք» ("Our Fatherland"), the national anthem of Armenia.

Listen to Oror

Oror by Barsegh Kanachyan, Yerevan State Chamber Choir

Oror (Lullaby) by Barsegh Kanachyan, Hasmik Baghdasaryan-Dolukhanyan

Why so many old songs are in dialect

If you've learned some Standard Eastern Armenian, the old songs can look oddly spelled. That's because most were sung in regional dialects: Mush, Sasun, Van, Lori, Tiflis and more. Many of those regions lie in historic Western Armenia, in today's eastern Turkey. Survivors of the Genocide carried the songs to Armenia and around the world, so the lyrics still preserve the way people spoke there.

The good news is that the differences follow patterns. -իմ for -եմ, կու- or կը before verbs, and extra -ի endings on pronouns come up again and again. Once you've spotted them in a few songs, you'll recognise them everywhere. To see how the two main branches of the language differ, read our guide to Eastern vs. Western Armenian.

UNESCO and Armenian musical heritage

Three Armenian music and dance traditions are inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity:

• The duduk and its music (inscribed 2008)
• The performance of the epic Daredevils of Sasun (2012)
• Kochari, a traditional group dance (2017)

How to learn Armenian with folk songs

Songs are one of the best tools for learning a language. Melody makes words stick, repetition is built in, and you pick up rhythm and pronunciation without noticing. Here's a simple method that works with any song on this list:

1. Learn the title first. Every title above is a small lesson on its own: Hov arek is a plural command, Antuni is "without" + "home," Sareri is three building blocks.
2. Read the lyrics aloud before you sing. Armenian spelling is almost entirely phonetic, so once you know the Armenian alphabet you can sound out any line, even words you've never seen.
3. Compare with standard Armenian. Make a two-column list like the Zartir Lao table above: song form on the left, standard form on the right.
4. Check the pronunciation. Paste a line into our free Armenian text-to-speech tool to hear it in standard Armenian, then sing it with the recording.
5. Type it out. Copying a verse with the Armenian keyboard makes your hands learn the letters too.
6. Recycle the words. Add յար, սիրտ, սար, տուն and ջան to your daily review so they stay with you.

Mini glossary: 15 words you'll hear in old Armenian songs

Frequently asked questions

What are the most famous old Armenian songs?

Among the best known are Krunk, Dle Yaman, Hov Arek, Antuni and Garun a (all tied to Komitas), along with Zartir Lao, Sareri Hovin Mernem and the songs of Sayat-Nova. The best-known folk dance tune is Yarkhushta.

What does "Yarkhushta" mean?

Its origin is uncertain. A common explanation combines Persian yar ("companion") and khisht ("short spear"), meaning roughly "companion of the weapon." Yarkhushta is a war dance from Sasun in which men strike their palms together, imitating clashing weapons.

Is Yarkhushta a song or a dance?

Mainly a dance. It's performed to dhol and zurna music and was traditionally accompanied by a short battle-cry chant. Modern performances are usually instrumental.

What does "Zartir Lao" mean in English?

"Wake up, my son." Զարթիր means "wake up," and լաո is a dialect word for addressing a son, borrowed from Kurdish. The song dates from the 1890s and is credited to the folk minstrel Fahrat.

Who was Komitas?

Komitas (1869–1935) was an Armenian priest, composer and ethnomusicologist. He collected thousands of Armenian folk songs, is regarded as the founder of Armenian ethnomusicology, and survived the 1915 deportations. UNESCO added his collected works to its Memory of the World register in 2023.

Are old Armenian songs in Eastern or Western Armenian?

Both, and often in a local dialect. Krunk and Oror show Western Armenian features, Garun a and Hov Arek are close to colloquial Eastern Armenian, and Zartir Lao uses Mush dialect forms.

Can I learn Armenian by listening to songs?

Songs are an excellent supplement. They build vocabulary, rhythm and pronunciation, and they keep you motivated. Pair them with structured lessons so you understand the grammar behind the lyrics. You can start learning Armenian online for free with Haylingua.

Keep the music going

Every one of these songs was kept alive by people who refused to let their language be forgotten. Learning even a few lines is a small way of joining them. If you're just starting, begin with the Armenian alphabet so you can read the lyrics yourself, then see how hard Armenian really is to learn. It's more approachable than it looks.