Today at 16:00 the presentation of the Armenian translation of a book by Rita Syulahian-Kuyumjian “Archeology of Madness, Komitas; Portrait of an Armenian Icon” will take place at the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute.

The book is dedicated to the studies of still unknown pages and the folds of psychological experiences of the great Armenian composer, musician and armenologist Komitas Vardapet. Based on psychology, using modern psychiatric-psychoanalytic approaches and methods, the author has tried to reveal Komitas’s psychological characteristics, emotions and their sources, to provide professional conclusions and substantiates.

Two main threads of human life are intertwined in psychic-mentality of the Armenian people – suffering and art. In the biography of Komitas these two are combined creating a tragic, but at the same time – a life of wonderful artist.

Komitas was born in 1869, in the city of Kyutahya in the Ottoman Empire, and being a stroller orphan he turned to be a great musician of international fame.

Organizing mixed choirs in different cities with large Armenian communities, he made the Armenian music known throughout the world.

Komitas was very popular among Armenian musicians, who perceived him as the savor of Armenian music heritage.

He had set goals for him – to reveal the pre-Christian roots of Armenian Church music, bring the rustic Armenian music to high level of performance and create music school to develop the music education in the Armenian reality.

His work had deeply touched and is still touching the Armenian and foreign listeners.

Komitas, a founder of Armenian classical music, became the symbol of the Armenians who experienced the horrors of the Genocide.

Rita Syulahian-Kuyumjian, the author of the book, is a psychiatrist. She works as the Director of Psychiatric Outpatient Department of St. Mary’s Hospital in Montreal. She is an author of five books. Her first book, “Diary Notes of a Journey to Armenia, Memoirs of a Psychiatrist”, chronicled her experience working with children after the 1988 earthquake in Armenia.

“Archeology of Madness, Komitas, Portrait of an Armenian Icon” is her second book.

The third publication, “Trilogy-April 24, 1915”, is a 3 volume work, dedicated to the Armenian intellectuals Aram Andonian and Teotig, who were among the intellectuals who were arrested but survived and contributed to the survival of the Armenian Diaspora.

The book is translated into Armenian by Lusine Abrahamyan and Robert Tatoyan from the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute.