This is a very special release of music from long ago and far away. When I heard Keiko Shichijo play this on a run down and wobbly piano in a basement-made-art-space a few years ago I could not believe my ears. Oscar Jan Hoogland, who invited Keiko to come and play, presented it with a story about Keiko who found this old Armenian music and fell in love with it. I think we all did that night. I immediately asked Keiko after the show what it all was exactly and she showed me copies of the score with the Armenian letters. I asked her if this music was out, if she had recordings and had put it out. She did not. I searched on the internet and found a few video’s and a recording of the Six Dances but none was as compelling, playful and enchanting as what I heard from Keiko.

A few months later we met again, and I heard Keiko play the dances again, and then Oscar Jan and Keiko and me sat together and decided to record it and put it out. About twenty minutes, I thought, that is perfect for a 10” record. That would be quite something to have.

Keiko invited me and my recording equipment to the Geelvinck Hinlopen Huis in Amsterdam; a 16th century house along the canals in Amsterdam where she sometimes gives concert on a piano that’s just a bit younger. So we were going to record this on a historic instrument; a Steinweg Nachf piano, built in 1880, from the collection of Hans Kramer. Wow. And Hans was there too to help with the tuning and to be stand-by in case of anything. This was all quite unique, I was a bit situation-struck: a wonderful place, an amazing piano and this beautiful music. But it worked, we took it from the air and with the help from a few machines we got it cut into vinyl.

So here we are now with 300 pieces of 10” vinyl and some boxes filled with CDs waiting for the rest of the world to put their ears down to listen and been taken into the world of Komitas presented by Keiko Shichijo. Who’s first?

 Arnold de Boer, Amsterdam, October 2016.