Armenian songs performed in a Turkish movie

PanARMENIAN.Net - Friday, March 12, the result of eight years of research and filming, musician and music producer Nezih Ünen's project, Lost Songs of Anatolia, has finally come out in Turkish theatres, long after its premiere at last year's Istanbul International Film Festival.



The film, which has been hailed as the first musical-documentary, features around 20 musical numbers shot on location in various places around Anatolia and examines the influence of ancient civilizations, rituals and mythology of the land on traditional music and dance.



Turkish composer, producer and arranger Nezih Ünen was inspired to make the film by Peter Gabriel's Passion album, which includes Anatolian folk songs. Talking about the film to Hürriyet Daily News and Economic Review the director stated, "A hundred years ago, cinema and the music industry started to grow up and circulate freely. While the world was developing quickly in culture and arts, Anatolia was left to solitude despite all its riches, and we should dote on Anatolia, protect all its riches and hand down this heritage to the next generations. This is our primary responsibility."



"In fact, when I realize that I do not know Anatolian people, I understood that I did not know myself either. After I became aware of this, I decided to do something about it and started from the point I knew best," he added. As Ünen describes in his press release, the aim of the project was to archive the sounds and songs of Anatolia and try to find people who knew these songs, no matter where and who they were. Armenian songs would be performed for the first time in a movie.