I can’t believe it is already Monday!
Saturday we had a chance to see our surroundings, walk around Glendale where we are staying… the hills ahead of us, beautiful Spanish style homes all around us… it really is quite lovely here… I had a good rehearsal with my oud player here, Antranig Kzirian, a very talented musician who is one of the members of the amazing Armenian music group Aravod. I am so excited to be performing with him! Antranig and I have wanted to work together and now, it is happening! He came over to our place and we went through some of the tunes together… and also got to know each other… besides being a really talented musician, he is also a very kind person.
Sunday… we went to Armenian church – it is just across the street from us… how great is that?! It was so refreshing to be there and see people singing the liturgy with enthusiasm! At the end of the service, Father Vasken gave me and my husband a chance to speak to the youth and I told them about the story of how my husband and I met… how God used the music to bring us together… I love sharing this story… it reminds me again of how He is in control and how my life keeps unfolding in surprisingly wonderful ways… at first, things might seem confusing… but I just have to keep hanging on…
This evening we had our first rehearsal with the band… we maneuvered our way through the traffic to find our rehearsal space…almost got lost – LA is one crazy, large city!! … but again, we are so thankful for GPS!!
I arrived to the sweet sounds of Gor Mkhitarian’s music… they were at the end of their set… oh, it took me back to Yerevan when I first heard Gor play! We just danced to the music while he and the band played on.
My rehearsal went really well… Antranig was amazing, as always, and Jay on bass was fantastic, making us laugh… and we had a new percussionist, Mher who was subbed in at the last minute. I was expecting to work with another percussionist that I had been told about… but all of a sudden, Mher was on board and he was so gracious and so very talented… I love it when things work out so beautifully… we had such fun going through the songs… I really felt like we were a team and I can’t wait to play with these guys again!
We are getting closer…!
Tags: Aravod, Armenian music, Bass, Gor Mkhitarian, Oud, Percussion, Yerevan