On this rainy Monday afternoon, I cannot help but think of a song that mom would sing when she was a little girl… Arev, Arev… Sunshine…

I remember hearing her sing this song one day as we were washing dishes in the kitchen. She began to sing, as she always does, and this particular melody caught my attention. “Mom, I haven’t heard you sing that in years,” I smiled. “I love that song!” It is a delightful tune, and mom told me how she had learned it when she was a really young… my grandmother would sing it, and she would also sing it in school… I knew at that moment that this was going to be the last song for my album.

Mom wasn’t convinced at first, and it took some coaxing on my part to help her see that this song needed to be recorded. See, Mom and I take the process of choosing Armenian folk songs for my albums very seriously. We are thoughtful and deliberate about it. Every song is sacred to us. And we never rush this process that we both enjoy so much: time spent together singing, reliving memories; mom – sharing stories of when she first heard a particular song, me -listening to her at her feet; mom – reflecting, remembering… me – feeling one step closer to my grandmother through it all… and feeling so thankful for a mom who loves to sing, who loves to share her heart with me… a mom who gives.

So I began to work on this song. I wrote a new verse and added a bridge section and a new opening section… and we were ready to record.

But this time, when it came time to record Arev, Arev, I didn’t go to the studio alone. This time, I convinced my mom and sister to come with me. They protested at first… “Please come,” I almost begged, “you’ll have fun, I promise!” And so they came. My producer wanted to use their voices on this song and while they arrived at the studio with me a bit apprehensive, by the end of our session, my mom and sister were sad to go. And I had expected this…

The process of recording this song with my mom and sister will forever be one of my favourite memories… our voices blending together as we sing the melody… mom’s voice, my sister’s, mine… all three of us giggling together as we sing… singing into those microphones as if we were children, my mom gently beating out the rhythm on the hand drum – a track that we saved and kept on the final recording. All of us together. I remember this day so vividly because it was during the recording of In the Light that I was also planning my wedding… and in the days leading up to the wedding, I was a mix of all sorts of emotions – joy in being united with my beloved, sadness in having to leave my family behind as I moved away with my husband to a new city, a new country…

But at least on this day, at this moment, recording this song, time stood still. That moment is forever captured in Arev, Arev. when I am still together with my favourite women.

I remember after that recording session, going out for lunch with mom and my sister and then shopping for wedding veils…

And now, a couple of years later, I have some new fans of this song. My two little girls love Arev, Arev.
Driving in the city today, my older babe asks if we can listen to it, and as I play the song for her, we sing along, and my younger babe begins to bop her head back and forth…

And I listen to the voices of my favourite women again, with two more voices now, joining in on the choir…

Tags: Arev, Arev Arev, Armenian folk songs, family, mom, singing