It seems like weeks ago now we were driving up to Black Mountain in anticipation of my show there… and then, again, it seems like only yesterday…

But it is already August 17… more than two weeks have passed since that glorious day… and I still have so much more that I could write about it! But alas, since the show, there has been an endless list of activities to attend to… from managing the home and caring for my little one, to late night discussions with my husband about the coming months, to good bye parties for loved ones beginning new chapters in their lives, to birthday parties for dear friends, to gatherings with new friends… it has been a busy but beautiful couple of weeks.

A couple of days ago, we received a review of the August 1st show from the gracious co-owner of the venue, Bob Hinkle. Bob writes:

Mariam Matossian’s shows at White Horse Black Mountain were a creative, musical, emotional and business high for our venue. She transported the audience wherever she wished and did so with wonderful gentle command of her material and delivery. She even had 150 dancing in a big circle around the venue, holding hands with strangers and all smiles. Her band, Free Planet Radio, was with her every step of the way in their own wonderful, quirky, creative way. The shows were an advance sellout and we felt badly having to turn away a large number of potential customers. I cannot recommend Mariam highly enough.

I am deeply humbled by Bob’s kind words regarding our performance at White Horse. He and his wife Kim are a wonderful duo and we have loved getting to know them both. Thank you, Bob and Kim!

A very special part of the show was my collaboration with Sarkis Chorbadjian, an extremely talented artist who lives and works in South Carolina. He has been playing the duduk for a couple of years now and he and I had always talked about performing together one day. It was a delight then, to have him on stage with us at Black Mountain. The duduk is a haunting exotic Armenian instrument and Sarkis left the crowd breathless with his performance… this is a very difficult instrument to play, but Sarkis did an amazing job and added yet another layer of beauty to these Armenian folk songs that I love so much… thank you, Sarkis!

Thank you to everyone who made August 1st such a memorable day for us all…

Tags: Armenian folk songs, Bob Hinkle, concert, duduk, performance, singing, songs, White Horse Black Mountain