Armen Ra's New Project

If you haven't seen the promo teaser for Armen Ra's up-coming documentary film, "WHEN MY SORROW DIED - The Legend Of Armen Ra And The Theremin" you must watch it. The link to the vimeo video is posted in the article on the front page of Theremin World.

Armen is very bright, funny, and a fine thereminist. His hilarious send-up of himself in the promo (at times surprisingly self-deprecating) was unexpected, clever, very entertaining, and paints a picture of a highly complex individual. 

Armen has chosen a difficult path for himself because he has mixed his image as a "gender illusionist" with his theremin career. Just to complicate things further he is Armenian, and the Armenian community is extremely conservative and unlikely to be particularly receptive to Armen's magnificently outrageous choices. 

Artists from a particular ethnic background are often given a leg-up in their careers by the support they receive from their fellow countrymen (of whatever extraction they may be) but this is unlikely to happen in any really significant way with Armen. 

There are currently two - yes, TWO - drives going on to raise funds for documentaries about thereminists: one for Armen and another for thereminist Thomas Grillo. This is perhaps unfortunate, because having two projects soliciting donations at the same time, may be a bit much given the limited pool of potential donors in the theremin community. 

Loved this... I really do like his personality. :) you have one life to live. Better not be in anyone's shadow but yours...

He's a fine player too. I was put off at first by his crippling pitch hand technique, but it seems to work! So all good :)

Because precision theremin is so difficult, many people bring more tension to the act of playing than they need to. No more effort should be brought to the theremin than what is absolutely necessary for the job. Adding more energy than the minimum will result in a nervous quality in the music. 

One of the things that causes people to put more effort than they need to into playing the theremin is the failure to distribute the various tasks involved to separate muscle groups. 

Dr. Hoffman played both vibrato and pitch with the same muscles (no "aerial fingering") and as a result his playing was very nervous and tense. This quality actually worked for him, rather than against him, because he did so much soundtrack work for suspense, horror and SciFi films.

Perhaps the most noteworthy element of Clara Rockmore's theremin technique is the way in which she divided the tasks of pitch and vibrato. 

"Armen is very bright, funny, and a fine thereminist. His hilarious send-up of himself in the promo (at times surprisingly self-deprecating) was unexpected, clever, very entertaining, and paints a picture of a highly complex individual." - Coalport

Real entertainment!  - the couple of videos I have seen of his before this never prepared me for the outgoing humerous personality which shone in this one!

No, he's not exactly "my cup of tea" - But he is brave and honest and open, and he is a fine thereminist, and gets my respect for living "what he is".

Thanks for bringing this to our attention Peter, and I agree with your advice : "If you haven't seen the promo teaser for Armen Ra's up-coming documentary film, "WHEN MY SORROW DIED - The Legend Of Armen Ra And The Theremin" you must watch it."

Fred.

>> Added.. Just a crazy idea... ;-)

"There are currently two - yes, TWO - drives going on to raise funds for documentaries about thereminists: one for Armen and another for thereminist Thomas Grillo. This is perhaps unfortunate, because having two projects soliciting donations at the same time, may be a bit much given the limited pool of potential donors in the theremin community. "

Now one could hardly get two more different thereminists than Armen and Thomas - So I dont know that there will be that much "conflict" for potential donors..

I would love to see both together in one extended documentary ;-) - I think this would appeal to everyone (or no-one, LOL ;-) .. Two completely different lives and completely different personalities sharing a love for the craziest musical instrument ever devised..