Who is Sayat Nova?

SayatNova (June 14, 1712 - 22 September 1795) was a Georgia-born Armenian poet, musician and ashugh, who had compositions in a number of languages. His songs and poems are in the Armenian, Georgian, and Azerbaijani languages.

Most of his songs are in Azeri Turkish; the rest are in Armenian and Georgian. In Armenia, Sayat Nova is considered a great poet who made a considerable contribution to the Armenian poetry and music of his century. Although he lived his entire life in a deeply religious society, his works are mostly secular and full of romantic expressionism.

About 220 songs have been attributed to Sayat-Nova, although he may have written thousands more. He wrote his songs in Armenian, Georgian, and Azerbaijani. Sayat Nova had also written some poems moving between all three.

Sayat Nova Tribute

1) The 1969 Armenian film Sayat Nova directed by Sergei Parajanov follows the poet’s path from his childhood wool-dyeing days to his role as a courtier and finally his life as a monk.

2)There is a street and a music school named after him in Yerevan, Armenia; an Armenian-American dance ensemble in the United States; and a pond in Mont Orford, Quebec, Canada.
3) In 2020, a perfume created by Dmitry Bortnikoff and Rajesh Balkrishnan was named after him.

4) The first translations of the Armenian odes of Sayat Nova in European languages were in Russia by Valery Bryusov in 1916, in Georgia by Ioseb Grishashvili in 1918, in Poland by Leopold Lewin in 1961, and in France by Elisabeth Mouradian and the French poet Serge Venturini in 2006; the book was dedicated to Sergei Parajanov.