Sayat-Nova

Sayat-Nova (Harutyun Sayadyan) was born in Tbilisi, Georgia. From an early age he dedicated his time to weaving carpets. He was fond of ashugh art, poetry, song and music. Very soon he received the nickname "Sayat-Nova" ("Lord of Song"/"King of Songs") and became the palace singer at the invitation of the Georgian King Heraclius II. In 1759 he was expelled from the palace when he fell in love with the King's sister, Ana, and was ordained a priest by the king's orders. He received the name of Father Stepanos and served in various Armenian churches. He was also engaged in literature. In 1761 in the Church of Enkel in Persia he transcribed Grigor Narekatsi's “Book of Lamentations.” After the death of his wife in 1768, he moved to Tbilisi and continued serving the church. He would write songs (involving two vocalists engaged in lyrical/rhythmical battle), and perform them before big crowds to the accompaniment of instruments such as kamancha, santur, saz etc. His works can be found in three languages: Armenian, Georgian and Turkish. Sayat-Nova's Armenian songs are composed in the Tbilisi dialect. He was killed in Tbilisi in 1975 when he refused the Shah of Iran's orders to convert from Christianity to Islam. After declaring his religion as undeniably Armenian Christian, he was beheaded and executed.