Sayat-Nova

Sayat-Nova, born Harutyun Sayatyan, was an Armenian poet, musician and ashugh, an itinerant minstrel, who wrote in several languages of the Caucasus and the Near East. He lived in the Kingdom of Kartli, in Tiflis, in the eighteenth century, and his work matters because it brings Armenian, Azeri, Georgian and Persian together within one song tradition.

He was born in Tiflis on 14 June 1712. His mother, Sara, was also born in Tiflis, while his father, Karapet, was born either in Aleppo or in Adana. Sayat-Nova was skilled at writing poetry, singing and playing the kamancheh, the chonguri and the tambur. He worked at the court of King Erekle II of Georgia, where he also took on diplomatic duties and, it is thought, helped forge an alliance between Georgia, Armenia and Shirvan against Persia. He lost his post at court after falling in love with the king's sister, and spent the rest of his life travelling as an itinerant bard.

In 1759 he was ordained a priest in the Armenian Apostolic Church. His wife, Marmar, died in 1768, leaving four children. He served in several places, including Tiflis and the monastery of Haghpat. In 1795, during the invasion of Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, he was killed at Haghpat. Tradition holds that he was executed for refusing to renounce Christianity. He is buried in the Armenian Cathedral of Saint George in Tbilisi.

Most of his poems are secular and have a romantic, expressive quality, and they take the form of traditional Armenian songs. About 220 songs are attributed to him, though he may have written thousands more. He wrote mostly in Azeri, but also in Armenian, Georgian and Persian, and many of his known poems survive in Georgian script, sometimes mixed with Armenian letters. In Armenia he is regarded as a major poet of his century, and in the Caucasus as one of the greatest ashugh ever. Some of his songs are still sung today.