Sar Kamler – Butterfly | Jazz music review

Additional information/sources for Sar Kamler – Butterfly

A true believer that music has the capacity to heal the mind, body, and soul, Sar Kamler is a Toronto-based Armenian musician whose sound pivots around the duduk, a double-reeded woodwind instrument native to Armenia. It’s through a deep understanding of the duduk that Sar now centres his music around the themes of love, believing that a lot of light can be brought into our world through his idyllic style of music.

Having existed for around 1,200 years, the double-reed wind instrument is characterized by a warm, soft, slightly nasal timbre, with a rawness that draws parallels to the human voice. It is a stunning, soulful, and emotionally powerful instrument that speaks to everyone in some way, no matter what their race, color, or religious beliefs are. Therefore, Sar constantly strives to push the duduk sound beyond its traditional boundaries by combining it with other styles of music and instruments.

Sar grew up in the capital city of Armenia, Yerevan, where he became enamored by the music of his hometown during his earliest years but it wasn’t until the later years that Sar picked up his first instrument.

After struggling to understand the intricacies of the duduk for years, Sar met the man that became not only his biggest musical influence, but a close friend, Georgy Minasov. A distinguished musician and duduk innovator, Georgy became Sar’s teacher, expanding his knowledge, technique, and palette. Sar has since taken up the extended-range duduk, which Georgy invented, and which enables a wider repertoire including jazz and classics.

Sar has performed across the Toronto area, beginning in early 2019 with the “Mystical Duduk in Toronto” concert in 2019, where he played in a trio alongside renowned duduk players Artak Asatryan and Georgy Minasyan . In February 2019 the “Armenia Meets Cuba” jazz project showcased Sar performing live alongside world-renowned jazz pianist Hilario Duran, combining the ancient, soulful music of Armenia with the dynamics and rhythms of Cuba. In 2020, Sar performed his first solo concert in the Armenian episode of Sounds of Canada, a project that features music of all ethnicities and nationalities on Canadian soil, and released two music videos in collaboration with oud player Alexey Reznik.

Sar has performed across the Toronto area, beginning in early 2019 with the “Mystical Duduk in Toronto” concert in 2019, where he played in a trio alongside renowned duduk players Artak Asatryan and Georgy Minasyan . In February 2019 the “Armenia Meets Cuba” jazz project showcased Sar performing live alongside world-renowned jazz pianist Hilario Duran, combining the ancient, soulful music of Armenia with the dynamics and rhythms of Cuba. In 2020, Sar performed his first solo concert in the Armenian episode of Sounds of Canada, a project that features music of all ethnicities and nationalities on Canadian soil, and released two music videos in collaboration with oud player Alexey Reznik. In 2022, alongside the gifted pianist Viktor Kott, Sar performed on various Toronto stages as part of Café Duduk, a musical endeavor that breathed new life into Armenian melodies and global classics through the fusion of duduk and piano.