*a Living dance is a 1st Generation dance that is still performed in the country of origin (or immigrant communities) as part of a social event like a wedding where others can participate (not for an audience) by people who learned the dance informally (from friends and relatives by observation and imitation, not in a classroom situation). For more information, click here and here.
NOTE: there is also a dance called Papuri from the Philippines – no relation.
Origins of Papuri
There are many theories as to the meaning of the word Papuri. Gary Lind-Sinanian, in his Stockton notes (1985, 86) says “The dance was particularly popular in areas with a large Kurdish population, which may indicate Kurdish origins.” Tineke van Geel (Stockton, 2008) says “The name is derived from Kurdish and means ‘old man‘.”
Papuri (also spelled Papouri, Pampuri, Pampouri, Pamphorig, Pomporee, Pompoureeg, Pomporii) is an ancient dance from eastern Anatolia, especially the regions of Moush, Taron, Sassoun, Van, and Alashkert.
Papuri among Kurds and Turks
It’s difficult to find detailed information in English on dances of the Kurds. Here’s one tantalizingly brief website, which mentions Papuri. https://thekurdishproject.org/history-and-culture/kurdish-culture/kurdish-dance/# If anyone can find YouTubes of Kurds dancing something similar to Papuri, perhaps with another name, I’d love to see them.
I’ve tried googling ‘Papuri‘ using various spellings, coupling it with ‘Turkish dance’ and ‘Kurdish dance’, and came up with almost nothing. I did find a Papuri in the middle of a Turkish teaching YouTube of dances from Van titled Van Halk Oyunlari, so it seems Papuri to the Turks is an obscure ‘historical’ dance suitable only for performing groups.
Radboud Koop, in personal correspondence (see Comments below) found a reference to Papuri in the 1991 book Türk Halk Oyunlari Kültürü (Turkish Folk Dance Culture) written (in Dutch) by the Turkish folk dance teacher Ersin Seyhan who resides in The Netherlands. He mentions Papuri (also written Pappuri) as a dance to be found in the regions Ardahan, Bitlis, Gaziantep and Van. He doesn’t specifically mention anything on Armenian or Kurdish folklore, but presents Papuri in this way as a Turkish dance. Ersin translates the word Papuri as meaning “a plough”.
Ron Houston, in his 2016 Folk Dance Problem Solver, provides notes for a dance in 4 parts, called Papurı, presented to Michael Herman in 1963 as a Turkish dance by Çavit Kangöz. Ron adds “Subsequent presentations of Papuri-type dances have used similar figures or a subset of Kangöz’s figures.” Ron then goes on to state “In virtually every country or ethnic group in the world, ethnographers took village dances to state-sponsored dance academies, where choreographers enhanced and standardized the dances for patriotic display purposes. State ensembles and diaspora communities accepted the choreographies as valid expressions of folk art, as did American recreational international folk dancers. Many excellent teachers have presented dances from this Papuri genre.”
Papuri among Armenians in Anatolia & the Republic of Armenia
With Armenians, it’s another story! Whatever its origins, Armenians consider Papuri one of their core dances. Lind-Sinanian, in his 1985 Stockton notes, writes “PAPURI is the name of a large class of related dances done throughout Western Armenia [Eastern Anatolia – DB]. Considerable variety in the steps and melodies existed, reflecting the different regions of Armenia.“
In personal correspondence, Lind-Sinanian wrote: “The melody Papuri has two major forms. The older melody was simpler and more repetitive. This is the traditional form that Gagik Ginosyan uses. The dance he teaches is of the Moush/Bitlis style. (there are different versions).
Gagik Ginosyan is leading a major effort to revive traditional Armenian dances in Armenia, and now world-wide in Armenian diaspora communities. He has had major impact and traditional dances are part of the school curriculum in Armenia for all children. During the Soviet period the dances were disparaged in favor of balletic ‘national dances’ but they are now respected and taught. For the youth this is both a ‘getting in touch with our roots’ and is also a generational identity maker, distinguishing the post-soviet generation. “These are the dances of our great-grandparents, once lost, now found again. We celebrate our culture’.
Gagik has created professional recordings of many of the dances he teaches and uses for performances, which are on youtube for downloading. These recordings are free and accessible for all to help promote the dances, so communities in Yerevan, Moscow, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Sydney, etc. all can learn and maintain the dances. An Armenian from Marseilles can go to Ontario and jump right in…they know the same repertoire. Gagik doesn’t bother with commercial CDs and the like. His interest is in promoting the dances, and many performance groups use his Karin Ensemble as their role model.“
Very few Armenians remain in ‘Western’ Armenia – they were either killed during various genocides, dispersed around the world, or moved to ‘Eastern’ Armenia – the country named the Republic of Armenia on today’s maps. In the Republic of Armenia, the situation with the dance called Papuri is fairly simple. I googled the words ‘Papuri, Armenian dance’, and everything I found located in the Republic of Armenia is related to the dancer and Dance Director of the Karin Ensemble, researcher and all-round cultural icon Gagik Ginosyan. Below he’s leading his Kairn Ensemble in Papuri.
Even when Mr. Ginosyan is not involved, his choreography and music are used. Caption (Google translated): Pappuri – “HRAYRK” AND “WE” Tigran Madoyan. Jun 17, 2018 “Hrayrq” and “Meng” Armenian traditional dance groups concert under the title “Harnum”. Artistic director: Stepan Toroyan.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o56go55ioRs
Papuri in North America
The situation outside the Republic of Armenia is different. Various groups of Armenians from different regions left their homeland at different times, bringing their specific ways of dancing with them, and congregating in specific cities. So in the USA, for instance, the Armenian dance repertoire is quite different in New York than, say, Fresno California.
North American Music for Papuri
In personal correspondence, Lind-Sinanian wrote: “To further confuse the issues, in the 1950s the Armenian musicians in Philadelphia substituted a ‘Sheikhani’ melody for the older melody. This new version is now the ‘standard Papuri’ in the United States. The musical substitution is now only remembered by people in their 80s and everyone younger assumes that the new version is the traditional Papuri. It is not.
A recording of the above, called Pompoury, (same arrangement, but an earlier recording by the John Vartan Ensemble) may be purchased from Smithsonian Folkways here: https://folkways.si.edu/john-vartan-ensemble/dance-armenian/world/music/album/smithsonian
In personal correspondence, Lind-Sinanian wrote: Then there’s the ‘Karsi Bar‘ debacle, which only exists among IFD dancers. No Armenian-American would ever confuse it with a Papuri melody, or do the dance to that melody. It’s strictly an IFD problem. But once the wrong info and music is used it gains a life of it’s own, for better or worse.“
The particular version of Karsi Bar, above, was recorded by the Trio Caucasianne. See: https://archive.org/details/TrioCaucasianneYesBoojoorCa1946
So how did the same dance end up with 2 very different pieces of music? Well, it seems the ‘Khorkom’ Papuri (see below) was not well-known among recreational folk dancers, especially in the western US, so around 1976 Ron Wixman taught it at Stockton. His notes say “Actual music is unavailable”, so apparently he substituted the Trio Caucasianne recording. At least that was the music used when I learned it from him in 1982. Note: Lind-Sinanian didn’t teach at Stockton (using the ‘correct’ music) until 1985. Also taught at Stockton were a ‘Fresno’ version of Papuri by Frances Ajoian (1955, repeated by John Filcich in 1962), a Vanetsi/Boston version by Lind-Sinanian in 1986, and an ‘Armenian’ version by Tineke van Geel in 2008. Filcich also taught a Karsi Bar in 1970, (learned in 1960 from Vilma Machette).
Papuri dance in North America
COMMENT:
Radboud Koop wrote: You are probably aware that, on his 2nd LP Songs & Dances of the Armenian People Vol.2 GT4001 from 1977, Tom Bozigian had a dance called Pompooreeg (side 2, track 6, 2nd dance of a medley with Tamzara). The dance is rather similar to the Papuri taught by Gagik Ginosyan in the YouTube video. Tom reissued a remastered version of the music on CD in 2002 (The Best of … – Volume 1) as a separate track. Another recording was released by Tom on CD Volume 3 in 2005 written as Pompoorig.
Don replied: Thanks, Radboud for the info. I knew Tom had Pompooreeg on his record, but I had no YouTube of his performance. Do you know if any? Don
Radboud replied: Hi Don, I didn’t find a YouTube video of Tom dancing himself, but this one has Tom’s Pompooreeg from the 1977 LP (similar as I learned it from Tom when he was teaching in The Netherlands back in 1979): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlToRJbi8TQ (Pompooreeg starting at 1:15; this might be a Hong Kong based group). In the dance notes for Tamzara-Pompooreeg that go with this LP Tom writes: “This is a medley consisting of two of the most popular dances done by the Armenian people both in Soviet Armenia and in the Armenian Diaspora. The versions of these two dances were brought by Western (Anatolyan) Armenians to the U.S. during the last decade of the 19thy century and early part of the 20thy century. Several other versions exist from the various folk regions of both Eastern and Western Armenia, having been taken there by travelers and having evolved into other variations. Tom Bozigian danced these two variations as a child in Fresno, Calif.”
Tom’s version of Pompoorig from the 2005 CD (Tom wrote the name as Pompoori on the blackboard during class, but as Pompoorig on the CD) is rather different from the 1977 version, but I cannot find a YouTube video of this one anywhere (I might possibly have a video recording of Tom’s class in my archive but I would have to look for it).
Additionally, I found a reference to Papuri in the 1991 book Türk Halk Oyunlari Kültürü (Turkish Folk Dance Culture) written (in Dutch) by the Turkish folk dance teacher Ersin Seyhan who resides in The Netherlands. He mentions Papuri (also written Pappuri) as a dance to be found in the regions Ardahan, Bitlis, Gaziantep and Van. He doesn’t specifically mention anything on Armenian or Kurdish folklore, but presents Papuri in this way as a Turkish dance. Ersin translates the word Papuri as meaning “a plough”.
Folkdance Footnotes 