“I See Wings,” the symphonic ballad recorded by Detroit performing artist Kenny Watson and featured in the documentary An Armenian Trilogy, has been released on iTunes, Apple Music and Spotify. The film about American composer Dan Yessian’s journey from advertising music creator to writing his first classical composition in remembrance of the 1915 Armenian Genocide victims, has also now been released with subtitles in French, Arabic, Russian, Spanish and Eastern Armenian on Vimeo. The film was recently released on Amazon. Yessian composed “I See Wings” in collaboration with his longtime songwriting partner David Barrett, who is known for composing the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship anthem “One Shining Moment.”
“The song “I See Wings” is a memorial to all souls lost to the atrocities of hate,” explained Yessian. “While the Armenian Genocide happened a century ago, the age-old question of why people harm others due to differences remains too relevant today. My hope is the language of music can provide some healing.”
Watson said, “The lyrics are about a connection to ancestors and for me that would be to my African heritage. The song is beautiful, moving and calls out to anyone whose relatives have suffered unjustly.”
Yessian, who is of Armenian descent, was asked by his priest to write a classical composition to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, when 1.5 million Armenian citizens were massacred by the Turkish Ottoman Empire from 1915-1922. The three movements of the composition, called “An Armenian Trilogy–The Freedom, The Fear and The Faith,” were originally written for piano and violin before being fully orchestrated. The documentary follows Yessian from his childhood as a budding clarinet player, to the early years of his business, through the success of his international music company, and then to Armenia where his composition was performed by the world-renowned Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra. The film has been shown at festivals throughout the U.S. and won Best Score, Audience Choice and Exceptional Merit awards.
Yessian is the founder of Yessian Music Inc., with offices in Detroit, L.A., NY and Hamburg, Germany. He was inducted into the Adcraft Hall of Fame in 2018. The company creates TV commercial music for brands such as United Airlines, Ford, Macy’s, McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Nintendo, Disney, Walmart and Toyota.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this โ and those many "Babadook" memes โ unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables โ "Bah-Bah-Doooook" โ an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More