SABRE DANCE
“Sabre Dance” is a movement in the final act of Aram Khachaturian’s ballet Gayane (1942), “where the dancers display their skill with sabres”. It is Khachaturian’s best known and most recognizable work. In 1948, “Sabre Dance” became a jukebox hit in the United States. The piece “has entered the realm of popular music as one of the 20th century’s signature pieces”. It was further made popular by covers by pop artists, first in the US and later in other countries, such as the UK and Germany. (More from Wikipedia)
I am pretty sure that I must have heard a track or two by the Dutch progressive rock band Ekseption on college radio back in the day; otherwise, I don’t know how Aram Khachaturian’s “Sabre Dance” would sound so familiar to me. The opening track on their self-titled debut album in 1969, Ekseption included “Sabre Dance”.
(January 2013)
