Key Takeaways
- Title Change: The song “Arto” is now titled “Der Voghormia” on Spotify.
- Meaning: “Der Voghormia” translates to “Lord Have Mercy” in Armenian.
- Background: The original title honored Armenian-American musician Arto Tunçboyacıyan.
- Live Performance: System of a Down performs the song to commemorate the Armenian Genocide.
System of a Down apparently changed the title of a song on their beloved 2001 album Toxicity, but why?
A fan shared a screenshot on the System of a Down Reddit page earlier this week pointing out that the final track on the album on Spotify, which has always been known as “Arto,” now shows the name “Der Voghormia,” which translates from Armenian to “Lord Have Mercy.”
“I don’t remember it being called this,” the person who shared the post wrote in the description.
“Arto” was always considered a hidden track at the end of the album and wasn’t listed as a separate song on original copies of it, but it’s now listed as an individual track on digital and streaming platforms.
See a screenshot of the track list on Spotify below.
According to some other fans in the comments, the song title was also changed on YouTube. Thus, upon searching “System of a Down ‘Arto'” on the platform, it shows up as “Der Voghormia” instead.
As of today (July 17), it still remains as “Arto” on Apple Music.
Why Did System of a Down Change the Title of ‘Arto’?
The reason the track was titled “Arto” to begin with is because it features contributions from Armenian-American multi-instrumentalist Arto Tunçboyacıyan. Back in April, Daron Malakian shared a post on social media explaining that “Der Voghormia” is the actual title of the song.
“There is a hidden track at the end of the Toxicity album that fans call ‘Arto.’ However, the composition is actually a spiritual Armenian hymn called ‘Der Voghormia’ (‘Lord Have Mercy’). The piece is often used to commemorate the Armenian Genocide, like in this video depicting priests performing Der Voghormia at the Genocide Memorial in Armenia, over a century later,” the rocker wrote in the caption.
“When we, as System of a Down, perform the song live, we do it to remember the 1.5 million souls who lost their lives in 1915.”
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See his post below.
It’s unclear when the band submitted the change and whether tangible copies of the album will feature the intended title going forward.
System of a Down, 'Der Voghormia'
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