Month: June 2005

Payvand, Iran
June 5 2005
Historical Event in Persian Polyphonic Music: Persian String Quartets
at Niavaran Cultural Center
By Pejman Akbarzadeh, Member of Artists Without Frontiers
(TAVOOS ONLINE) — Persian (Iranian) composers who have been active
in polyphonic music have not been very fortunate in the performance
and publication of their works. Their chamber works have seldom
been performed, let alone their symphonic works which are far more
complicated. The expenses and necessary facilities for performance,
recording and publication of scores naturally require government
support, but in circumstances in which there is no sign of such
support. Persian musicians, inside and outside their country, have
rarely demonstrated any interest in performing their fellow composers’
works in their programs.
The masterpieces of Persian symphonic music, such as “Persian Pictures”
by Heshmat Sanjari and “Provincial Suite” by Samin Baghtcheban, were
recorded approximately forty years after being composed, and even these
works were recorded in the 1990s, with the efforts of Manuchehr Sahbai,
without government support. Among other dispersed recordings, one can
name the three LPs entitled, “Symphonische Dichtungen aus Persien”
[Symphonic Poems from Persia] performed by the Nuremberg Symphony
Orchestra, conducted by Ali Rahbari, a recording which was done with
the support of the [former] Ministry of Culture and Art in 1978.
The publication of scores is even worse. Although the history of
Persian Symphonic music dates back to the 1920s and 30s, the first
score, “Sabokbal,” composed by Hossein Dehlavi, was published in
1974 through his own efforts. In recent years, a few scores by Ahmad
Pejman, Kambiz Roshan-Ravan, etc., have been published. Compared
to the totality of works composed by Persian (Iranian) composers,
this is an insignificant number. Not only does the non-publication
of the works dishearten composers, it also prevents researchers and
music students from gaining access to the works. If in the future the
possibility arises for the performance and recording of the works,
the lack of access to these scores will create difficulty.
It may be said that, in May 2005, the Niavaran Artistic Creations
Foundation (NACF) was host to a historical event in Persian polyphonic
music. Ani String Quartet from Armenia performed eleven string
quartets from three generations of Persian contemporary composers:
Hormoz Farhat, Alireza Mashayekhi, Loris Cheknavorian (Tjeknavorian),
Mehran Rouhani, Shahin Farhat, Reza Vali, Behzad Ranjbaran, Ramin
Heidarbegi, Kiavash Saheb-Nassagh, Amir-Mahyar Tafreshipour and Ali
Gorji – composers who for various reasons are not well-known in the
Persian [Iranian] society.
The organizer of this concert Kiavash Saheb-Nassagh, 36, is based in
Graz, Austria. On his motives for organizing this concert, he said,
“This concert was an opportunity for music audiences to become familiar
with pieces which have been composed by Persian composers in the past
three decades for string quartet.”
The performances of the three nights will be released in CD and book
form by the Music Department of NACF.
The last concert in which string works by Persian contemporary
composers were performed was in 1976: the National Iranian Radio and
Television [NIRT] Chamber Orchestra, conducted by the Persian-Armenian
Ruben (Rubik) Gregorian at the Tehran Niavaran Palace.

Most of Iran’s exports to Armenia pass through East Azarbaijan
Mehr News, Iran
June 5 2005
TABRIZ, East Azarbaijan – About 75 percent of Iran’s exports to
Armenia is transported via East Azarbaijan, said an official in the
provincial customs.
Kaviani noted that some $117.6 million out of the total amount of
exports to Armenia ($155.94m) was transited to the Armenian cities
via the customs offices of this northwestern province. “Fruits,
cooking oil and other foodstuffs, textile products, glassware and
plastic solvents were the main commodities exported to Armenia in
the last Iranian year,” he added. In the same period, he stated,
the province imported $23.33 million of various goods from Armenia,
mostly including secondhand machinery and iron wastes.

News24, South Africa
June 5 2005
EG pardons 6 ‘coup plotters’
05/06/2005 18:19 – (SA)
Malabo – Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema on Sunday
pardoned six Armenian pilots who were sentenced to prison for their
alleged roles in an attempted coup last year, according to a decree
read on national radio.
The “total pardon” is for “the Armenian nationals being held at
Malabo’s central prison,” the decree dated June 4 said.
The president granted the pardon as a “humanitarian gesture” on the
occasion of his 63rd birthday.
The six Armenians, who have always claimed their innocence, are to be
immediately released and handed over to “competent authorities” who
will see that they are repatriated to Armenia, according to the decree.
The Armenian pilots were sentenced with others in November in
Equatorial Guinea.
They were accused of taking part in a plot to overthrow Nguema which
also involved suspected mercenaries who were arrested in Zimbabwe
for alleging picking up weapons there to use in the coup attempt.
British businessman Mark Thatcher, the son of former British prime
minister Margaret Thatcher, was accused of partly financing the
alleged plot and pleaded guilty in South Africa to violating its
anti-mercenary law and paid a R3m fine in January.
Edited by Elmarie Jack

Azeri soldier killed in Armenian cease-fire violation – TV
Lider TV, Baku
5 Jun 05
The cease-fire agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan has been
violated again.
Armenian armed forces in Agdam’s occupied Bas Qarvand village fired on
the villages of Ciraqli and Miraselli of the same district from 0100
[2000 gmt on 4 June] till the morning [of 5 June]. Armenians in the
occupied village of Sixlar also fired on Azerbaijani positions in
Orta Qislaq village from assault rifles and machine guns.
Vusal Mammadov, an Azerbaijani soldier conscripted into the army from
Ganca, was killed in an exchange of fire.

Turkish PM denies university bullied into cancelling conference on Armenians
Yeni Safak website, Istanbul
4 Jun 05
Excerpt from interview with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
published by Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak website on 4 June
[Passage omitted]
[Question] The draft law [on the new penal code] does not refer to
slander only. There is a provision about basic national interests. For
example national interests could include issues such as the withdrawal
of troops from Cyprus and the Armenian genocide.
[Erdogan] The law has its own language. I am not a lawyer. I do not
know what is said in the reasoning for basic national interests but
I do not agree with that example. No judge could evaluate the matter
that way.
On the Armenian genocide issue I do not think that it could be
discussed as something pertaining to the state. I ask you then: Why
did the organizers of this symposium [Istanbul’s Bosphorus University
conference on Armenians in the Ottoman Empire] change their minds?
[Question] The justice minister’s remarks intimidated the president
of Bosphorus University.
[Erdogan] Was it absolutely necessary to hold the conference
there? Hold it somewhere else. Are Mr [Justice Minister Cemil]
Cicek’s remarks the law of this land? Mr Cicek expressed his own views.
[Question] When the minister of justice calls the organizers
“traitors”, then the university president would naturally be
intimidated.
[Erdogan] If activities in this country could be stopped with such
remarks then many things would not get done. Whoever the organizing
committee was, not the lady president – it could have been held in
another hall. We did this ourselves for many years. When they banned
us we held our meetings in another hall.
[Question] There were charges that this incident marred academic
freedom.
[Erdogan] This is the information I have. Sabanci, Bilgi and
Bosphorus universities are participants and part of the organizing
committee. This is the legal dimension of this matter. If a problem
surfaced and the lady was apprehensive or troubled, then the committee
should or could have held the meeting at another location. There is
not much sense in postponing it to one and a half months later. I was
overseas when this incident occurred. When they asked me about it I
said that this was the personal view of the minister of justice. It
is not the view of either our government or the state. Our laws and
everything is clear on this issue. The EU process is clear. First of
all it is wrong to talk about something that has not been done. We
do not know in advance who will say what there. Anyone can come out
and say positive or negative things. I think that it would be more
appropriate if Mr Cicek commented on those things afterwards. Later
I said this to the minister of justice.

AMERICAN SENATOR IMPRESSED BY DEMOCRATIC AND ECONOMIC REFORMS TAKEN PLACE IN ARMENIA
YEREVAN, JUNE 3, NOYAN TAPAN. A significant progress has been fixed
in Armenia since 1998. Chuck Hagel, a US Senator from the state
of Nebraska, a delegation headed by whom arrived in Yerevan the
same morning, stated this at the June 2 press conference. “I am too
impressed by those democratic as well as ecomomic reforms which took
place in Armenia, it is a very good news both for Armenia and whole
world,” the Senator emphasized. He mentioned that he first visited
Armenia in 1998 when President Kocharian was newly elected. At
the same time, Chuck Hagel attached importance to continuation of
the process of the democratic reforms in Armenia, holding just and
open elections. Senator Hagel called a good news the removal of the
Russian military bases from Georgia. As for the presence of the Russian
bases in Armenia, then this issue, according to him, must be solved
at the level of the Governments of Armenia and Russia. According
to the US Senator, where there are serious conflicts like the
Nagorno Karabakh conflict, additional military forces may impede the
peaceful settlement. But if the military equipments and troops will be
removed to Armenia, it is an issue to be decided between Armenia and
Russia. The Senator assured that US will continue to do its best in
order that it becomes possible to reach a just and continual solution
of the Karabakh problem between Armenia and Azerbaijan. According to
Chuck Hagel, the USA has numerous interests, partners and friends
in the Caucasian region. According to him, ties with Armenia are
attached importance both by US Congress and Bush’s administration. He
mentioned that the friendship and partnership between Armenia and
the USA comes out of common interests: the two countries has common
interests in issues concerning defence, security problems. The
Senator attached importance, particularly, to Armenia’s presence in
Kosovo and Iraq. The Senator mentioned that before visiting Armenia,
he had been to Turkey, then Azerbaijan, and will visit Georgia, then
the Ukraine after Armenia. Chuck Hagel presented buckles with the US
Senate’s stamp pictured on them to the heads of all those countries
he visited, including the President of Armenia.

Turkey still on course to join EU, says Gul
By Haig Simonian at Gottweig Abbey, Austria
Published: June 5 2005 18:05 | Last updated: June 5 2005 18:05
Turkey-EU
Turkey believes it is still on track to become a full member of the
European Union, in spite of last week’s referendum defeats for the
constitutional treaty in France and the Netherlands.
In the first comprehensive comments by a senior official, Abdullah
Gul, Turkey’s foreign minister, said potential Turkish membership
had not played a big role in the emphatic No votes.
“Turkey wasn’t the reason for a No in these referendums. It wasn’t
about full Turkish membership of the EU,” he said.
By contrast, the leaders of Austria and Slovenia, two EU member
states with the biggest doubts about Ankara’s accession, showed clear
reservations in the wake of last week’s decisions.
At the annual European Forum organised by the Lower Austria state
government, Wolfgang Schussel and Janez Jansa, the Austrian and
Slovenian leaders, were conspicuously silent about Turkey, while
stressing the need for the EU to embrace Romania, Bulgaria and the
western Balkans.
The idea of Turkish membership is deeply unpopular in Austria and
Slovenia, partly because of the predominantly Islamic state’s relative
proximity to countries on the EU’s eastern fringes.
Mr Schussel had been among those expressing caution in the run-up
to the decision to open accession talks with Ankara next October. “I
think we should go forward unemotionally, professionally and step by
step,” he said.
Mr Jansa said Turkish membership should be made subject to a
referendum, and criticised the French government for not grasping the
degree of anti-Turkish sentiment, which had helped swing the No vote
in France.
Mr Gul said: “We will continue to live up to the expectations of our
people and deliver on further reforms.”
He argued that Ankara remained committed to encouraging free speech
and addressing difficult issues in Turkey’s past, in spite of the
cancellation of an academic conference on the alleged genocide of
Armenians under the Ottoman empire.
Mr Gul said the conference, organised by Istanbul’s Bosphorus
University, had been “postponed” and that the importance of the meeting
had been exaggerated abroad, as such issues had already been widely
discussed in Turkey.
The conference, bitterly attacked by Turkish nationalists and a senior
minister, had been widely seen as a breakthrough on what has been a
taboo subject.
Armenians, backed by a number of governments, describe the events
of 1915 as a genocide in which up to 1.5m people were killed. Turkey
recognises large numbers died, but alleges atrocities took place on
both sides and puts these in the context of the chaos of the first
world war and the twilight of the Ottoman empire.

Foreign films back in Tempe Series started by foreign-flick fan to
open in Tempe with ‘Mooladé’
Geri Koeppel
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 3, 2005 12:00 AM
East Valley film fans can once again view movies from such places as
Senegal, Argentina and Armenia without having to travel to far-away
places like Scottsdale.
Randy Montgomery of Chandler is starting the One Night Cinema film
series again tonight, bringing five films that have never been shown
in the Valley to the Pollack Tempe Cinemas, on the southeastern
corner of McClintock Drive and Elliot Road.
“Films that are made in other countries present different points of
view than films made in Hollywood,” said Suzanne Woodford of Mesa. “I
am sure there are many more people like ourselves who would enjoy a
change of pace from the car-chase, chick-flick, don’t-go-in-the-house
horror, standard mainstream movies.”
Montgomery, who works in radio marketing, organized two film series
last summer and single-night screenings during the year. They
attracted enough following to plan more.
“The series allows me to showcase films that normally wouldn’t play
in Phoenix and also to serve the underserved foreign film element in
the East Valley,” he said.
When the Madstone Theater in Chandler closed a year ago this week, it
left moviegoers in these parts with just one theater – Harkins Valley
Art in Tempe – showing foreign and independent films. Many patrons
drove to Harkins Camelview 5 in Scottsdale.
Montgomery scoured the Internet to find well-reviewed films. All are
new to him except Mooladé, which he saw in Tucson.
At the first screening at 7:30 this evening, dance/drum group Africa
Tam Tam will perform, and doors will close at 7:25.
–Boundary_(ID_PPIBfKoJA2b7Jt7WTyiYdw)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TIME
June 5 2005
Energized Bunny
Can a new computer gadget pull the rabbit out of the hat for wi-fi?
By GRANT ROSENBERG
Sunday, Jun. 05, 2005
What’s the 21st century’s pet rock? A jumbo Tamagotchi pet? Nah.
French tech company Violet () has created Nabaztag, a
plastic, 23-cm-tall (with ears up) white rabbit with a constant wi-fi
connection. The device provides access to other Internet users and
vital daily information like traffic reports and the weather.
Programmed by its owner, Nabaztag (rabbit in Armenian) relays the
information in a slightly cartoonish female voice, and flashes
colored lights on her tummy when new e-mails arrive. The wi-fi
rabbit, which also plays MP3s and MIDI files and dances a jig, flags
these quotidian needs in order to reduce time spent in front of the
computer.
“Nabaztag is a way to stay connected without burnout,” explains
Violet co-founder Olivier Mével. Its creators wanted a noncomputer
form for their invention, and a bunny fit the bill. “We wanted
something that was cute, modest and not intimidating,”says Mével.
Retailing for $120, Nabaztag is scheduled for launch in France at the
end of June, and the firm is planning for a global release next year.
Will the rabbit catch on? The folks at Violet know whose foot to rub.
,13005,901050613-1067924,00.html
–Boundary_(ID_GcCsDTWDSJVuW5LRXxIIxQ)–

Egypt Today, Egypt
June 5 2005
Nefertiti: Resurrection
June ,2005
The mysteries behind the life and love of an Ancient Egyptian queen
are unraveled in two competitive Hollywood film epics
By Sherif Awad
International filmmakers have always been intrigued by the air of
mystique that envelops the lives of ancient Egypt’s pharaohs. While
screenwriters and directors of the last century were captivated by
Cleopatra (think: Elizabeth Taylor in 1963’s film by the same name
with Richard Burton), the 18th Dynasty Queen Nefertiti seems poised
to finally emerge into the spotlight.
Nefertiti, said by some historians to have been one of the most
powerful and stunningly beautiful women of the ancient world, will
take her turn on the silver screen in two films set to begin shooting
next year, both of them digging deep into the story behind the
ancient queen to retell the legend of the immortal icon, frozen in
time.
ET Guide
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Le Pacha’s new bar-restaurant fusion offers a generous …
Happenings around town
.. .
The Five Minute Guide to Shopping for an American Diploma School in
Egypt
The choices are many, but so are the risks. Here are some qu…
The Archivists
The editors of Ayam Masreya do their part to celebrate the H…
Nativity in Black
An Egyptian-Armenian sculptor heads back to Egypt to hold hi…
The boy King Revisited
Journalist and historian Soheir Helmi’s reinterpretatio…
The first set to start filming, according to the French edition of
Premiere magazine, will reunite German-born director Marc Forster,
who directed the recently released and instantly successful Finding
Neverland (2004), with American stunner Halle Berry. The two
previously worked together on the critically acclaimed film noir
Monster’s Ball (2002), for which Berry won the Oscar for best
performance by an actress in a leading role.
Berry is set to portray Nefertiti in the lavish production, although
the rest of the casting remains a mystery.
The second film is likely to prove more interesting on the local
scene, involving as it does both British-born producer John Heyman
and Egyptian writer Ahmed Osman. Heyman whose son David is
co-producer of the Harry Potter film series adapted from JK Rowling’s
best-selling novels has been in the industry for years. But his
filmography as a producer tends to be less than impressive in terms
of quality. To date, he is credited with just 13 films in a career
that spans more than 30 years, including a filmed version of Richard
Burton’s 1964 performance of Hamlet on Broadway and an early thriller
entitled Twinky (1969) that starred Charles Bronson and was filmed by
action director Richard Donner (who helmed the Lethal Weapon series).
In 1979, Heyman co-produced the most distinct and infamous production
of his career to date: Jesus. The film was shot on location in Israel
and subsequently screened worldwide; it has since been translated
into a staggering 896 languages (the target: 1,154), making it the
most translated film in the history of cinema. Two more films worth
mentioning in Heyman’s filmography include Sir David Lean’s last
film, A Passage To India (1984), and the family adventure entitled
D.A.R.Y.L. (1985), which starred a cast of relatively unknown actors.
>>From that date on, Heyman eased himself out of the limelight only to
reappear last month at Egyptian Media Production City (EMPC), where
he was seen scouting locations for his new film about Nefertiti.
According to EMPC, Michael Austin will be penning the script to be
directed by Hugh Hudson. The duo previously collaborated in a filmed
version of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s novel Tarzan of the Apes in 1984
entitled Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes. Hudson is
perhaps best known as the director of 1981’s Chariots of Fire.
Last November both Hudson and Austin reportedly visited Media City as
well, and Ahmed Nasser, the former Egyptian Radio and Television
Union (ERTU) sports anchorman, is said to be set to co-produce
through his company Super Global Network.
The controversy lies in the book on which the film will be based:
Moses and Akhenaten: The Secret History of Egypt at the Time of the
Exodus, published in 2002 and written by Ahmed Osman, who has been
carrying out his own research and hence developing his own unorthodox
theories that set out to rewrite history and perhaps even religion.
Osman, born in Cairo in 1934, began his career as a journalist in the
early 1960s after earning a law degree from Cairo University. He
moved to London in 1964 to study pharaonic history in an attempt to
find a connection between the stories of the Bible and historical
evidence uncovered by archaeologists during the past 100 years.
His first theories were nothing short of shocking to many. The local
weekly magazine October ran a lengthy series on Osman having
identified the prophet Joseph as Yuya, the minister and father-in-law
to Amenhotep III, a pharaoh from the 18th Dynasty.
This identification became the subject of his first book, Stranger In
The Valley Of The Kings (1987). His second (Moses: Pharaoh of Egypt,
1990) was largely an attempt to fix the date of the Israelite Exodus
from Egypt, while in his third book, The House of the Messiah (1992),
he sought to establish the identity of King David, the great ancestor
of Jesus Christ. Osman also identified the Prophet Moses as King
Akhenaten (husband of Queen Nefertiti) and Akhenaten’s son King
Tutankhamun as none other than Jesus.
Last year, Osman presented a copy of his book Out of Egypt:
Unearthing the True Roots of Christianity (1998) to His Holiness Pope
Shenouda III, the 117th Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See
of St. Mark.
These interesting associations, of course, later led to Heyman
pitching the tagline of his movie as: “A love affair between
Nefertiti and Moses.”
“One can find in the Old Testament that Moses and Nefertiti had a
relationship,” he adds.
“My argument is controversial and not widespread among many
Egyptologists,” Osman says, “but I have collected evidence proving
that Akhenaten and Moses are the same person, which so far nobody has
been able to contest.”
“Egypt’s history is greatly ignored by the film industry besides
Cleopatra and The Ten Commandments and that’s it,” says Heyman,
referring to the two epic Hollywood blockbusters released over 40
years ago. “The shoot will not start before 2006 and locations will
be divided [between] studios and along the Nile in Upper Egypt.” The
director plans to build an entire city like Akhenaten’s capital in
Tel El-Amarna. Furthermore, the “Pharaonic Region” of the Egyptian
Media City will be included in the film’s sets.
Although he claims it is too early to talk about the cast, Heyman
says he and Osman have met “several Egyptian actors who are very good
and charming, warm and kind.” They include Dalia El-Beheiry, Hany
Salama, Nehal Anbar and Khaled El-Nabawy, who recently appeared in a
few scenes of Ridley Scott’s latest epic Kingdom of Heaven.
Heyman says the film’s final budget should come in at around US$100
million, with 40 percent of that figure allocated to shooting in
Egypt. After three decades in which prohibitive customs duties on
imported film equipment forced major Middle East productions
including Gladiator, Sahara, Spy Game, Black Hawk Down and The Mummy
to Morocco and Tunisia, Egypt has at last become affordable, Heyman
says. How so? Look no further than Minister of Culture Farouk Hosny,
who recently brokered a deal with the Ministry of Finance to abolish
duties on gear imported by international film companies shooting on
location in Egypt.
It is still uncertain whether there will be some reluctance on the
part of Egyptian stars to participate in a production involving more
than its fair share of controversy, given the fact that it is
anticipated that the movie will be shown on a worldwide scale.