Armenia Fest Has Best Names

ARMENIA FEST HAS BEST NAMES

DetNews.com, MI
The Oud Newsboys’ Goodfellow Fund.
?AID=/20070808/OPINION03/708080398
Aug 8 2007

You may well hear singing at Armenia Fest 2007, and at the very least,
you’ll hear lyrical names.

The annual celebration of all things Armenian runs from 6 to 10
p.m. today at Shain Park in Birmingham. My contact in the Armenian
entertainment world, Ara Topouzian, promises dancing by the Hamazkayin
Arax Armenian Dance Group of Detroit.

Fest-goers will also hear from the Ara Topouzian Ensemble, featuring
Kirk Kuchukian on oud, Mal Barsamian on clarinet, Jay Baronian on
dumbeg, Topouzian himself on kanun and Tom Zakarian on something
called a "guitar."

I should stress that I’m not making fun of names, culture, instruments,
cuisine or anything else Armenian. To the contrary, if I were a public
address announcer, these are the names I would love to let roll off
my tongue. Or to put it another way, if this were the annual Guys
Named Bob Smith Festival, I’d probably let it alone.

Instead, we get great introductions, a good time and no charge. Plus,
I’ve come up with a name in case the Armenian musicians ever decide
to start delivering Christmas baskets:

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