Author: Ani Basmajian

Theater: BEAST ON THE MOON Comes to the Finborough Theatre

Ani Basmajian
Broadway World
Jan 3 2019


by BWW News Desk

BroadwayWorld.com Jan. 3, 2019   

Beast on the Moon by Richard Kalinoski comes to the Finborough Theatre Tuesday, 29 January-Saturday, 23 February 2019. This is the first London production in more than 20 years.

The show is directed by Jelena Budimir, with set and costume design by Sarah Jane Booth. It is presented by All Ignite Theatre in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre.

Cast includes George Jovanovic, Zarima McDermott, and Hayward B Morse.

So some are beheaded and some are crucified and some are slaughtered, and who wins the battle of who died the worst death? Who wins?

In a production commissioned by the Finborough Theatre, Richard Kalinoski‘s Beast on the Moon opens at the Finborough Theatre for a four-week limited season on Tuesday, 29 January 2019 (Press Nights: Thursday, 31 January and Friday, 1 February 2019 at 7.30pm).

Milwaukee in the 1920s. Aram believes he will begin a new life when his teenage ‘mail-order’ bride, Seta, arrives to join him. They are a couple united by history both survivors of the Armenian Genocide. But their painful, shared experience does nothing to promote domestic harmony as Aram is obsessed with creating a family to replace the one he lost in such savage circumstances, and Seta, just fifteen and trapped by the traditions of the old ways, struggles to embrace her new life in a new country

Richard Kalinoski‘s beautifully written, universal story of hope and healing, has been performed in more than twenty countries. Last performed in London in the 1990s, Beast on the Moon remains a play for our times a powerful exploration of legacy for so many refugees.

The Armenian Genocide of 1915-16 was perpetrated by the Ottoman Turkish Government against the Armenians, a Christian minority in a Muslim state. Up to one and a half million people died. To this day, the Turkish government refuses to admit that genocide ever took place.

Playwright Richard Kalinoski‘s Beast on the Moon, won the 2001 Best Play from the Repertory prize at the Moliere Awards and four other Moliere Awards. Since emerging as a triumph (Ben Brantley, The New York Times) at the 1995 Humana Festival in Louisville, Kentucky, Beast on the Moon has been translated into twenty languages and produced in venues all over the world including Athens, Brussels, London, Moscow, New York (Off-Broadway), Prague, Sao Paolo, Toronto and Tallinn, Estonia. It has garnered a host of awards including the Osborn Best New Play in America by an Emerging Playwright, awarded by the American Theatre Critics Association in 1996, and, in 2001, five Ace Awards including Best Play in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 2005, the President of Armenia Robert Kachadarian awarded Kalinoski the Khorenatsi Medal for Contribution to the Arts from the Country of Armenia.

His other plays include Between Men and Cattle developed at the National Playwrights Conference (1995) and later produced at the Detroit Repertory Theatre and at Milwaukee’s Next Act Theatre (2004), My Soldiers, a play about a female soldier returning from Iraq which was produced at the Detroit Repertory Theatre (2010) and was featured at the Regional American College Theatre Festival of the Kennedy Center at Michigan State University (2011), The Boy Inside which earned Second Place in the Kennedy Center’s Mark David Cohen National Playwriting Contest (2016) and Front Room (2018) which was named as one of only eighteen new plays to be audio produced by the Ashland New Plays Festival in Ashland, Oregon, the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Wisconsin native Richard Kalinoski is Resident Playwright at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh in Northeastern Wisconsin where he teaches playwriting and theatre history.

Director Jelena Budimir returns to the Finborough Theatre following her acclaimed production of Bruce Graham‘s White Guy on the Bus which was nominated for four Off West End Awards including Best Director in 2018. She also directed Athena Stevens‘ new play Genie for Vibrant 2017 A Festival of Finborough Playwrights. Recently, she also devised and directed Back to the Future a Celebration of Education with members of Clean Break Theatre. Jelena was Associate Director at Chickenshed Theatre for 22 years where she developed the Studio Theatre, and led on Chickenshed’s emerging writers’ programme Write Here, Write Now. Direction includes Benjamin Zephaniah’s Refugee Boy adapted by Lemn Sissay, Sarah Daniels‘ Gut Girls, The Comedy of Errors, Dario Fo‘s Can’t Pay! Won’t Pay!, Lysistrata, Our Country’s Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker, Yard Gal by Rebecca Prichard and Ariel Dorfmen’s Widows (Chickenshed) and Life After Death by Antuneil Thompson (Camden People’s Theatre). She has also written extensively for young people and children. Jelena originally trained as an actor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama her performance work includes fringe, rep and West End alongside film, TV and radio.

Discussions are after the evening performance and are free to ticketholders for that evening’s performance. The run will be accompanied by the FINBOROUGHFORUM, a series of informal post-show discussions and debates. All events are free to ticketholders for that evening’s performance of the play. FINBOROUGHFORUM events will be twitter friendly with live tweets from @FinboroughForum. Using the hashtag #finfor, the speakers will also answer questions posed on Twitter so everyone can be included, no matter where they are in the world. The events feature discussion with academics, writers and members of the cast and company.

The Armenian Genocide and Refugees
Saturday, 2 February after the evening performance
Hosted by Ara Sarafian (Gomidas Institute) and Misak Ohanian (Centre for Armenian Information and Advice).

The Armenian Genocide was the first genocide of the modern era. It led to the destruction of an entire nation on its ancestral lands and created a refugee crisis of biblical proportions. Hundreds and thousands of women and children who survived the genocide were eventually collected in safe-houses, orphanages and refugee communities – and then dispersed throughout the world in what became the Armenian diaspora we know today.

Blessed are the Peacemakers
Wednesday, 13 February after the evening performance
Hosted by Ara Sarafian (Gomidas Institute)

Despite the bitter legacy of the Armenian Genocide, many civil society and political groups in Turkey broke ranks with their own government in recent years and initiated a reconciliation process with Armenians. The Municipality of Diyarbakir, one of the largest cities in Turkey, took the lead in this process by showing contrition and beginning a healing process. This included the reconstruction of one of the largest churches in the Middle East in the city – Sourp Giragos Armenian Apostolic church – and inviting Armenians to call the city their own.

UAE, Armenia Trade Exchange Stood At AED920 Million In 2017

Ani Basmajian
URDU Point
Dec 29 2018

 Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88)  7 hours ago  Sat 29th December 2018 | 05:30 PM

00:00
/
00:00
Loading Ad

ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM – 29th Dec, 2018) The total value of non-oil trade between the UAE and the Republic of Armenia reached AED920 million during 2017, compared to AED375 million in 2015, the Ministry of Economy has said.

In a report on the trade policy review between the two countries, the ministry said that doubling of trade between the two countries over the past three years emphasises the possibility of benefitting from the opportunities and the supportive environment for increasing growth rate of trade exchange in the coming period.

Ministry statistics showed that re-exports from the UAE to Armenia accounted for the largest shareof total trade between the two countries, amounting to AED561 million in 2017.

The report comes in the light of the UAE’s distinguished position on the global trade map, supported by the State’s vision of promoting openness and cohesion with the global economy, developing its capabilities and building bridges with all countries to enhance trade exchange.

Based on these visions and objectives, the ministry wants to raise awareness of all public and private institutions on the development of investment and trade links with the UAE’s strategic partners through monitoring, analysis and reports issued by the World Trade Organisation, WTO, and other international organisations.

According to the WTO, the Armenian economy has grown by more than seven per cent in 2017, supported by its adoption of sound economic policy and reforms in a number of export sectors, mainly targeting the European Union and the Russian Federation.

Armenian remittances abroad contribute significantly to the national economy, which accounts for 13 per cent of the GDP.

Since the recent review of Armenia’s trade policies in 2010 and until the end of 2017, the current account deficit has fallen in line with export growth faster than imports, and foreign inflows have been steady compared with the growth of foreign direct investment inflows, indicating that Armeniais an attractive destination for investment.

RFE/RL Armenian Report – 12/25/2018

Ani Basmajian 
                                        Tuesday, 
Former Armenian Defense Chief’s Russian Citizenship Confirmed
        • Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - President Robert Kocharian (R) and Defense Minister Mikael 
Harutiunian, 15 November 2007.
Russia has officially confirmed that a former Armenian defense minister wanted 
by Yerevan on coup charges is a Russian citizen, an Armenian law-enforcement 
agency said on Tuesday.
The Special Investigative Service (SIS) issued an international arrest warrant 
for retired Colonel-General Mikael Harutiunian in July. The SIS charged 
Harutiunian with illegally using the armed forces against opposition supporters 
who demonstrated in Yerevan against alleged fraud in a 2008 presidential 
election. It said that amounted to an “overthrow of the constitutional order.”
The SIS brought the same coup charges against former President Robert Kocharian 
and Yuri Khachaturov, the then secretary general of the Collective Security 
Treaty Organization (CSTO). Both men strongly denied them.
It emerged afterwards that Harutiunian now lives in Russia. Russian 
law-enforcement authorities notified the Armenian police in September that they 
will not arrest him.
The Interfax news agency reported at the time that Harutiunian has been a 
Russian citizen since 2002. Russia’s constitution forbids the extradition of 
Russian nationals to foreign states.
A spokeswoman for the SIS, Marina Ohanjanian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service 
that it has received a formal confirmation of Harutiunian’s Russian citizenship 
from relevant Russian authorities. She said the SIS has responded by asking 
them to clarify when the ex-general received a Russian passport.
The Armenian constitution did not allow dual citizenship until 2006.
Harutiunian, 72, served as defense minister from 2007-2008. He was previously 
the chief of the Armenian army’s General Staff.
Moscow was quick to denounce the prosecutions of Kocharian, Harutiunian and 
Khachaturov. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in July that they run 
counter to the new Armenian leadership’s earlier pledges not to “persecute its 
predecessors for political motives.”
Eight protesters and two police servicemen died when Armenian security forces 
quelled the post-election protests on March 1-2, 2008. Kocharian declared a 
state of emergency on that night, ordering troops into Yerevan.
The crackdown came just over a month before he handed over power to Serzh 
Sarkisian, his preferred successor. Kocharian has repeatedly defended the use 
of lethal force, saying that it prevented a violent seizure of power by Levon 
Ter-Petrosian, the main opposition presidential candidate.
The SIS essentially backed Kocharian’s version of events until this spring’s 
dramatic change of Armenia’s government. The law-enforcement agency now says 
that Armenian army units were secretly told to move into the capital before the 
declaration of emergency rule in violation of the Armenian constitution.
Armenian Police Corruption ‘Eliminated’
        • Narine Ghalechian
Armenia - The chief of the Armenian police, Valeri Osipian, speaks to 
journalists in Yerevan, December 20, 2018.
Valeri Osipian, the chief of the Armenian police, on Monday claimed to have 
eliminated corruption in the police ranks since taking office after this 
spring’s “velvet revolution” in the country.
Osipian made the statement as he answered questions from Facebook users at the 
RFE/RL studio in Yerevan. He was asked to comment on critics’ claims that he 
has been “weak” on crime and traffic rule violations.
“I’m very weak,” Osipian replied with sarcasm. “But I have managed to eliminate 
corruption in the [police] system.”
He also cited in that regard the recent arrests and prosecutions of prominent 
individuals connected to Armenia’s former leadership and claimed credit for the 
fact that there were virtually no reports of vote buying or violence in the 
December 9 parliamentary elections.
Nikol Pashinian named Osipian to run the national police service on May 10 two 
days after being elected Armenia’s prime minister following weeks of 
anti-government protests led by him. Osipian was until then a deputy head of 
Yerevan’s police department responsible for public order and crowd control.
Introducing Osipian to high-ranking police officials on May 11, Pashinian said 
one of his main tasks will be to crack down on police corruption which has long 
been endemic. Osipian replaced virtually deputy chiefs of the police in the 
following days.
The police chief admitted on Monday there has been a major increase in the 
number of officially registered crimes in Armenia since then. But he blamed it 
on objective factors such as a general amnesty declared by the authorities in 
late October.
The controversial amnesty led to the release of hundreds of convicts. According 
to the police, some of them have already been arrested for committing 
burglaries and other crimes.
Osipian also repeated his recent claims that many crimes were underreported by 
the police under his predecessors. Besides, he said, victims of petty crimes 
are now less reluctant to report them because of greater public trust in the 
police.
Syrian Armenians Also Protest Against Diaspora Ministry Closure
        • Naira Nalbandian
Armenia - A demonstrator in Yerevan holds a poster objecting to government 
plans to close the Ministry of Diaspora, .
A group of ethnic Armenian migrants from Syria joined on Tuesday employees of 
Armenia’s Ministry of Diaspora in protesting against its closure planned by the 
government.
A government bill publicized this week calls for reducing the number of 
ministries in the country from 17 to 12 in line with Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian’s pledges to streamline the state bureaucracy. The Ministry of 
Diaspora would be liquidated as a result.
The ministry employing 90 or so people was set up in 2008 by then President 
Serzh Sarkisian. It is tasked with maintaining and strengthening the country’s 
cultural, educational and other ties with the worldwide Armenian Diaspora.
Some ministry officials again marched to the prime minister’s office in Yerevan 
to demand that the government reconsider its plans. They were joined by Syrian 
Armenians who have taken refuge in their ancestral homeland after the outbreak 
of the bloody conflict in Syria. One of them, Aleksan Garatanayan, is the 
deputy chairman of a non-governmental organization representing such migrants.
“We are not staging a political demonstration,” Garatanayan told reporters. 
“This is our sole means of gratitude to the ministry and its staff that have 
patiently helped us for the last seven years. For seven years we have 
approached the ministry on a daily basis.”
“It’s wrong to scrap this ministry without taking into account the opinion of 
major Diaspora organizations,” said another Syrian Armenian man taking part in 
the demonstration.
Thousands of Syrian Armenians have relocated to Armenia since 2012. The 
Armenian government’s modest financial assistance to them has been mostly 
channeled through the Ministry of Diaspora.
Hovannes Aleksanian, the head of a ministry desk dealing the “repatriation” of 
ethnic Armenians from Syria and other countries, was also among the protesters. 
“We will need the Ministry of Diaspora as long as we have a Diaspora,” he said.
“The repatriation desk has only two employees: myself and its leading 
specialist,” argued Aleksanian. “Hundreds of families come [to the ministry] 
and all that work is done by our small division.”
“Our expenditures are so modest that they cannot serve as an argument [in favor 
of closing the ministry,]” he said, adding that the ministry’s annual budget is 
an equivalent of just $500,000.
Ex-Ally Criticizes Pashinian’s ‘Excessive Powers’
        • Naira Nalbandian
Armenia - Bright Armenia party leader Edmon Marukian speaks at an election 
campaign rally in Masis, November 28, 2018.
The leader of an Armenian parliamentary opposition party criticized Prime 
Minister Nikol Pashinian on Tuesday for not curtailing his sweeping executive 
powers inherited from the country’s former leaders.
Edmon Marukian pointed to a government bill that would keep Armenia’s police, 
National Security Service (NSS) and tax and customs services accountable to the 
prime minister, rather than his cabinet or the parliament.
These agencies were directly controlled by the presidents of the republic under 
the previous, presidential system of government. Former President Serzh 
Sarkisian made sure that they will be subordinate to the prime minister when he 
enacted controversial constitutional changes that turned Armenia into a 
parliamentary republic.
Sarkisian planned to stay in power as prime minister after serving out his 
second presidential term in April this year.
Pashinian, Marukian and other leaders of the now defunct Yelk alliance strongly 
criticized a corresponding bill which Sarkisian pushed through the parliament 
as recently as in March. They accused him of introducing a “super 
prime-ministerial” system of government with the aim of maintaining a tight 
grip on power.
Armenia - Nikol Pashinian (L) and other deputies from the opposition Yelk 
alliance attend a parliament session in Yerevan, 3Oct2017.
Pashinian did not alter that system after he swept to power in May on a wave of 
mass protests that toppled Sarkisian. Under a new bill on the government’s 
structure drafted by his office, the heads of the police, the NSS and the State 
Revenue Committee would continue to report to the prime minister and not be 
part of the ruling cabinet.
Armenia’s newly elected parliament dominated by Pashinian’s supporters is 
expected to debate the bill at its first session next month.
Marukian, whose Bright Armenia party will have 18 seats in the 132-member 
parliament, complained that Pashinian is now intent on retaining what he 
described as excessive executive powers.
“The agencies that were placed beyond parliamentary oversight under [former 
President] Robert Kocharian remain beyond it,” Marukian told reporters. “Those 
are the police, the National Security Service and the State Revenue Committee 
…The country is not becoming a parliamentary republic, it remains super 
prime-ministerial, something which we criticized during Serzh Sarkisian’s rule.”
“In the institutional sense, this is wrong, terribly wrong … There are no 
parliamentary republics in the world where the chiefs of security agencies 
operate outside parliamentary oversight,” he said.
The government has yet to explain why it is not planning to limit the 
prime-ministerial powers. A spokesperson for outgoing First Deputy Prime 
Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said on Tuesday that it is ready to consider 
opposition proposals on the issue.
Press Review
“Zhoghovurd” reports that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian made two important 
statements at Monday’s yearend reception which he hosted for leading Armenian 
businesspeople. Pashinian made clear that no member of his entourage or any 
other senior government official will have business interests. He also 
reiterated that all companies operating in Armenia are now free from “any kind 
of corruptions obligations” to any official. The paper says that neither Robert 
Kocharian nor Serzh Sarkisian made such assurances while in power because they 
and their cronies had “clear economic interests.” “The country’s economy was 
for years divided among a handful of individuals,” it says.
“Zhamanak” quotes Russia’s Trade and Industry Minister Denis Manturov as 
telling a Russian news agency that Moscow has stopped using the U.S. dollar in 
major foreign trade deals. The paper notes that Armenia has for years been 
proposing to Russia to set the price of Russian natural gas in rubles, as 
opposed to dollars. “This proposal was first made during Prime Minister Tigran 
Sarkisian’s tenure,” it says. “[His successor] Hovik Abrahamian also made this 
proposal.”
“Aravot” disapproves of angry street protests against the retired General 
Manvel Grigorian’s release from custody and former President Kocharian’s 
attempts to regain his freedom in a similar fashion. The paper says that 
participants of these protests do not seem to be advocates of the rule of law 
guaranteed by the Armenian constitution. “Any person, even the most terrible 
criminal, deserves humane treatment,” it says in an editorial. “In the 21st 
century this means that a person convicted of a crime is punished by being 
isolated from the society, rather than being forced to endure harsh prison 
conditions or deprived of medical treatment and legal counseling.”
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2018 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org

Artsakh Defense Army reports about intensive ceasefire violations

Ani Basmajian
Panorama, Armenia
Dec 26 2018

Azerbaijani forces continue intensive ceasefire violations across the Line of Contact between Artsakh and Azerbaijan despite the reached verbal arrangements to preserve the ceasefire. As the press service at the Defense Army reported, the adversary has also undertaken provocative actions of strategic and tactical nature on certain directions of the Line of Contact.

According to the source, Defense Army units have refrained from response actions thus far and ara ready to take relevant measures should the Azerbaijani forces continue their actions.

“The defense Armey of the Artsakh Republics calls on the Azerbaijani side to refrain from unpromising actions aimed at escalating the situation at the frontline and adhere to the reached verbal agreement to preserve the ceasefire regime during the holiday season,” the statement read. 

European budget carriers ready to enter Armenian market: official

Ani Basmajian
PanArmenian, Armenia
Dec 26 2018
– 16:38 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – European low-cost airlines are ready to enter the Armenian market, head of the country’s Tourism Committee Hripsime Grigoryan told reporters on Wednesday, December 26.

According to her, a set of negotiations have already been held with a number of European budget carriers.

She said the airlines will most probably fly to Armenia’s second-largest town, Gyumri, which is home to Shirak airport.

Grigoryan said government support is a key condition for a low-cost airline to enter the Armenian market, citing assistance in promoting the companies’ marketing policies as an example.

Only one budget airline – Russia’s Pobeda – is offering relatively cheap flights to from Moscow to Gyumri.

Music: Serj Tankian on Writing ‘Requiem Music,’ System of a Down’s Creative Stalemate

Ani Basmajian
Rolling Stone Magazine
Dec 20 2018


Serj Tankian on Writing ‘Requiem Music,’ System of a Down’s Creative Stalemate

By     

Kory Grow

Serj Tankian discusses scoring the film ‘Spitak,’ knowing Anthony Bourdain and System of a Down’s creative stalemate.

Carlos Tischler/Getty Images

In the 13 years since System of a Down last released an album of skittery punk-metal, frontman Serj Tankian has challenged himself creatively with orchestral compositions, jazz records and rock outings. Lately, though, he’s found the most gratification in scoring movies. In the past five years, he’s written music for six films and a video game. His latest is a delicate, otherworldly mood piece for Spitak, a disaster film about the immediate aftermath of the 6.8-magnitude earthquake that crumpled northern Armenia in 1988, claiming deaths in the range of 25,000 to 50,000 people and up to 130,000 injuries.

“It was a difficult film to do, because of the heavy topic and trying not to have the music be too heavy,” Tankian says. “The director, Aleksandr Kott, said, ‘I want requiem music.’ And I said, ‘Wow, that’s heavy. You’re talking about funeral music.’ But at the same time, we wanted to have hope for a little girl in the film who survives and is trapped. Her world needed to be more magical, so there’s that ethereal quality to some of the score, then the heavy scenes of the devastation of the city needed music that was darker in tone. It was an interesting balance.”

He settled on a blend of synthesized sounds and bell-like instruments, as well as live piano, strings, woodwinds and brass. He released a score album in November, and the film got a U.S. premiere earlier in December in Glendale, California. It’s one of many projects Tankian has been working on lately — including touring with System of a Down and producing a couple of films himself — but, he tells Rolling Stone, it’s the challenge of dreaming up music for a film like this that keeps him composing.

How hard is it for you, emotionally, to write what you describe as funereal music?
I’ve cried numerous times watching the footage of people trapped, and the death and destruction and hopelessness. But then trying to come up with a cue for it, you’re already there emotionally. Whatever you create is going to be emotionally entangling. Sometimes it’s the opposite: You have to step away and go, “This is too dark for this.” My problem is not adding emotion; it’s taking emotion away.

Do you have a personal connection to the earthquake?
My wife actually lived through the earthquake. She was in school when it happened, and luckily their building didn’t collapse. They were pretty close to the epicenter.

The years after the earthquake were the darkest days that Armenia had seen for a long time, because they were without power through heavy, cold winters. She’s told me stories of how they lit fires at school just to stay warm. Right after the earthquake, there were a lot of robberies, so crime went up. She has all these horrific stories of living without water or using only one hour of water a day. People would go, “Oh, shit, we just found out we’re going to have water in 20 minutes. Everyone run home.” You had to learn how to connect batteries so you could watch something on TV, ’cause there’s no power. My wife’s generation is unique. They know how to do everything.

 

What about for you personally?
I was in the U.S., and I remember going around door-to-door trying to fund-raise to send money to Armenia. 

If you go to Armenia now and go to Spitak, the city where the epicenter of the earthquake in ’88 was, you’ll see it’s such a unique city because each block, each street has completely different architecture, because one is built by the U.S., one by the Swedes, one by the Italians and another by the Germans. It is such a beautiful scene in that way. It’s really, really very emotional seeing that because it shows you what collective, progressive beautiful things humanity can do.

You were on an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown about Armenia, and you met with a family there that spoke about dealing with having electricity for only an hour or two a day.


 I remember that. That’s our friend Mariam [Movsisyan]. And the grandma was really cool too. Tony had a cold, and the grandmother was like, “No, you should shoot some of this vodka and have some tea to get over your cold.”

It was tough losing Tony. Really, really tough. I just knew him for that week and a few calls and e-mails, but fuck — I had no idea. Then Chris Cornell the same year and the same method. It threw me out of my orbit.

It was shocking. The episode you made with him, though, probably introduced a lot of people to Armenia who were unaware of its culture and history.
He was amazing. He was always trying to understand the culture, the geopolitics, the societal effects. He’s like, “What’s really happening here?” He was talking to young and old people, getting multiple opinions. He became a staunch activist for recognition of the Armenian genocide. We mentioned it to him, but it wasn’t the core of our conversation. I remember the night before the show, he sat down with Anderson Cooper on CNN, and Tony was just like, “How is this possible that we’re in this kind of country and we’re denying this genocide that the whole world knows about? I cannot believe this is happening.”

That blew me away: his hate of injustice and hypocrisy. I loved that about him. He was so fucking ballsy. That’s why I reached out to him in the first place and wanted him to go to Armenia. I knew that that’s how he was and I was not disappointed. We had a great time.

How did you come up with the sound palette for your Spitak score?
I tried keeping it in a soundscape where it’s ambient piano and pads with piano, strings and bells. There are some instruments just to create tension.

How was it working with the director on this one?
He kind of played musical chairs with a lot of my cues, and I had to end up redoing some of them. It was quite challenging, actually, but it was still amazing, and as a process, I learned a lot because it was different. There are a lot of cues on there that I love, such as when he’s walking through the streets, seeing the devastation, and he runs up to an ambulance, which takes off, and he sees an old man. I also love the cue for the girl who’s trapped in her magical world, and there are bells going on and these beautiful strings. I expanded on that in a number of ways.

Now that this is done, what are you working on?
We have a few other soundtracks we’re going to release for films that we did a while back but never put out soundtracks for, such as The Last Inhabitant and Midnight Star, which is a video game. But I am working on a number of things right now, including Kavat Coffee, and I’m executive-producing two documentaries.

One is a film, I Am Not Alone, about the Armenian revolution. I met with the prime minister now and said, “We have to make a film about this. No one is going to believe that in 40 days, a post-oligarchic, monopolistic, corrupt regime has been replaced by a modern, progressive, democratic, true society without one person dying. No one’s going to believe that.” I’m going to compose for it as well.

I also have a music documentary I’m doing that’s tentatively called Truth to Power, looking through my eyes at how message becomes reality through the arts. Instead of focusing on me as an artist, it asks, how does one’s message come to fruition? Can music change the world? We’re shopping that and looking for co-production partners. We’re hoping it will be done by next year as well.

You’re also touring with System of a Down next year. You and Daron Malakian had a bit of a back-and-forth in the press this year about why the band hasn’t made a new record. What happened after that?
We got together to rehearse, said hi and had a conversation and just carried things forward as we’ve always done. We’ve been friends and together for 25 to 30 years. That’s a long time. The difference between business and bands are people know when they’re working within a business, but when they’re in a band, it’s confusing because you’re also very close friends. There are times when you have to say, “OK, this is not working on the business end but I love you.” With bands, you rarely see that happening.

The reason I posted what I did is because I didn’t want any negative security threats against any of us, in terms of, “Fuck you. You’re the reason that no System record’s being made.” For me, it was just saying, “Look. I’ve tried. We’ve tried. We just haven’t been able to see eye to eye. It’s not because we’re lazy. We’re still friends. We still tour.” This is the truth.

Did the back-and-forth open up any more conversations about the band’s future?
No, it didn’t really. I think it released a lot of tension and negativity. Everything became more public and open, and that was that. There were no further discussions.

One thing I was curious about specifically is that you said you wanted to make a “full experience” or concept record. What do you mean by that?
I just feel like music has been commoditized. If I were to do an orchestral show, I’d also want to do an art show. So it’s using multiple senses, doing experiential events. Music is music: You’re ultimately going to release it and people are going to listen to it, but I thought it would be great if we created some type of event or set of events that stem out thematically from the music that can encapsulate whatever new record or sound we’re propagating. In other news, we’d not just release a record, but do something more grand around it.

Another thing Daron said was that you were never really a “heavy metal” or “rock” guy. What does that mean to you?
I think what he meant was the heavier elements of the band come from him and Shavo, which is true. Growing up, I did listen to heavy music, but my background was all sorts of world music, if you will. I grew up listening to a lot of Armenian, Arabic and European music — all types of music. In the Seventies, I listened to disco and funk.

My brother introduced me to a lot of heavy metal. The first time I heard Slayer, my brother played it in the house and I became a fan. I was more of a binge-and-purge music listener. I would listen to death metal for three months — the best of any death metal I could find — and then the next three months I’d listen to hip-hop. Then punk for three months. I didn’t have the same heavy rock roots as Shavo and Daron.

Incidentally, have you been working on any new rock music?
I have. I recently finished mixing a lot of the songs I was hoping we could do with System. I want them to be part of my music film, so I’m waiting for that. I have finished five rock songs. I just did a rock remix yesterday, actually, of one of the revolutionary songs for the Armenian film. It’s a rock song in Armenian, and I did a heavier mix.

But obviously I write in orchestral music, jazz and rock. One reason I like composing for films is because every director wants something different, genre-wise, sound-wise, emotion-wise. It’s fun. I get to make a different-sounding record every time.

In This Article: Serj Tankian, System of a Down


The laboratories belong to the Republic of Armenia and are civilian in nature. The response of the MFA to the Russian ambassador

Ani Basmajian
  • 18.12.2018

    •  

  • Armenia:

    •  

  • arm

    •  

  • rus

1
 54

The laboratories belong to Armenia and are civilian in nature. Spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry Anna Naghdalyan said in a conversation with Aysor.am, referring to the statement of the Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergey Kopirkin.


“I have to repeat once again that we are talking about the laboratories that ensure the improvement of sanitary control in Armenia, where exclusively Armenian specialists work. In the case of Armenia, there is no question of a military presence here,” Anna Naghdalyan emphasized.


Let’s remind that today the Russian Ambassador to Armenia Sergey Kopirkin, referring to Sergey Lavrov’s statement about the biological laboratories located in the territory of Armenia, said:


“As far as I know, there is a dialogue between the Armenian and Russian sides about biological laboratories. This question worries us. The dialogue with the Armenian side is quite constructive, there is mutual understanding. There can be no question of any ban.”


It should be noted that earlier today, the Russian Foreign Ministry clarified Sergey Lavrov’s statement regarding the document to be signed with Armenia on the “absence of foreign military personnel in Armenia”, which he said in an interview to “Komsomolskaya Pravda” newspaper.


According to the official website of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Sergey Lavrov said that he is preparing a document with Armenia that will guarantee the absence of foreign military personnel in biological laboratories opened with US support. “Their transparent activity will also be guaranteed,” he said.

Russia Wants to Promote Direct Baku-Yerevan Dialogue on Karabakh Settlement – Lavrov

Ani Basmajian
Sputnik News Service
Thursday 8:15 PM UTC
Russia Wants to Promote Direct Baku-Yerevan Dialogue on Karabakh Settlement – Lavrov
 
 
BAKU, December 13 (Sputnik) – Russia wants to continue promoting direct dialogue between Azerbaijan and Armenia on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday at a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
 
“We want to continue promoting direct dialogue between Baku and Yerevan on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict,” Lavrov said as he arrived in Baku to attend a meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC).
 
Moscow hopes that the settlement of the conflict will be reached on a fair basis, according to the Russian foreign minister.
 
“I know that you had contacts with the prime minister of Armenia, and [Azerbaijani Foreign Minister] Elmar Mammadyarov had contacts with Acting Foreign Minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan. Today, we are very interested to hear your assessment of how you see this moving forward … We want this settlement to take place on a fair, mutually acceptable basis,” Lavrov said at a meeting with the Azerbaijani president.
 
The BSEC is a regional organization aimed at boosting political and economic cooperation in the Black Sea region, and also at promoting peace and stability. In May 1999, it acquired international legal identity as its Charter entered into force.
 
Nagorno-Karabakh, an Azerbaijani region with predominantly Armenian population, proclaimed its independence in 1991, prompting a military conflict, which still remains unsettled. In early April 2016, tensions between Azerbaijani and Nagorno-Karabakh forces escalated, resulting in multiple casualties. Sporadic clashes continue even though the sides promptly agreed to a ceasefire.

Pashinyan claims that there are no passions in relations with Minsk

Ani Basmajian
Arminfo, Armenia
Nov 23 2018
Pashinyan claims that there are no passions in relations with Minsk

Yerevan November 23

Tatevik Shahunyan. “I do not think that in relations with Belarus passions have run high, and therefore there is nothing to subside,” he assured the journalists. ActingPrime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, referring to the contradictory positions of the two countries on the issue of the CSTO Secretary General. “What I said is valid, and will be valid”, Pashinyan assured.

To note, after the withdrawal of the CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov, the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev spoke in favor of early termination of the powers of Armenia as chairperson in the organization of the country and the transfer of the post of General Secretary for the rotation order of Belarus. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko subsequently discussed the situation with the ambassador of Azerbaijan, telling him the details of the closed meeting and supporting the position of Nazarbayev. In response to this, RA Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that he would demand explanations from the Belarusian and Kazakh presidents. Minsk, through the press secretary of the Foreign Ministry, Anatoly Glaza, reproached Pashinyan for violating the norms of the international protocol: “The acting Prime Minister of Armenia imagines himself an international prosecutor. The norms of street democracy are not acceptable in international politics.” Yerevan responded to this statement at the level of a MP from the ruling party, Alain Simonyan, who stressed that it was not Minsk to teach Pashinyan the etiquette and rules of international politics, since Minsk itself constantly violates them.

Unnecessary politicization should be avoided for fulfilling BSEC goals, says incumbent PABSEC President, Speaker of Parliament Ara Babloyan

Ani Basmajian

Unnecessary politicization should be avoided for fulfilling BSEC goals, says incumbent PABSEC President, Speaker of Parliament Ara Babloyan

Save

Share

15:03, 27 November, 2018

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. Armenia reiterates its commitment to the main idea of BSEC’s foundation – strengthening of economic cooperation between member states, however it insists that it is necessary to maintain the economic nature of the organization, by avoiding unnecessary politicization, Speaker of Parliament Ara Babloyan said during the 52nd General Assembly of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC) in Yerevan. Armenia’s Speaker of Parliament is the incumbent President of PABSEC.

“Despite the pre-election processes, we, as a chairing country, attach importance to BSEC’s coherent and non-disruptive activity, and it is on this very basis that we are holding a plenary sitting days ahead of parliamentary election. I am sure that the [next] parliament of Armenia will be actively involved in international activities, given the yearly growing role of parliamentary diplomacy.  PABSEC’s particularity is that it is the single parliamentary organization having exclusively economic character. Armenia is interested in developing multilateral economic cooperation in the region. However, the main idea and priority behind the creation of PABSEC is the strengthening of economic cooperation between BSEC member states. Armenia reiterates its commitment to this idea and insists that it is necessary to maintain the economic nature of the organization by avoiding unnecessary politicization for the effective implementation of BSEC goals,” Babloyan said.

He said the PABSEC’s role is growing significantly because economy is a key factor in international relations. He said that sometimes economic relations create favorable conditions for developing a productive political agenda, which contributes to settling disputes.

According to Babloyan, certain tensions existing in the region obstruct the deepening of economic partnership between countries. However, he argues that the strengthening of economic potential of the region’s countries can be a good prerequisite for reacting to challenges and strengthening stability. He stressed that one should not forget that the great part of the most difficult problems are possible to be solves by developing honest, sincere and unbiased dialogue, while the inter-parliamentary cooperation and parliamentary diplomacy are among the irreplaceable tools for establishing it.

Babloyan expressed hope that the Yerevan session will be another step in the direction of strengthening economic cooperation between countries.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan