Author: Anna Tamamian

Yerevan State Youth Theater, invited by the Theater Painted Bird, will be performing in Istanbul for the first time with the play “Edith Piaf-Marcel” on Oct. 15 and Oct. 16, Daily Sabah report.

The play focuses on Piaf’s love and longing for Marcel Cerdan. Theater Painted Bird celebrates its 15th birthday with “Edith Piaf-Marcel” on the 100th birthday of the legendary French singer Edith Piaf.

Directed by Hakob Ghazanchyan, the play will be staged at Şişli Municipality Cultural Center. The protagonist is played by young award-winning actress Mariam Ghazanchyan. The play is significant in that it is the first Armenian production to be staged in Turkey.

French diva Edith Piaf, known as the Little Sparrow, was born in 1915. She started to sing on the street when she was a little child. After Louis Leplee, who ran a nightclub on the Champs-Elysees, discovered her talent, Piaf started her musical career. She then became one of the most loved singers in Europe and the entire world. She recorded more than 100 songs between 1933 and 1963 when she died. The musical, “Edith Piaf-Marcel” is based on the theme of Piaf’s greatest love for world boxing champion Marcel Cerdan and the tragedy she went through after Marcel’s death. Piaf creates a spiritual and imaginary world in order to communicate with Marcel after he dies in a plane crash in 1949. She tries to communicate with Marcel through her songs, each of which turns into a prayer. Mariam Ghazanchyan utters only one word throughout the play: “M-A-R-C-E-L!”

The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Serbia’s Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić, met the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, James Warlick of the United States of America, and Pierre Andrieu of France), and the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office on the conflict dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, in New York today.

Ambassadors informed Dačić about the latest surge in violence and the talks they have held with Armenian and Azerbaijani officials since. He strongly condemned the recent escalation, offering his condolences to the families of the victims, appealing to all to show maximum restraint and work towards de-escalation.

CiO Dačić expressed his full support to the work of the OSCE Minsk Group and Ambassador Kasprzyk, and reiterated their call for advancing negotiations on a lasting settlement for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as well as for implementing confidence-building measures.

Holding the next presidential summit, as has been discussed, would be a good step in that direction, Dačić said.

Armenia’s ex-Minister of Energy, Adviser to RA President Armen Movsisyan passed away today aged 53. He had long been fighting brain cancer.

Armen Movsisyan worked as Minister of Energy and then as Minister of Energy and Natural Resources between 2001 and 2014.

President Serzh Sargsyan visited Yerablur  Pantheon on the occasion of the 24th anniversary of Armenia’s Independence to pay tribute to those, who sacrificed their lives for the Motherland.

The President was accompanied by His Holiness Karkekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Bako Sahakyan, other officials.

Croatia has closed seven of its eight road border crossings with Serbia following a huge influx of migrants, the BBC reports.

Officials said they had no choice after more than 11,000 people entered the country since Hungary fenced off its border with Serbia earlier this week.

 

Huge numbers of people heading north from the Mediterranean have created a political crisis in the European Union.

Croatian officials said roads leading to the border crossings had also been shut.

The crossing on the main road linking Belgrade and Zagreb – at Bajakovo – appeared to be the only one left open.

“Escalation is not the answer,” US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick said in a Twitter post, as he reacted to the recent tension at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the line of contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan.

“There are credible reports both sides have used mortars recently resulting in civilian casualties. Escalation is not the answer,” Warlock said.

 

 

 

 

Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem will be performed at the Revival Square of Stepanakert on September 1 in memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide and those, who lost their lives in the Atsakh war.

Artistic director of the concert, world-famous opera singer Lyubov Kazarnavskaya says the choice should not surprise and worry anyone.

“The undefeatable spirit of the Armenian people and culture, the revival and development of the nation – this is what the Requiem is about. This not the march of Verdi’s mourning march on the Armenian soil, this is the height of the human spirit,” Kazarnovskaya told reporters in Yerevan.

“Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. These are the most important words in the lyrics of the Requiem. We’ll try to sing about that eternal light,” conductor Anatoly Levin said.

The guests have said on many occasions they don’t worry about being included in Azerbaijan’s “black list” because of the visit Nagorno Karabakh.

When speaking about Armenia, Lyubov Kazarnovskaya uses the words “great” and “beloved.”

“I’ve grown up here. My father served here, I attended the school after Chekhov and lived at 32, Abovyan Street. This is the reason why I’m familiar with the Armenian culture praised by Komitas,” she said.

The concert of September 1 will feature musicians not only from Russia, but also Serbia and Italy.

The “Lost Birds” – the first Turkey-made film on Armenian Genocide – will be screened in cinemas across Turkey starting this week, Ermenihaber.am reports, quoting Turkish Sondakika.com website.

“Lost Birds” tells the story of a brother and a sister who are left behind during the ‘1915 Armenian exile.

“Lost Birds,” a heartfelt film with themes of love and family directed by Armenian director Aren Perdeci and Turkish director Ela Alyamac is the first movie to depict the tragedy in a film shot in Turkey on its 100th anniversary.

The film is led by young actors Dila Uluca and Heros Agopyan, as well as an ensemble cast of Armenian actors living in Turkey.

At least 15 people have been killed on in a crash between a cargo vessel and a passenger boat on Egypt’s River Nile.

Family and friends of a young couple had hired the boat for an engagement party and were sailing north of Cairo when the crash happened, according to AFP news agency.

An Interior Ministry statement said 15 bodies had been found and six people were still missing.

The captain of the cargo boat has been arrested.

Five people were rescued from the water, but at least two children were killed.

It is not clear if the couple thought to be celebrating their engagement were among the dead, said AFP.

Armenia has welcomed the agreement reached on Iran’s nuclear program.

“Armenia welcomes the agreement on Iran’s nuclear program reached as a result of consistent, constructive efforts of Iran and the international mediators,” Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said in a statement.

“This long-expected agreement is an important achievement for the benefit of international and regional stability and reinforcement of cooperation,” Minister Nalbandian said.

“We are hopeful that this will serve an impetus for the expansion of trade-economic cooperation between Armenia and friendly Iran and implementation of joint programs,” the Armenian Foreign Minister stated.