Author: Arsine Chaltikian

The following piece was provided by the Armenian Museum of America:

By Jesse Kenas Collins

Over the past year, the Armenian Museum of America’s Sound Archive program has taken a giant step forward. Each month, the Museum posts a handful of songs digitized and restored from its collection of 78 rpm records on its website along with a historical writeup about the artists.

Along with more conventional musical recordings, some of the recordings touch on Armenian cultural, political, and educational history, as well as the history of recording technologies. The program is sponsored by a generous grant from the SJS Charitable Trust.

The Museum hosted musicologist Ian Nagoski to its galleries to weave the story of the influential but largely forgotten soprano Zabelle Panosian, who was born in Bardizag and emigrated to Boston in 1907. Ian’s talk drew from his recently published book “Zabelle Pansoian: I Am Servant of Your Voice,” co-authored with Harout Arakelian and Harry Kezelian.

In November, the Museum welcomed the world-renowned composer and musician Ara Dinkjian. Speaking to a packed house, Ara discussed the early history of some of the first recordings of Armenian music through the 1940’s. The presentation built on Ara’s book and CD compilation “Armenians in America on 78 rpm.”

“As we approach our fourth year presenting the Sound Archive at the Armenian Museum of America, we are proud to make this content available to people around the world,” says Executive Director Jason Sohigian. “For half a century now, the Museum’s collection of 78 rpm records has grown thanks to generous donors who have been entrusting us with their personal collections.”

“This music was almost lost to history at least twice in the past 100 years alone,” adds Sohigian. “First as a result of the Armenian Genocide, and then when audio technology has changed from records to other media in the 21st century. The Museum is now at the forefront of preserving and sharing these treasured archives of Armenian history and culture.”

The Sound Archive explores the Museum’s extensive collection of recordings including some that serve as more than entertainment, anchored by a series of articles about moments of cultural and political history. In one segment, listeners can eavesdrop on a party at the home of the writer Hamasdegh (Hampartzoum Gelenian) on the night of June 10, 1939. The commemorative disc opens with an introduction by none other than William Saroyan.

A second article covers an NBC San Francisco radio broadcast from June 24, 1945, highlighting the Armenian National Chorus as well as advocacy work about the Armenian Question from celebrity chef George Mardikian and attorney Souren Saroyan of the Armenian National Committee.

Most of the posts focus on the most influential Armenian artists recording during the 78 rpm era. The Museum highlighted two post-war music icons, The Gomidas Band, a group at the frontier of kef style, and Guy Chookoorian, an artist and musical comic with a character and approach all his own.

Writing, research, and audio digitization is undertaken by this author along with Harout Arakelian and Harry Kezelian. To explore the archive of digitized recordings and articles dating back to 2021, please visit: www.armenianmuseum.org/sound-archive.

About the author: Jesse Kenas Collins is a digitization specialist responsible for the transfer of analog recordings to digital files for the Armenian Museum of America. Jesse is a museum professional and music preservationist with more than a decade of experience working in collections care, exhibitions production, and audio digitization. Jesse’s preservation work and research into the music of the Middle East extends into his work with the restoration of historical musical instruments.

https://www.watertownmanews.com/2024/01/15/digital-archive-of-armenian-music-accessible-via-armenian-museum-of-america-website/

As one of the leading symposiums on climate change, the United Nations Climate Change Conference has become one of the most important dates on the environmental calendar as countries from around the world meet to measure progress and negotiate multilateral responses to global warming. Also known as COP, the annual summit represents all that is good in the world as attendees tackle one of the biggest existential threats of our time. The conference, however, can also be used for nefarious purposes.

Take for example, Azerbaijan, a country that has been ruled by a petro-dictator, Ilham Aliyev, who has exploited their vast natural resources to buy a seat at the world's table. For years, Azerbaijan has tried to shape the world's perception of them as a country that is open for business, with oil and gas playing a vital role in those efforts. It's one of the reasons why Azerbaijan is celebrating the U.N.'s decision to name them as next year's host for COP29, which is shortsighted, confounding, and dangerous. Put simply, Azerbaijan is trying to cover up its dreadful environmental and human rights record through events like COP.

By awarding Azerbaijan this honor, the U.N. is sending the wrong message to the world and is undermining the core mission and ethos of the annual conference and organization as a whole.

When Azerbaijan hosts COP29 next year, it will do so as a country that relies heavily on oil and gas, which accounts for around 95 percent of its total export revenues. That production will only increase as the European Commission inked a deal with Azerbaijan in 2022 to double imports of natural gas by 2027, to help the bloc reduce its reliance on Russian energy.

And when attendees attend COP29 in Baku, they will also be visiting an area known to be "the ecologically most devasted area in the world," due in large part to oil spills and a country home to one of the most polluted places on Earth.

While there is no denying how Azerbaijan's oil and gas has done irrefutable harm to the planet, it is their weaponization of environmentalism that is more troubling. It promises to create a dangerous precedent for other autocrats looking to greenwash their ulterior motives. It was under the false pretense of environmentalism that Azerbaijan implemented their illegal road blockade of the Lachin corridor that forced more than 120,000 ethnic Armenians from their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh, which many leading scholars including Luis Moreno Ocampo, the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, called a "genocide." The group of Azeris who initiated the blockade claimed that they were raising the alarm about eco-terrorism in the region, but were also from the same country that inflicted harm on the environment during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war with Armenia.

During that conflict, Azerbaijan used chemical weapons to burn down forests where civilians took shelter from Azerbaijan's attacks. Video evidence showed Azeri military forces using white phosphorous munitions containing elements of chemical weapons in the primary forests of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan did not just limit their harm to the environment during the war with Armenia. They also continued to spread their ongoing policy of Armenophobia.

As the host city for COP29, Baku is also home to Azerbaijan's Military Trophies Park, Aliyev's ethnic hatred theme park that glorified and extoled his 2020 victory over Armenia by featuring hundreds of helmets taken from Armenian soldiers killed during the war. And when global heads of state meet to discuss how to address climate change, Armenian political prisoners, who are former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh, including Armenian humanitarian Ruben Vardanyan, will be sitting near them in Azeri jail cells.

Environmentalism has historically been used as a platform for good and enacting change. Cities like Paris (The Paris Climate Agreement) and Kyoto (Kyoto Protocol) have become symbols for environmental justice and models for climate transparency and openness. But environmentalism can also be used to mask injustices. As this year's host for COP28, the United Arab Emirates used the forum to whitewash its poor human rights and environm

Environmentalism has historically been used as a platform for good and enacting change. Cities like Paris (The Paris Climate Agreement) and Kyoto (Kyoto Protocol) have become symbols for environmental justice and models for climate transparency and openness. But environmentalism can also be used to mask injustices. As this year's host for COP28, the United Arab Emirates used the forum to whitewash its poor human rights and environmental record, which drew widespread criticism from climate advocates like former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.

Azerbaijan is the latest country to turn to this playbook. That is why environmentalism and human rights are not mutually exclusive. It allows dictators like Aliyev to use their natural resources to fund their illegal wars and armed aggressions, and then hide behind international forums for perceived legitimacy.

Trusted public institutions like the United Nations have a responsibility to ensure that human rights and the rule of law are conditions for hosting events. They should expect countries that attend these gatherings to be good stewards of their land and people. The bar should be the same for where those meetings are being held.

Stephan Pechdimaldji is a communications strategist who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. He's a first-generation Armenian American and grandson to survivors of the Armenian genocide.

https://www.newsweek.com/blood-oilhow-azerbaijan-greenwashes-its-human-rights-record-opinion-1853936 

The Foreign Ministry in Baku said two French diplomats were named personae non grata and the ambassador was summoned in protest. However, the ministry did not specify reasons for the dispute.

Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said that two French diplomats had been ordered to leave the country over actions "incompatible with their diplomatic status." 

The ministry said in a statement that it had summoned French ambassador Anne Boillon to voice a "strong protest over the actions of two employees of the French Embassy." 

It said the pair were given 48 hours to leave the country. 

But the statement did not provide the exact reason for the two diplomats being sent home.

The move comes amid strained ties between Baku and Paris as  European powers attempt to mediate between Azerbaijan and neighboring Armenia. 

Azerbaijan reclaimed the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, over which the rivals fought two wars in recent decades, in a lightning offensive in September against Armenian separatists who had controlled it since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In October, President Ilham Aliyev refused to attend a round of talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, citing what he said was the EU and France's "biased position" on the dispute. 

France's President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Council President Charles Michel had been set to mediate at that meeting.

In November, Aliyev accused France of inciting conflicts in the Caucasus in recent decades by arming Armenia.

France is home to a large Armenian diaspora and has often been accused of partiality by Baku.