Author: Babajanian Karo

FUSING ARMENIAN MUSIC WITH IMPROVISATION

Kentish Gazette
October 25, 2012
UK

THE past year has been a rollercoaster for young Armenian pianist
Tigran.

He released his solo album A Fable, performed his debut concert at the
Queen Elizabeth Hall with master percussionist Trilok Gurtu, recorded
sessions for Radio 1’s Gilles Peterson Show and Jamie Cullum’s Radio 2
show and also made his debut television appearance on Later With Jools.

Now he is stopping off in Canterbury on his latest tour, performing
at the Gulbenkian Theatre at 7.30pm on Saturday, November 3.

A solo pianist, his music has made an impact, fired by his passion
and potent jazz improvisation, fused with the rich music of his native
Armenia. The joy and energy of his live shows have garnered him fans
among the public and musicians alike.

Born in Armenia in 1987, Tigran grew up in a household that was full
of music. By the time he was three he was figuring out songs on piano
by the Beatles, Louis Armstrong, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Queen.

When he was 16 his parents moved to Los Angeles to give their two
children (Tigran’s sister is a painter and sculptor) better artistic
opportunities. Soon he began to win a series of piano competitions and
make contact with LA jazz musicians such as Alphonso Johnson and Alan
Pasqua and gigging with saxophonist Ben Wendel and drummer Nate Wood,
who continue to play with him today.

Tickets for the Gulbenkian concert are £18 from the box office.

MY UNCLE RAFAEL – EXCLUSIVE CLIP

Tribute.ca
Oct 26 2012
Canada

When a TV producer is desperate to find a replacement series,
she convinces a 71-year-old Armenian, tell-it-like-it-is uncle
(Vahik Pirhamzei) to star in a new reality show. Cultures collide
when Uncle Rafael is thrown into the Schumacher family household
where he, in his own Armenian way, has one week to save an already
broken and dysfunctional American family from falling apart. The only
rule-everyone must follow his rules!

Based on characters from the famous, award-winning Armenian stage
comedy “Rafael Keri Gandzere,” My Uncle Rafael opens exclusively at
the Sheppard Cinemas in Toronto on November 2 — Vahik Pirhamzei will
be in attendance at the evening screenings!

UNFINISHED BUILDING CAVES IN DOWNTOWN YEREVAN, THERE ARE CASUALTIES

Interfax
Oct 25 2012
Russia

An unfinished building has caved in for a hitherto unclear reason
in the center of Yerevan, the Armenian Emergency Situations Ministry
told Interfax.

“Judging by tentative reports, nine workers were trapped under debris.
One person was rescued,” the ministry said.

The search-and-rescue operation goes on.

NOT GOING GREEN: ASSOCIATION HEAD SAYS HIGH TAXES, GAS PRICES MAKE BUSINESS INCREASINGLY UNPROFITABLE FOR ARMENIA’S YEAR-ROUND INDOOR FARMING
By Gohar Abrahamyan

ArmeniaNow
26.10.12 | 10:58

NAZIK ARMENAKYAN

Greenhouses that supply fresh fruits and vegetables as well as flowers
year-round in Armenia may go out of business soon unless they get
proper attention from relevant government agencies, says the head of
their association.

President of the Greenhouse Association NGO Poghos Gevorgyan says
running greenhouses in Armenia is becoming increasingly unprofitable
for a number of reasons.

The data that he presented show that there is approximately an area
of 130 hectares turned into private greenhouses in Armenia, with
60 percent of them cultivating vegetables and fruits and 40 percent
engaged in growing flowers.

“About 95 percent of flowers in Armenia are grown in greenhouses.

Generally, still in the Soviet times Armenia was considered to be the
best place for greenhouse economies considering the average duration
of daylight, local soil and water, which gives the yield an additional
flavor,” Gevorgyan said during a meeting with reporters on Thursday.

He regretted that today greenhouses can make no headway because of
what he described as a heavy tax burden.

“There was a time when greenhouses were a very lucrative business
and people engaged in this business would develop it… But today the
increasing natural gas prices and taxation are putting huge pressure
on this business,” complained Gevorgyan.

The Association head also complained about the practice of asking
advance payments, such as for natural gas supply, which, he said,
forced greenhouses to take loans and then work throughout the year
to pay the high interest on those loans.

“It turns out that greenhouses work for the banks,” said Gevorgyan,
stressing that such a situation does not give them an opportunity to
work for development through acquiring new technologies, etc.

At the same time, the Greenhouse Association president said that a
20-percent value-added tax and a 12-percent customs duty for importers
at the border put off potential investors for the sector.

“For example, some entrepreneurs came from China with an intention
of investing some $100 million here, but because of the high taxes
they left without making any investment,” said Gevorgyan, adding
that many of the association farmers who own large greenhouses are
actually selling them off as scrap metal.

According to the specialist, greenhouse space of six hectares provides
up to 120 jobs, with their monthly average salaries being 70,000 drams
(about $175). Most of these workers, he said, will become unemployed
when the greenhouses close down.

Recently, the Armenian Harvest Promotion Center announced the launch
of a process to develop small greenhouses in Armenia, which aims to
enable individual farmers and households to build, with a relatively
small investment, greenhouses based on new technologies that would
provide a relatively high yield.

But Gevorgyan spoke skeptically about this initiative too. He predicted
that these small greenhouses would not withstand the high tax pressure
and would eventually go out of business, leaving the field open to
a monopoly.

OPINION: ARMENIA HAS TURNED INTO PENAL INSTITUTION

07:07 pm | Today | Politics

Members and supporters of the opposition Armenian National Congress
(HAK), who have been staging protests outside the Prosecutor General’s
Office in Yerevan, believe that only after holding free and fair
elections Armenia will not have political prisoners.

“The ballots marked by voters at polling stations should reach the
right place. Only in that case will this country stand on the right
path to freedom and independence,” said human rights activist Vardan
Harutyunyan.

The participants of the action call for immediate release of HAK
activist Tigran Arakelyan and his friends who were taken into
custody after an August 2011 standoff with police officers in a
Yerevan park and charged with hooliganism against a representative
of law-enforcement body.

Tigran Arakelyan, David Kiramijyan, Sargis Gevorgyan and Artak
Karapetyan were later sentenced to 2-6 years in prison.

“They continue to demonstrate their stupid stubbornness and leave
the sentences unchanged,”said Areg Gevorgyan.

“The jailed opposition activists are subject to political persecution
and a verdict returned in the result of political chase cannot be
grounded,” said human rights activist Vardan Harutyunyan.

The people gathered outside the Prosecutor General’s Office claim
that any citizen could appear at the bar as long as Serzh Sargsyan
and his administration are in power.

“Armenia has turned into a penal institution where everyone is
a prisoner. We hardly differ from the jailed HAK activists,” HAK
activist Norayr Gasparyan told A1+.

PAPER: PROSPEROUS ARMENIA SLAMS PM~RS REMARKS AS UNFOUNDED

PanARMENIAN.Net
October 26, 2012 – 19:30 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – According to Aravot daily, Prosperous Armenia
spokesman Tigran Urikhanyan slammed rumors about the plans of
Prosperous Armenia and the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA)
to sign a new coalition agreement as unfounded.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan didn’t rule out signing of
a new memorandum, considering the current developments.

Mr. Urikhanyan deems such an assumption as ungrounded, the paper says.

ARMENIA HAS NEVER DECLARED ABOUT REFUSING THE TREATY OF SEVRES. SHARMAZANOV

ARMENPRESS
OCTOBER 26, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 26, ARMENPRESS: The Deputy Speaker of NA Eduard
Sharmazanov commented on several declarations of PAP deputies.

Armenpress quotes Sharmazanov as saying “Deputies of “Prosperous
Armenia Party” made a really unsuccessful comparison when comparing the
coalitional memorandum with Treaty of Sèvres, as Armenian authorities
never declared about refusing the Treaty”.

The comment of Eduard Sharmazanov on the declarations of PAP deputies
Naira Zohrabyan and Vahe Hovhannisyan was made in a response to
Tert.am question.

“The opposite of this is always pointed by the Turkish side. It is
terrific that our PAP colleagues may encourage the Turkish side and
it is absurd to compare a document of national importance with the
developments of internal policies” noted Eduard Sharmazanov.

Eduard Sharmazanov hoped that the declaration was just a “case
of diplomatic illiteracy” and had nothing to do with the official
viewpoint of PAP.

PM VISITS FOOD AND DRUG SAFETY EXPERT LAB IN KOTAYK

armradio.am
18:05 26.10.2012

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan visited today the state-of-the-art food
and drug safety expert lab at Nor-Gyukh village of Kotayk Marz built
by Tonus-Les Ltd. Accompanied by Minister of Economy Tigran Davtyan
and Healthcare Minister Derenik Dumanyan, the Prime Minister toured
the lab getting acquainted with the ongoing activities, Government’s
Press Office reported.

The investment program has a total cost of AMD 1.3bn, which, according
to the contract signed with the Ministry of Economy, will help create
at least 50 jobs, 20 of which are in place already. Currently the
company employs 97 people with an AMD 100 thousand average salary.

Stressing the importance of laboratory operations, the Prime Minister
indicated that all food manufacturers are required to provide
high quality products to the public, otherwise any breaches will be
exposed by means of laboratories like this. “Our goal is to create an
experimental laboratory network to administer expert findings on the
quality of food and pharmaceuticals products,” Tigran Sargsyan said.

The Government has already granted a 3-year VAT delay for the goods
imported by the company under the specified investment program.

Thanking the Premier for the privilege, Tonus-Les CEO Levon Hakobyan
said it would have been impossible to implement the program without
the government’s assistance.

The lab will make it possible to conduct quality, biological conformity
and bacteriological tests on imported food and pharmaceutical products,
supposed to boost local production and high-quality export.

The lab is using German, Swiss, Japanese and Israeli equipment, which
should originally cost about AMD310mn, but after job realization the
project cost soared up to AMD470mn.

“HELP YOUR BROTHER” INITIATIVE GRANTED AID OF AMD 5 MILLION TO THE SYRIAN-ARMENIANS SETTLED IN QASHATAGH

ARMENPRESS
OCTOBER 26, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 26, ARMENPRESS. “Help Your Brother” initiative made
a contribution of AMD 5 million to the “Qashatagh” foundation for
the needs of panel housebuilding of the 20 Syrian-Armenian families
settled in Qashatagh region of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. The
civil initiative informed “Armenpress” about this.

“Help Your Brother” organization will also undertake other enterprises
directed to the assistance of the Syrian-Armenians settled in Armenia
and the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. Soon the aid of food will be
distributed to the needy Syrian-Armenians settled in Armenia.

The activity of “Help Your Brother” initiative for the assistance
to the Syrian-Armenians continues. On October 22 about two tons of
humanitarian aid had been transported to Syria including medicine
for initial care. In accordance with the preliminary programs this
way of cargo transportation is to be chosen although not excluding
the charter cargo transportation.

“Help Your Brother” initiative expresses its gratitude to all those
individuals, businessmen, political figures and benefactors for their
help and assistance.

WHAT IS MORE EXPENSIVE: TWO OAK TREES CUT DOWN WITHOUT LEGAL RIGHTS OR FELLING HUNDREDS OF THEM ON A LEGAL BASIS?

Monday, 22 October 2012 18:48

Within the framework of the new government structure formation the head
of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources adjunct to the
NKR Government was changed as well, now former Mayor of Stepanakert
Vazgen Mikayelyan holds this post.

Why an unexperienced official took the place of the professional
specialist of the sphere is another matter, but the fact that the
department adopted a new policy became clear at October 17 Artsakh
Public Television broadcast.

The officials of the department, to be more precise, deputy head of
the department Armen Avagyan, who was deputy mayor of Stepanakert
during Vazgen Mikayelyan’s years in the Mayor’s post, later appointed
chief-minister of the government staff, touched upon mass tree-felling
activities. An impression was created as if nothing like that had ever
happened or it had been impossible to catch the illegal tree-fellers
and the appointment of the new administration was distinguished
by this.

The rumour is round the illegal tree-felling in the forest of
Arajadzor, Martakert region, where on an area of 3 ha 60 valuable trees
with 30-40 cm diameter were cut down as well as the neighbouring forest
of Vaghuhas village and the territory of Chareqtar, Shahoumyan region.

At the first sight the step seems to be worth praising, the officials
of the sphere immediately give clarifications, speak of the damage
caused to the forest, condemn the action, the only strange thing is
that the employees of the same department neglect the tree-felling
activities carried out in the capital let alone the fact that during
the years of the newly-appointed chief of the department /when he was
the Mayor of Stepanakert/ numerous trees were cut down in the capital.

Nothing is new about the fact that illegal tree-felling cases occur
quite frequently in the Republic, yet how strange it was to see how
pitifully the officials spoke for example about the two oak trees cut
down in Careqtar the other day,it seemed they were really sorry about
those two trees. But it turned out their anxiety was in fact caused
by the illegal tree-felling activities since the corresponding amount
of money was not paid to the state budget and the forests carried
millions of losses.

So, what damage is caused to the nature and the health of the
population by the thousands of tree-felling cases or isn’t the nature
damaged by the hundreds or maybe thousands of cases that are carried
out with the permission of the same body?

The primary task of the department of environment and natural
resources should be the conservationof the environment and only after
that providing more money into the budget. After all, the authorities
should not make such “high” announcements as “We shall not let anyone
think that the forests are left without control” or that this control
will be surely intensified and similar announcements, they should
prove this in action and never neglect such cases.

This announcement makes us think that before this new staff nobody had
controlled the forests and they came to regulate the affairs in the
sphere. The officials in Karabakh often forget that not long ago they
were responsible for similar situations, that there were quite a lot
of breaches during their post holding year and they begin to criticize
the actions they performed previously. For example, the Minister of
Healthcare, after being released from office, can criticize the sphere
and forget that this isonly the continuation of her initiatives or the
chief of the capital construction department when selected Minister
of Municipal Engineering begins to criticize the activity of the
structure and particularly that of the period he headed the body.

There are a lot of such examples to enumerate.

Anahit Danielyan