Author: Babajanian Karo

REVIEWS OF NEW POP, COUNTRY/ ROOTS, JAZZ AND CLASSICAL RELEASES: “ARMENIAN SPIRIT”

Kansas City Star
Sept 24 2012

The Philadelphia Inquirer

Classical: HESPERION XXI

-David Patrick Stearns

“Armenian Spirit” Musicians Armeniens, Jordi Savall directing (Alia
Vox, 4 stars)

“Jeanne D’Arc – Battles & Prisons” Montserrat Figueras, Louise Moaty,
Rene Zosso, Manuel Weber, La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Savall
directing (Alia Vox, 3 stars)

Of these two chunky packages from Hesperion XXI, the less assuming –
“Armenian Spirit” – is the more notable. Inspired partly by the death
of Hesperion’s mainstay vocalist, Montserrat Figueras, and drawn from
a collection titled “Thesaurus of Armenian Melodies,” this is a quiet,
often melancholy, all-instrumental disc that employs mostly string
instruments, such as soprano gamba and the distinctly Aremenian duduk.

The music has an exotic Eastern modality, a bit Indian, somewhat
Arabic, but with long-breathed melodies that are soulful and direct.

The “Armenian” disc comes with a 316-page booklet, but is dwarfed by
the 503-page, two-disc “Joan of Arc” set, which draws in part from
existing Hesperion discs (thus Figueras’ posthumous appearance) in a
succession of 15th-century music, some of it Dufay chansons with their
dignified word settings and Burgundian cadences. The set has a strong
narrative, with French-speaking actors re-creating events in Joan’s
life and trial, with incidental music by Jordi Savall. Ultimately,
it feels like a high-toned radio play with too much talking and too
little music.

[other reviews omitted]

ROSSOTRUDNICHESTVO TO HOLD ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION ON RUSSIAN-ARMENIAN CONNECTIONS

Vestnik Kavkaza
Sept 24 2012
Russia

On September 27 Rossotrudnichestvo will hold a round table discussion
in Armenia on Russian-Armenian connections, dedicated to 1150 years
of the Russian state, News.am reports, referring to the press service
of Rossotrudnichestvo in Armenia.

The round table will be moderated by Professor Valeri Tumyan.

The round table will discuss the role of Russia in the resolution
of the conflicts in South Caucasus, the national movement of Armenia
at the turn of the 20th century, Armenians in the Russian state and
other topics.

EARTHQUAKE REGISTERED IN NAGORNO KARABAKH

armradio.am
24.09.2012 12:06

The Armenian National Survey for Seismic Protection informs that a
2.8 magnitude earthquake was registered 10 km to the north-east of
Karvachar, Nagorno Karabakh, on September 24, at 01:37 a.m.

The hypocenter of the quake was at the depth of 10 km, the earthquake
measured 3-4 at the epicenter.

LOCAL ELECTIONS WERE LIKE A DEAL, SAYS OPPOSITIONIST

tert.am
24.09.12

The local self-government elections in the five regions of Armenia
looked like a sale-purchase transaction, according to Styopa Safaryan,
the secretary of the opposition Heritage party.

Speaking to Tert.am, the politician addressed particularly the
polling in the Dilijan town (Tavush region), where the Heritage had
nominated one candidate. “It was noticeable, unfortunately, that
money, the administrative resource and the population’s dependence
on the candidates appeared the major driving force,” he said.

Heritage’s nominee, Armen Simonyan, who ran for the city’s Elder’s
Council, is said to lack about twenty votes to win the election.

Noting that most of the elected council members are employees
of electricity services, water and sewerage companies and banks,
the Heritage secretary said it is no surprise that those people
should have an advantage. He regretted to note that voters never
guide themselves by a candidate’s program and chose instead to take
account of the above factors.

Preliminary voting results suggest the incumbent mayor of Dilijan,
Armen Santrosyan (Republican Party of Armenia), has been re-elected
to his post.

The town’s former mayor, Zhora Sahabalyan, also ran for election as
a nominee of the Prosperous Armenia party.

The Heritage representative running for the mayor of Tsahkadzor, Hovik
Hakobyan (who was also endorsed by the opposition of the Armenian
National Congress) is also thought to have lost the election.

The ruling Republican Party had nominated Artur Harutyunyan for the
town’s mayor.

The second round of the local self-government elections covered
318 communities in the regions of Aragatsotn, Gegharkunik, Kotayk,
Vayots Dzor and Tavush.

AXE-MURDERER RAMIL SAFAROV PUT AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER AT RISK OF RESIGNATION

ARMENPRESS
24 September, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS: Because of the axe-murderer Ramil
Safarov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Elmar Mamedyarov
is currently at risk of resignation. This was reported by fraza.ru,
news website, as informed by Armenpress.

According to the website, because of Ramil Safarov’s scandal, the
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan got the strict outrage
of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev for being categorically
against the extradition of the assassin Ramil Safarov from Hungary
to Azerbaijan and giving him a “national hero”. Elmar Mamedyarov
warned the Azerbaijani authorities that the extradition and release
of the perpetrator, sentenced to life imprisonement, would make an
irrevocable impact on the Azerbaijan’s international authority and
the negotiations process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement.

According to the Ukrainian website, “In Azerbaijan they have already
talked that Mamedyarov might be substituted by his first deputy
Hafiz Pashayev”.

On February 19 2004 in Budapest Azerbaijani assassin Ramil Safarov,
who axe-murdered Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan while sleeping,
when they were participating in NATO English Language Courses in the
capital of Hungary, was sentenced to life imprisonment without right
to be pardoned for 30 years. On August 31 2012 Safarov was extradited
from Hungary to Azerbaijan and was pardoned by the President Ilham
Aliyev. The murderer was advanced to mayor, provided with an apartment
and given “national hero” and compensated for the 8 years of the
imprisonment in Hungary. Armenia suspended diplomatic relations
with Hungary. The extradition, pardoning and release of Safarov
were condemned by many countries and authoritative organizations of
the world.

DES GRENADES SUISSES AUX MAINS DE LA LSA
Jean Eckian

armenews.com
lundi 24 septembre 2012

Selon le site antiwar.com, depuis plusieurs mois des photos montrent
les rebelles “syriens” en possession de grenades de fabrication suisse.

Interroge, le gouvernement helvetique aurait assure que ce marche avait
ete conclu initialement avec les Emirats Arabes Unis il y a plusieurs
annees. Ces exportations etaient conditionnees par l’interdiction de ”
reexportation “. La suisse dit revoir l’ensemble de ces exportations
d’armes afin de verifier si ces dernières ne servent pas a alimenter
des guerres civiles.

Une commission a par ailleurs constate que les Emirats Arabe Unis
avaient remis une partie de cette livraison a la Jordanie pour
“combattre le terrorisme”, speculant que celle-ci avait trouve le
chemin de la Syrie…sans autre indication.

China’s Navy gets its first aircraft carrier

TASS-TVTOKYO, September 23 (Itar-Tass) – China’s first aircraft
carrier entered into service of the country’s Navy on Sunday, local
media has reported.

It was rebuilt from Ukraine’s aircraft carrier Varyag that Beijing
bought back in 1998.

Last year the vessel, which will get its new name in honour of
Liaoning, China’s northeastern province where it was rebuilt,
underwent sea trials, making ten sea voyages and conducting trainings
with ship-based aircraft.

According to Chinese military officials, the aircraft carrier will be
mainly used for training purposes. Within the upcoming years Beijing
plans to build several more aircraft carriers that will be fully
designed and manufactured in China.

China’s aircraft carriers will significantly influence the alignment
of forces in the region. In particular, Tokyo keeps a close watch on
expansion of the Chinese fleet’s presence in the Pacific Ocean,
especially in the light of the territorial dispute over the Senkaku
Islands, also known as the Diaoyu Islands in China that recently
aggravated.

Montreal Gazette, QC, Canada
Sept 22 2012
Final Edition

Love in time of genocide; Mass Killing of Armenians informs novel

by TRACY SHERLOCK, Postmedia News

The Sandcastle GIRLS represents somewhat of a departure for author
Chris Bohjalian, who usually writes about controversial or intriguing
issues in his novels and often presents convincing arguments for both
sides of a debate.

This time, he tackles historical fiction – albeit of a controversial
event – from a personal perspective. He writes about the mass
deportation of Armenians, some of whom were his ancestors, by the
Ottoman Empire during the First World War. Here’s what he wrote about
deciding to write The Sandcastle Girls in an essay for The Armenian
Times:

“The novel has been gestating at the very least since 1992, when I
first tried to make sense of the Armenian Genocide: a slaughter that
most of the world knows next to nothing about.

“Three of my four Armenian great-grandparents died in the poisonous
miasma of the genocide and the First World War. Moreover, some of my
best – and from a novelist’s perspective most interesting – childhood
memories occurred while I was visiting my Armenian grandparents at
their massive brick monolith of a home in a suburb of New York City.”

The use of the term “genocide” in relation to the events that occurred
in what was to become Turkey is politically charged.

Some countries, including Canada, have recognized the Armenian deaths
as a genocide, while other countries, including the United States and
Turkey, have not. Bohjalian’s book is clearly on the side of those who
believe the Armenians were being deliberately and systematically wiped
out.

The book is narrated by a modern-day fictional female author named
Laura Petrosian, who is also descended from Armenian grandparents. She
finds a disturbing photo of an Armenian woman who shares her last
name, and is then motivated to dig into her grandparents’ history.

The novel alternates between Laura Petrosian’s present-day story, and
that of her grandparents: the displaced Armenian engineer Armen
Petrosian and the young American woman Elizabeth Endicott, who travels
to Syria in 1915 with her physician father to deliver aid and food to
the Armenians.

The ensuing story is, at its heart, a love story, but it is also a
grim and at times harsh look at these controversial events.

Elizabeth and Armen, whose wife and daughter have disappeared in the
conflict, become friends. Armen joins the British army in Egypt,
putting his life at risk in doing so.

While he is away, Armen and Elizabeth write letters to each other, and
begin to fall in love. Meanwhile, in the present-day timeline, Laura
finds the letters and uses them as the basis for her research.

Bohjalian’s books are always entertaining, and this one continues in
that tradition. Readers should be prepared for some description and
passages that are difficult to read and that might make them
uncomfortable, but at the same time there is much to learn here.

The love story is touching and believable, adding a softer dimension
to what is at times a brutal story.

The Sandcastle Girls By Chris Bohjalian Doubleday, 320 pages, $28.95

Man found dead in Yerevan

tert.am
13:18 – 23.09.12

A 31-year-old man was found dead in a building yard in Yerevan’s Avan
district on Saturday.

The district police department has told Tert.am that the deceased,
Levon Azizyan, lived on the third floor of the building. His body was
found by neighbors. The police are preparing materials for an inquest.

Iraq stood largest importer of Iranian electricity
Economic Desk

On Line: 23 September 2012 16:16
In Print: Monday 24 September 2012

Iraq imported 1.137 gigawatts (GW) of electricity from Iran on Friday,
ranking the first in the list of Iranian electricity importers.

Meanwhile, Turkmenistan exported 134 megawatts (MW) of electricity to
Iran, remaining the top exporter of electricity to the Islamic
republic, the IRIB reported.

Iran exported totally 1.505 GW of electricity to Afghanistan, Iraq,
Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Turkey and imported 155 MW of electricity
from Turkmenistan and Armenia.

The national power generation capacity currently amounts to 65.2 GW,
Deputy Energy Minister Mohammad Behzad said on April 3.

The Energy Ministry plans to increase the electricity generation
capacity by 5 gigawatts (GW) this calendar year, which began on March
20, Behzad added.

By the end of the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (March
2016), Iran will boost its electricity generation capacity by 25GW to
reach 73GW, Energy Minister Majid Namjou said on February 7.

Iran currently trades power with Turkey, Armenia, Turkmenistan,
Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq.