Author: Elizabeth Jabejian

Turkish Historians Provide Support for Halacoglu
By Abdullah Kilic
Zaman, Turkey
May 5 2005
Reaction against the sentence in absentia of Turkish Institute of
History (TTK) President, Professor Yusuf Halacoglu, by a Zurich court
in Switzerland, has been increasing gradually.
Three hundred fifty historians including Professor Halil Inalcik,
Professor Ilber Ortayli, Professor Kemal Beydilli, Professor Mustafa
Cetin Varlik, Professor Mucteba Ilgurel, Professor Feridun Emecen,
and Professor Yucel Ozkaya released a declaration on Wednesday, May
5, supporting Halacoglu, who was sentenced in absentia because he
said during a speech at a 2004 symposium in Switzerland, “There is
no Armenian genocide.” Supporting Halacoglu’s efforts to reveal the
historical facts about the Armenian emigration from Anatolia during
World War I, the 350 historians protested the unlawful action against
Halacoglu’s freedom of thought and speech. They expressed that the
unlawful act against the TTK President Halacoglu in Switzerland deeply
saddened them. The historians also prepared a scientific report on
the Armenian genocide allegations. The report indicates that Armenian
emigration in 1915 was not a pre-meditated plan but rather a temporary
and compulsory measure to provide security for the Ottoman army,
which was assaulted by Armenian guerillas in several regions, and to
prevent the clashes already occurring between Armenians and Muslims
from spreading. The report sheds light on the historical facts.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CZECH PRESIDENT LENDS SUPPORT TO TURKEY’S EU MEMBERSHIP
Turkish Press
May 5 2005
Press Review
STAR
Czech President Vaclav Klaus who arrived in Turkey on Tuesday
to attend the “Forum Istanbul” meeting, yesterday held a press
conference. Lending support to Turkey’s European Union membership,
Klaus pointed to Turkey’s cultural richness. “I’m against political
groupings, I support an open EU,” said Klaus. Concerning the
Armenian genocide allegations, Klaus called on Armenian officials
not to use historical events for political fodder. “Don’t play with
history, because you can’t change historical events,” said the Czech
president. /Star/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Le Nouvel Observateur
Semaine du Jeudi 21 avril 2005
1915 : «Il faut liquider la question arménienne…»
Turquie : le génocide inavoue
Ursula Gauthier
Entre le printemps 1915 et l’automne 1916, plus de 1 million
d’Arméniens de Turquie ont été exterminés par les milices turques en
application d’un plan conçu par les dirigeants d’un Empire ottoman
menacé de désintégration. Près d’un siècle plus tard, forte de sa
position stratégique et de son poids démographique et politique, la
Turquie, qui n’a toujours pas reconnu sa responsabilité dans le
premier génocide du siècle, se borne à proposer à l’Arménie une
«commission d’enquête conjointe»
Sa grand-mère avait l’habitude de répéter: «Ce n’est pas des morts
qu’il faut avoir peur, mais des vivants.» Ces paroles, l’avocate
turque Fethiye çetin ne les a comprises que beaucoup plus tard, quand
la vieille dame lui a raconté les scènes d’épouvante qui hantaient
ses cauchemars. A l’âge de 9 ans, cachée dans un cimetière, elle
avait vu égorger tous les hommes du village, et jeter leurs corps
dans la rivière. Puis les femmes et les enfants avaient été obligés
de quitter leurs maisons. Ils avaient marché, terrorisés, affamés,
pouilleux et en guenilles, sous les coups de gendarmes qui les
poussaient vers les déserts de Syrie. Des soldats l’avaient arrachée
à sa mère, qu’elle n’avait plus jamais revue. Un policier turc
l’avait finalement recueillie, élevée dans la foi musulmane et mariée
à un Turc – le grand-père de Fethiye.
Dans les provinces orientales de Turquie, ces «Arméniens secrets»
portent un surnom – terrible – les «restes de l’épée». Quand on est
un reste de l’épée, un débris de massacre, on se cache. «Ma
grand-mère a mis plus de soixante ans pour me révéler qui elle était
vraiment et ce qu’elle avait vécu en 1915», regrette Fethiye.
Elle-même a mis trente ans pour trouver le courage de publier son
histoire. Paru en novembre 2004, «Ma grand-mère» a réveillé des
fantômes évanouis. Le livre en est déjà à sa cinquième édition.
Fethiye çetin espère que son pays va cesser d’occulter les pages
sombres de son histoire. Et que les sempiternelles arguties sur ce
qu’en Turquie on appelle le «prétendu génocide» laisseront place à
«un peu d’empathie» pour la vieille souffrance des Arméniens.
Publicité
Il n’est pas sûr qu’elle soit entendue. L’immense majorité des Turcs
n’ont que de vagues notions de leur propre histoire. Les dénégations
farouches des gouvernements successifs, la partialité des manuels
scolaires, la propagande omniprésente dans les médias, le silence des
rescapés et de leurs descendants, tout concourt au travestissement
des faits.
Les faits
Aux yeux de l’écrasante majorité des historiens, le doute n’est pas
permis: ce que les Arméniens de l’Empire ottoman ont subi pendant la
Première Guerre mondiale s’appelle un génocide. Ce «crime contre
l’humanité» – expression créée pour l’occasion en 1919, comme le
terme «génocide» sera inventé en 1944 – est décidé au sommet, par le
comité central du parti unique au pouvoir en Turquie, le CUP (Comité
Union et Progrès), et exécuté par une entité ad hoc, l’Organisation
spéciale. Grâce aux rapports des consuls allemands et autrichiens
(alliés) ou américains (neutres, présents jusqu’à leur entrée en
guerre en 1917), les chancelleries sont informées de la nature inouïe
des tueries. Des résidents étrangers – professeurs, médecins,
missionnaires… – publient également le récit des horreurs dont ils
ont été témoins. Malgré l’intense émotion de l’opinion
internationale, les puissances en guerre se contentent d’émettre des
mises en garde verbales.
1 million à 1 million et demi d’Arméniens seront tués entre le
printemps 1915 et l’automne 1916. Ils étaient environ 2 millions à la
veille de la guerre, la Turquie n’en recense plus que 60000 en 1927.
Ceux qui ont pu s’échapper se dispersent à travers le monde. Une fois
la population arménienne déracinée des terres ancestrales où sa
présence remontait à trois mille ans, l’Anatolie est «turquifiée».
Elle le restera, malgré la défaite de la Turquie en 1918.
Les racines du crime
Depuis le milieu du XIXe siècle, l’Empire ottoman, en proie à
l’agitation de ses minorités, est «l’homme malade de l’Europe». La
situation des non-musulmans, soumis à des discriminations, des abus,
des exactions, s’est dégradée. Travaillés par l’éveil du
nationalisme, Grecs, Serbes et Roumains arrachent leur indépendance.
Impuissante à enrayer le déclin, la majorité turque accuse les
chrétiens de l’intérieur – Grecs, Arméniens, Syriaques – de
connivence avec les puissances étrangères. Celles-ci ne se privent
pas d’intervenir et c’est sous leur pression que le sultan adopte des
réformes politiques. Mais la masse musulmane vit mal la fin des
privilèges. Chaque progrès vers l’égalité déclenche des pogroms. En
1895, 250000 Arméniens sont massacrés.
En 1908, l’arrivée au pouvoir de l’opposition libérale jeune-turque
laisse espérer une sortie de l’engrenage. Mais la désintégration de
l’Empire s’accélère. Les Jeunes-Turcs, qui rêvent de le rebâtir en
réunissant tous les peuples turcophones d’Asie centrale, se heurtent
à l’Arménie historique, à la charnière des Empires russe et ottoman,
et à ses habitants attachés à leur identité culturelle, linguistique
et religieuse.
L’entrée en guerre aux côtés des puissances de l’Axe tourne au
désastre (100000 soldats ottomans périssent). Les Arméniens de
l’Empire sont collectivement accusés d’être une cinquième colonne au
service de l’ennemi. La décision est prise: «Il faut liquider la
question arménienne par l’extinction de la race arménienne», résumera
en 1916 le ministre de l’Intérieur Talaat Pacha en réponse aux
protestations de l’ambassadeur allemand Wolff-Metternich.
Les méthodes
C’est une entreprise de destruction systématique qui se met en place.
On en connaît désormais les mécanismes grâce aux travaux – de plus en
plus nombreux depuis les années 1980 – d’historiens de toutes
origines, y compris turque. Les élites sont anéanties en premier, et
d’abord celles de Constantinople: 650 intellectuels et notables sont
arrêtés le 24 avril 1915, torturés pour leur faire avouer l’existence
d’un hypothétique complot et mis à mort. La communauté décapitée,
c’est au tour des conscrits. Ils sont séparés des autres soldats et
massacrés. Simultanément, tous les mâles de plus de 12 ans sont
raflés dans les provinces orientales et tués sur place. Fin mai 1915,
la totalité de la population mâle de la région a été anéantie.
Aussitôt la seconde phase est lancée: un ordre de «déportation»
générale vers les déserts de Syrie et de Mésopotamie est décrété fin
mai. Il concerne le reste de la population. Femmes, enfants, malades
sont regroupés en convois et poussés vers un destin atroce. Ils
seront la proie de bandits kurdes et d’escadrons de «Tchétés» – des
repris de justice recrutés par l’Organisation spéciale. Razzias,
vols, viols, carnages, les méthodes sont d’une bestialité extrême.
Les plus belles femmes et les enfants en bas âge sont enlevés pour
être vendus en esclavage. Seuls 10 à 20% des déportés parviennent en
Syrie, où ils finissent par mourir de faim, de maladie, d’épuisement.
Deux mois plus tard, le même plan est appliqué dans les provinces de
l’Ouest, bien qu’elles soient très éloignées du front: élimination
des élites puis déportations, cette fois en wagons à bestiaux, car un
chemin de fer relie Constantinople à Alep. Les déserts implacables de
Deir ez-Zor sont le cadre de la troisième phase de l’extermination,
gérée par une «sous-direction des déportés» basée à Alep et dépendant
de Talaat. 700000 déportés sont poussés d’un camp de concentration à
un autre – il en existe vingt-cinq le long de l’Euphrate -, chaque
étape les rapprochant un peu plus de la fin. En avril 1916, les camps
sont «nettoyés» un à un, les ultimes survivants supprimés par des
Tchétés venus du Nord.
Les procès
En 1918, la Turquie a perdu la guerre. Sous la pression des
vainqueurs, les responsables de l’extermination des Arméniens –
ministres, dirigeants du CUP, gouverneurs de province – sont jugés
par des tribunaux turcs. Des dépositions, des preuves écrites et
authentifiées aboutissent à plusieurs condamnations par contumace.
Seuls quelques seconds couteaux sont pendus. Les coupables en chef
seront retrouvés et exécutés par des militants arméniens. Talaat
Pacha, réfugié à Berlin, est abattu en 1922 par un rescapé, Salomon
Tehlirian. Largement médiatisé, le procès Tehlirian (qui se concluera
par un acquittement) joue un rôle déclencheur dans la prise de
conscience d’un certain Raphaël Lemkin. «Pourquoi l’assassinat de 1
million d’individus est-il un crime moins grave que celui d’un
seul?», se demande le futur juriste dans ses Mémoires, partiellement
publiés. Comment être capables à l’avenir d’inculper les Talaat, et
pas seulement les Tehlirian? La nécessité d’élaborer un nouveau
concept juridique qui permette de punir en droit les auteurs des
crimes de masse pousse le jeune étudiant à abandonner ses études de
linguistique pour le droit. Vingt-cinq ans plus tard, quand il
s’agira de demander des comptes aux responsables de la Shoah, c’est
la notion – et le terme – de «génocide» inventée par Raphaël Lemkin
qui permettra de les juger à Nuremberg et de formuler la Convention
de l’ONU de 1948.
La Turquie moderne
Le traité de Sèvres (1920), qui prévoit le démembrement de l’Empire
ottoman et la création d’un Etat arménien en Anatolie, reste lettre
morte. La victoire de la résistance nationaliste menée par Mustafa
Kemal sera consacrée par le traité de Lausanne (1923). La République
turque est née. L’Arménie indépendante tombe aux oubliettes. De
l’autre côté de la frontière, une minuscule République arménienne a
été soviétisée en 1920. Les Arméniens se retrouvent à nouveau piégés,
cette fois à l’intersection des deux blocs. Aux avant-postes du camp
occidental, la Turquie moderne a beau compter dans ses cabinets
ministériels d’anciens criminels du CUP, elle occupe une position
trop stratégique pour qu’on l’oblige à régler les comptes du passé.
Elle profite de cette impunité pour occulter avec constance le crime
enfoui sous ses fondations.
URSULA GAUTHIER
–Boundary_(ID_povs63MXJraTgXDL+c6GYg)–

CJSC ARMENIAN COPPER PROGRAMME INCREASES PRODUCTION VOLUMES
OF BLACK COPPER BY 131.6%
YEREVAN, MAY 2. ARMINFO. The Armenian metallurgical company CJSC
Armenian Copper Programme (ACP) engaged in production of black cooper
at Alaverdi copper smelting works increased its production volumes in
the first quarter of 2005 by 131.6%, which made up 5.159 bln AMD ($11.2
mln), the Ministry for Trade and Economic Development informs ARMINFO.
According to the source, the export of the production in the period
under review grew 69.5% totaling 4.882 bln AMD ($10.6 mln). The produce
is fully supplied to cooper smelting works in Europe through direct
deliveries. The export volumes in 2004 totaled $38 mln as against
$13 mln in 2003. In 2004 Acp processed 40,000 tons of concentrate
and extracted 9.5 thousand tons of black copper as against 24,000
tons and 6.3 thousand tons in 2003 respectively.
To note, in 2001 ACP was provided licenses for 25 yeas for recovery
of Alaverdi copper and Tekhut copper-and-molybdenum deposits. The
company has not started the exploitation of the Tehkut deposits
still exploring the territory. Since the beginning of 2004, ACP
began extracting concentrate from the affiliated enterprise Base
Metals LTD for the first time. The latter exploits Drmbon copper and
gold-mining deposit in Mardakert region, NKR. To ensure stable base
of raw- materials, ACP concluded a contract with Agarak mining and
processing plant for supply of 25,000 tons of copper concentrate. 81%
of the shares of CJSC Armenian Copper Programme belong to the company
Vallex F.M. Establishment registered in Liechtenstein and 19% to the
citizen of Russia, Valeriy Mejlumyan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

A1plus
| 18:17:39 | 27-04-2005 | Official |
ARMENIA AND SYRIA ARE BROTHERS
Today in Holy Echmiadzin the Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II received
doctor Moukhlis Faraun, authorized Minister and temporary charge d’affaires
of Syria to Armenia.
Greeting doctor Faraun’s visit to Holy Echmiadzin His Holiness wished him
success and effective activity in his new post. His Holiness also referred
to his visit to Syria in 2001 April during which they went on a pilgrimage
to the monument to the Armenian Genocide.
The temporary charge d’affaires of Syria thanked for the meeting and
mentioned that he is glad to serve in a country which has rich culture and
fraternal links to his country.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

OFFICIALS TO ALLEVIATE THE CONSEQUENCES AND PREVENT THE THREAT
A1plus
| 19:20:38 | 22-04-2005 | Politics |
Following the instructions of RA Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan,
RA Minister for territorial administration and coordination of
infrastructures Hovik Abrahamyan, Head of the emergency situations
department at the RA government Edik Barseghyan, representatives of
the agricultural ministry, state committee for water industry left
for Armavir region. The officials are going to examine the emergency
situation caused in the region on April 21 by the sudden increase
of river Araks flow and to undertake measures aimed at prevention
of emergencies.
Currently works are being carried out on the spot aiming at
fortification of the dam and prevention of possible risk threatening
the nearby settlements of Getashen, Janfida, Pshavan and some others.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NO ARMENIAN GENOCIDE FOR EU, ONLY HOLOCAUST
A1plus
| 14:04:41 | 20-04-2005 | Social |
Today in the international conference titled “Genocide and Human
Rights” which started in Yerevan one of the speakers was Juan Mendez,
UE Secretary General assistant on Genocide preventing affairs. The
latter mainly referred to the Jewish Genocide – the Holocaust.
In his speech Mr. Mendez did not speak about the Armenian Genocide. He
said that there is desire to understand and appreciated what
happened at the beginning of the previous century with the Armenian
Nation. According to him, the historical memory of the nation is
a good helper in that business and it will give the international
community a possibility to fully clear up everything. And what do
the participants of the conference think about the speech of Mendez?
“I am not elated”, said Ashot Melqonyan, head of the History
Institute. He considered Juan Mendez’s speech “diplomatic and not
telling anything”. “I think it would be better not to have that
speech”, concluded Ashot Melqonyan. Armen Rostomyan, representative of
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Chief Body, and head of the NA
Standing Committee on Foreign Relations expressed his opinion shortly,
“He could have made the same speech in Turley as well”.
Norayr Davidyants, Minister of Health, did not want to comment on the
speech of Mendez, but said a little bit later, “It might have been
better”. RA Ombudsman Larissa Alaverdyan was not very attentive during
the Mendez’s speech, “At that moment I was speaking with the Irishman
(William Shabas, head of the Human Rights Irish Center)”.
“What is important for me is that Mendez has come to Armenia in that
connection”, added Mrs. Alaverdyan. For Michael Vegner, son of Armin
Vegner, German writer and eyewitness of the Armenian Genocide, the
speech of Mendez was not remarkable, “It was the speech of anyone
who would be in that post”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

CRITIC’S NOTEBOOK
This Is the Sound of Globalization
By JON PARELES
New York Times
Published: April 15, 2005
WOULD that the state of world music were the state of the world. In
the music, boundaries are wide open, curiosity leads to cooperation,
memories are long but the lessons of history are positive ones. In
the world, well …
World music, that happily vague category, encompasses raw field
recordings and slick non-Western pop, traditional music and countless
twists on traditionalism; the term is also applied to everything from
crosscultural fusions to club music with exotic samples to new-age
meditation albums. No matter. The broad rubric holds a wealth of
music that is now more accessible than ever before. And while major
labels have largely lost interest in world music, independents have
been busy, while listeners are no longer dependent on the shelf space
or classification skills of local record stores.
With the Internet, CD’s manufactured abroad are a few clicks away
at large retailers or dedicated specialists like the Latin-music
experts at descarga.com. Digital distribution brings the music
even closer. World music has its own clearinghouse for downloads at
calabashmusic.com, where it’s easy to stock an iPod with music from
Uzbekistan or Curacao or just read up on them. Subscription services
like Rhapsody and eMusic have a surprising amount of international
offerings.
And the Smithsonian Institution has just gone online with the
ethnographic answer to iTunes: smithsonianglobalsound.org,
with museum-quality annotation and royalties paid to
musicians. Information and recommendations are also available at
sites like worldmusiccentral.org and afropop.org.
What follows is just a dip into the cornucopia of world-music albums
released over the past year or so. These albums are the perfect
antidote to xenophobia, and a reminder that creativity doesn’t stop
at national borders or language barriers. (Prices range from $13.49
to $18.49 for one CD, to $17.95 for a two-CD set.)
Argentina
Tango isn’t the only accordion music out of Argentina. The accordionist
Chango Spasiuk (whose grandparents were Ukrainian immigrants to
Argentina) plays chamame, music from northeastern Argentina, where
it meets Brazil and Paraguay, forging his own compositions from folk
materials. His mostly instrumental album “Tarefero de Mis Pagos: Songs
>From the Red Land” (Piranha) sometimes points toward South America,
sometimes toward Europe. Mr. Spasiuk’s pieces often draw on a brisk
six-beat Argentine rhythm, underlined by percussion from Argentina and
beyond; they can also hark back to polkas and waltzes. Pieces like
“Scenes From Life on the Border” are a step removed from their folk
roots, but with a group that includes both Mr. Spasiuk’s accordion
and the smaller tango accordion, the bandoneon, there’s still plenty
of huffing and hooting.
Armenia
Purity and a haunted, resolute stillness pervade Hasmik Harutyunyan’s
“Armenian Lullabies” (Traditional Crossroads). The words to the
songs are about rocking a child to sleep, but the music barely
sways. Ms. Harutyunyan sustains the almost glacial melodies in a voice
both kindly and doleful, and for most of the album, she is accompanied
by only an instrument or two; there are long stretches that her voice
shares with only one unchanging note from a reed flute. The effect
is so intimate and timeless, it’s hard to imagine the dreams of the
child listening.
Brazil
Brazilian pop revels in scrambling past and present, which makes for
some delightfully disorienting pop on Paula Morelenbaum’s “Berimbaum”
(Universal Music Latino) and Silverio Pessoa’s “Batida Urbanas:
Projeto Microbio do Frevo” (“Urban Beats: Project Microbe of Frevo”
(Companhia Editora de Pernambuco).
Ms. Morelenbaum, who sang for a decade with the bossa nova titan
Antonio Carlos Jobim, sends bossa novas and sambas into an electronic
hall of mirrors on “Berimbaum.” It’s a collection of songs by
the poet and songwriter Vinicius de Moraes, and her nonchalant
voice is backed by a mixture of live musicians and samples that go
ricocheting between lounge music and breakbeats, often multiplying
into precise echoes. Bebel Gilberto has also been exploring this zone
of electro-bossa, but Ms. Morelenbaum and her crafty producers have
plenty to add.
Mr. Pessoa, who was a prime mover in the group Cascabulho, takes
wilder leaps. He has been re-examining the music of northeastern
Brazil, first forro and now frevo, carnival songs in a style somewhere
between a samba and a military brass band. His album remakes frevos
from the 1950’s and 60’s as mutating, hallucinatory tunes that might
use the old oom-pah, a dub-reggae undertow, the whistling swoop of
a synthesizer or a brash rap in Portuguese. He’s clearly fond of the
old songs and ready to shake them up completely.
Congo’s best-known music is soukous, the rumbas that bounced
across the Caribbean and back and, in Africa, turned into smoothly
irresistible dance tunes with sweet voices and pealing, twining
lines of guitars and horns. Kekele is an alliance of musicians who
have played in some of Congo’s best-known bands, and on “Congo Life”
(World Music), they feature acoustic instruments – guitars, woodwinds,
marimbas – in pristinely recorded soukous that’s no less danceable
for its gentle arrangements. But Congo holds other music, too. Konono
No. 1’s “Congotronics” (Crammed Disc, also available as a download
at ) introduces a 25-year-old band that amplifies thumb
pianos, called likembes, through homemade equipment built from, among
other things, magnets out of junked cars; its percussion includes
whistles, pots and pans. Rooted in trance music of the Bazombo people,
from where Congo meets Angola, Konono’s songs are amped-up, distorted
call-and-response chants with dizzying plinking patterns that just
grow fiercer and more jubilant as they stretch out.
Cuba
In hard economic times, Cubans have learned to make a few resources
go a long way, and on Pedro Luis Ferrer’s “Rustico” (Escondida),
the music uses a minimum of instruments: the bright-toned Cuban
guitar called the tres, some hand percussion, three or four voices
and perhaps a second guitar. Mr. Ferrer or his daughter Lena, who
has a gorgeously forthright voice, sings lead vocals.
The music is as elegant and ambitious as it is austere. The
self-invented genre Mr. Ferrer calls chaguisa draws on old rural Cuban
styles and music from across Latin America, and the songs merge the
naturalness of folk tunes with lyrics full of ideas, from a song that
chides selfish husbands to one that sympathizes with an Andean cocaine
grower but could also be a veiled protest about conditions in Cuba:
“How will I live,” he sings, “if my money is worthless?” The music
has a gentle lilt and a steely core.
Ghana
James Brown’s funk stirred up African music, stimulating all kinds of
bands with scrubbing guitars and pushy horn sections. “Ghana Soundz:
Afro-Beat, Funk and Fusion in 70’s Ghana Volume 2” (Soundway) collects
hybrids from Ghana, where the funk meshed with the modal lope of that
nation’s own highlife music and with the Afrobeat percolating nearby
in Nigeria. With a few English lyrics amid the African languages, it’s
an album of sweaty, homegrown funk that’s danceable from end to end.
Greece
Knife fights, hashish smoking, damnation and mourning are the stuff
of rebetika, the songs that were once heard in tavernas in Greek port
cities. The melodies are pithy and straightforward, though they draw on
modes from across the Balkans and Middle East; the instrumentation is
sparse, often just a bouzouki or a smaller lute called a baglama. But
on the collection “Rebetika: The Rough Guide” (World Music Network),
which includes recordings from the 1920’s to the 80’s, the voices –
cocky and scarred, mournful and knowing – leap out with a fervor
that’s clear even on scratchy vintage tracks.
Haiti
In Haiti and France, Emeline Michel has long been known as a pop star
and songwriter with a supple voice and a strong social conscience. Her
eighth album, “Rasin Kreyol” (Times Square), places her hopes and
worries about Haiti in sleek pop arrangements that stay rooted in
rhythms from across that country. She merges modern funk with the
easygoing compas and the galloping carnival beat of rara, so her
earnest messages arrive in joyful grooves. And in songs like “Mon
Reve” – with a voodoo drumbeat, a breathy Guinean-style flute and
Ms. Michel’s mostly wordless voice – her idealism rings out.
India
In both blues and raga, the notes between an instrument’s frets are
essential, so perhaps it was inevitable that an Indian musician would
take up the slide guitar. On “3: Calcutta Slide-Guitar” (Riverboat),
Debashish Bhattacharya plays three instruments he designed: a
hollow-necked four-string slide ukulele, a 14-string slide guitar
and a 22-string guitar with sympathetic strings. The structures and
rhythms come from North and South India, and in classic raga style the
music evolves from reflective melody to fast, flamboyant, tabla-driven
improvisations. And every so often, there’s a hint of deep Delta twang.
Iran
In Persian classical music, stately shared melodies open into
flurries of passionate improvisation. The Masters of Persian Music
are an alliance of four first-rate Persian musicians: Kayhan Kalhor
on kemancheh (spike fiddle), Hussein Alizadeh on tar (lute), Mohammad
Reza Shajarian on vocals, and his son, Homayoun Shajarian, on vocals
and tombak (hand drum). The two-CD set “Faryad” (World Village) is a
live concert so rapt that the applause at the end of each CD comes
as a shock. Instrumental melodies alternate with mystical poetry
sung in galvanic, ululating voices; hushed moments swell into almost
shattering crescendos. The music crests, returns to dignified melody
and crests again, as if formality can barely contain it.
Poland
Traditional Polish songs, with their cutting vocals and meshed fiddles,
are the foundation of the Warsaw Village Band’s repertory. But
while their lineup is primarily acoustic – hand drums, hammered
dulcimer, violins, cello – their sensibilities are modern. They hear
dance-club drive and trancey echoes in the songs, and on “Uprooting”
(World Village), they use recording-studio techniques to heighten the
central drones and eerie percussive sounds in their songs. Hints of
reggae rhythm and guests like a scratching disc jockey should further
infuriate purists.
Portugal
The fado, once considered musically conservative and politically
associated with Portugal’s dictatorship until the 1970’s, has been
revitalized by a new generation of singers who have been drawn to
the way fado (“fate”) merges grand, tragic emotion with the delicate
picking of the Portuguese guitarra. Young singers are holding on
to fado’s acoustic instrumentation while modestly stretching its
parameters. “The Rough Guide to Fado” (World Music Network) juxtaposes
current and past generations of fadistas, revealing more orchestration
and less restraint among the elders. A young fado singer, Ana Moura,
has a smoky alto that separates her from the many higher-voiced
emulators of Amalia Rodriguez, the much-mourned queen of fado who died
in 1999. Ms. Moura’s songs hold mixed messages on “Guarda-me a Vida na
Mao: Keep My Life in Your Hand” (World Village); though the lyrics are
filled with fado’s typical sufferings, the music often turns buoyant.
Reunion
The Indian Ocean island of Reunion, which lies between Madagascar
and Mauritius and is an overseas department of France, has a Creole
culture that mingles the bloodlines of French colonists, slaves from
Africa and Madagascar, immigrants from India, China and Malaysia and
assorted pirates and mutineers. On the album “Mapou” (World Music
Network), Rene Lacaille’s music reflects it all, as brisk six-beat
rhythms carry his accordion, his quick-strummed ukulele, his jovially
raspy voice and melodies with more than a hint of French chanson. While
La Reunion is remote, Mr. Lacaille is cosmopolitan, tossing electric
guitar, saxophone and Caribbean percussion into his arrangements. But
there’s still a rustic charm in his songs about fishing, cooking,
rhythm and rum.
South Africa
When missionaries got to South Africa, they found local harmony-singing
traditions that meshed magnificently with gospel hymns, creating a
hybrid that has grown more South African over the generations. The
Soweto Gospel Choir, 26 singers picked from churches around the Soweto
township near Johannesburg, is both meticulously arranged and gutsy,
from its hearty bass harmonies to soloists whose sharp-edged voices
leap out of the choir. Its album “Voices From Heaven” (Shanachie) is
geared for outsiders, with a few familiar English-language songs and
an unnecessary pop finale. But most of the album uses just voices, or
voices and percussion, in songs that are as dynamic as they are devout.
Turkey
In the 1960’s, before world music had its own place in stores,
it was packaged as sultry exotica like “How to Make Your Husband a
Sultan: Belly Dance With Ozel Turkbas,” which has been reissued on
CD by Traditional Crossroads. Although Ms. Turkbas does sing on one
track, the album is actually a well-recorded showcase for a Turkish
gypsy clarinetist, Mustafa Kandirali, who bends notes all over the
place and leads a very frisky Turkish band; one track, formerly an
LP side, is an uninterrupted 17-minute suite. Ms. Turkbas’s belly
dance instructions, with photographs, are in the CD booklet.
Zimbabwe
Thomas Mapfumo was one of the pioneers of Zimbabwean rock, tranferring
the patterns of thumb pianos to picked electric guitars. He was also
a voice for the revolution that overthrew white minority rule in what
was called Rhodesia and led to the authoritarian government of Robert
Mugabe, which Mr. Mapfumo has gone on to criticize so sharply he has
become an expatriate, living in Oregon. There’s a calm authority in his
voice; since the 1980’s, there have also been thumb pianos in his band
alongside the electric guitars and keyboard. His latest studio album,
“Rise Up” (Calabash Music), is available only as a digital download
from , and after a logy start it’s a good
introduction to his music, particularly if a downloader skips a few
tracks. But there’s a better one, also available for the first time
exclusively as a download: “Afropop Presents Thomas Mapfumo Live,”
a vivid live recording (from the Manhattan club S.O.B.’s in 1991)
that brings out every neatly interlocking part and the music’s precise
but ecstatic momentum.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Civil Georgia, Georgia
April 14 2005

Reports: Armenian Students Protest at Georgian Embassy in Yerevan
Armenian students held a protest rally at the Georgian Embassy in
Yerevan to support the ethnic Armenian residents in Georgia’s
Samtkshe-Javakheti region, Regnum reports.
According to the agency, the protesters held banners saying “Georgia
Assimilates Armenians,” “No to Georgian Nazism” and “Georgia
Implements White Genocide.”
At the same time, the agency quotes Arsen Balyan, identified as the
organizer of the rally, as saying “we ask the Georgian authorities
not to react to the provocations of certain forces that want to
escalate inter-ethnic conflicts, as Armenia and Georgia are friendly
countries.”
According to the agency, Georgian envoy Giorgi Saganelidze met the
protesters and assured them that the Georgian government plans to
improve the social conditions of the Armenian residents in Javakheti
by building roads and improving electricity supplies. He also
reportedly assured them that Meskhetian Turks would not be resettled
exclusively into Javakheti and that those who have been suspected of
desacrating Armenian religious objects are already punished.
The report does not specify the number of protesters or the political
movement taking responsibility and no official confirmation of the
report has been given by the authorities.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

NKR POPULATION TO GET NKR PASSPORTS SOON
YEREVAN, MARCH 30. ARMINFO. Shortly the NKR Parliament will adopt a
law on NKR citizenship, NKR FM Arman Melikyan said during today’s
Armenian Parliament hearings of the Karabakh problem.
He says that the fate of the Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan is in
the center of the NKR Government’s attention. A recent survey has
shown that 45,000 Armenian refugees have got Russian citizenship,
1,500 Armenian one with the rest having no citizenship at all. The
above law will solve the problem of thousands of Armenian refugees.
Being unrecognized internationally NKR will give them passport of
internal use only with foreign trips to be made by Armenian
passports. The NKR passports will be in Armenian with the second
language not determined yet.