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PRESS RELEASE
Monday, November 23, 2009
Lectures Devoted to Prominent Cultural Figures from the 1850-1950 Period
Take Place at AGBU Aleppo Center
A series of lectures, organized by the AGBU AYA Cultural Committee, took
place on October 21, 22 and 23, 2009 at the AGBU Calouste Gulbenkian
Center in Aleppo, Syria.
Narine Tukhikian, director of the Hovhannes Toumanian House-Museum in
Yerevan, was the guest lecturer for this series, during which the Aleppo
Armenian community, over three successive days, became more closely
acquainted with some of our great literary and cultural figures:
Hovhannes Toumanian, Bedros Atamian, Nadezhda Babayan, Marie Nuard,
Shahan Shahnour, Krikor Zohrab and Sempad Piurad. Avoiding literary and
critical analyses, Tukhikian relied on the letters of these well-known
figures to highlight the role of each in Armenian cultural and national
life.
The first lecture was devoted to Toumanian, the great freedom-loving
Armenian humanitarian, whose life coincided with the bloodiest period in
Armenian history. Toumanian, who was the embodiment of devotion and
patriotism, contributed to the preservation of the Armenian spirit in
all possible ways, through his literature and journalism, as well as
political and social activity.
The second lecture was devoted to the famous Armenian actors and
actresses of the second half of the 19th century, who graced Armenian
and European stages: "brilliant actor, great master of the stage" Bedros
Atamian; "the first Armenian opera singer with human simplicity and
magnificent artistry" Nadezhda Babayan; Marie Nuard, an actress who won
much praise and proved that "the Armenian public in Constantinople has
already overcome biases and feels the need to see women on stage."
On the last day of the lecture series, the topic included a discussion
of the work of Shahan Shahnour, Krikor Zohrab and Sempad Piurad.
Tukhikian explained Shahnour’s literary merits within the confines of
world literature. She then presented Krikor Zohrab, the writer, lawyer,
parliament deputy and public worker, who won the hearts and minds of
numerous readers with his short stories. The excerpts quoted from
Zohrab’s letters, which revealed Zohrab as a loving husband, a joyful
and witty individual, were moving and impressive.
Unfortunately, however, he suffered a cruel fate: "At the very beginning
of his life, he didn’t have a document confirming the day of his birth,
and at the end of his life, he didn’t have a tombstone attesting to that
end."
The Turkish scimitar cut short the lives of many brilliant Armenian
figures, who, if they had been lucky enough to live and work, would
undoubtedly have produced works to portray the evolving Armenian
reality. Such a figure was the writer, educator and public worker Sempad
Piurad, who, before suffering a martyr’s death in Ayash, wrote the
following sentence on the wall of his prison cell: "I’m certain that we
are going to die but the Armenian nation will not die and it’s obvious
that Turkey shall lose much after this war." The three-day lecture
series ended with this citation.
Credit for the success of the lecture series goes to Arevig Atashian,
Mano Meyneshlian, Nayiri Ohanian and the AYA Gomidas chamber music
ensemble directed by Hovhannes Moubayed.
At the conclusion of the third lecture, Silva Darakdjian, chairman of
the Cultural Committee, invited Executive Committee Chairman Vicken
Attarian and Local Chairman Raffi Tchaghlasian to come up on stage;
they, in turn, presented Tukhikian with a silver plate and the series of
reprinted volumes of Teotig’s Amenun Daretsuits [Everybody’s Almanac].
Note: This is an abridged translation of a report filed by Zepure
Tamerian.
Established in 1906, AGBU () is the world’s largest
non-profit Armenian organization. Headquartered in New York City, AGBU
preserves and promotes the Armenian identity and heritage through
educational, cultural and humanitarian program, annually touching the
lives of some 400,000 Armenians around the world.
www.agbu.org
www.agbu.org