Author: Kalantarian Kevo

CONCERT DE MACHA GHARIBIAN AU DIMAJAZZ 2013 : ” LE JAZZ, CE TERRITOIRE SANS FRONTIERES”

El Watan, Algerie
28 avril 2013

Le jazz a libere Macha Gharibian, pianiste et chanteuse francaise
d’origine armenienne. Après un sejour a New York, la jeune artiste,
fille de Dan, guitariste du groupe tsigane Bratsch, a adopte le jazz
comme une expression intense, eloignee des contraintes de la musique
classique, sa formation de base.

Constantine

De notre envoye special

Samedi soir, au Theâtre regional de Constantine, le public du 11 ème
Festival international du jazz, Dimajazz 2013, a decouvert une artiste
qui a su trouver le parfait dosage entre classique, roots et jazz. ”
Le jazz, ce territoire sans frontières. Le jazz permet de faire des
ponts. Nous voulons creer une musique qui invite au reve. Je puise
dans mes compositions dans le classique que dans le moderne, a-t-elle
declare lors de la conference de presse après le concert.

Macha revendique une culture plurielle : ” j’ai du sang armenien, du
sang tunisien, du sang italien et du sang espagnol. Lorsque j’etais
enfant, j’ecoutais beaucoup Django Reinhardt avec mon père. Je suis
d’origine armenienne. J’etais la musique de ce pays a travers mon
père. J’ai ecoute les musiques d’Orient, de Grèce, des Balkans,
d’Afrique du nord. Il y ce côte mediterranee avec du son chaud qui
peut exploser a tout moment. Comme cette force sereine qui bouge a
l’interieur “, a-t-elle dit.

Elle aime bien la musique du libanais Rabih Abou Khalil (qui se
produit ce dimanche soir au Dimajazz 2013) qui fait du jazz a partir
de ses racines orientale. Pendant 75 minutes, Macha Gharibian,
accompagnee d’un guitariste, d’un batteur et d’un contre-bassiste, a
presente un concert varie où l’on trouve trace des melodies d’Armenie,
d’Azerbaidjan et d’Anatolie. Macha Gharibian, qui ecrit de la musique
pour le theâtre et le cinema, revendique un Orient de c~ur. ” Je sens
les epices de l’Orient “, a-t-elle confie. Les senteurs y sont en tous
cas presents dans les variations melodiques de Macha Gharibian. Il y a
aussi de la melancolie.

Et comment se porte la scène jazz en France ? ” C’est une scène riche.

Il y a beaucoup d’ecoles. Il y a aussi des musiciens bien formes qui
aujourd’hui voyagent, vont a New York ou a Istanbul. Ils s’inspirent
de beaucoup de choses. Il y a de plus en plus de melange. Pendant
longtemps, nous avons essaye de ressembler a la musique americaine “,
a-t-elle repondu. Macha Gharibian, qui connait de la musique
algerienne le Chaâbi, a sorti son premier album, ” Mars “, en janvier
2013.

Faycal Metaoui

SATURDAY MOTHERS COMMEMORATE ARMENIAN INTELLECTUALS OF 1915

BIAnet.org, Turkey
April 29 2013

SATURDAY MOTHERS/PEOPLE

Saturday Mothers of Turkey, a group that has been gathering since
1995 to seek information on their sons who disappeared under police
detention, commemorated 220 Armenian intellectuals detained and
vanished by the order of Ottoman officials in 1915.

BarıÅ~_ MUMYAKMAZ

Saturday Mothers of Turkey, on their 422th gathering, commemorated
220 Armenian intellectuals detained and vanished by the order of
Ottoman officials in 1915.

On Saturday and at 12pm – a day and hour that never altered ever
since peaceful protests were first launched almost three decades
ago – the Saturday People gathered in their usual spot located in
the heart of Galatasaray Square, Istanbul, holding pictures of their
lost sons/beloved ones as well as faded black and white photographs
of 1915 Armenian intellectuals.

“Detention order was given by Ottoman government” “On the night of
April 24, 1915, on the order of the Ottoman government (Union and
Progress Party) 220 Armenian intellectuals were arrested in their homes
in Istanbul. They were taken to Merkez Prison in Sultanahmet, Istabul
and were sent by special train in the direction of Ankara. Some were
then transferred to Cankiri, some to Ayas,” Human Rights Association
of Turkey said in a statement.

“Many of them were killed without leaving behind a gravestone.

Officials registered them either as fugitives or released.”

“They were Armenian community leaders and notables” The association
statement was read by Serpil TaÅ~_kaya, the daughter of Huseyin
TaÅ~_kaya who disappeared under police detention in 1993.

“They were Armenian community leaders and notables including writers,
parliamentary deputies, musicologists, scientists and journalists,”
she read.

“Their arrest was to launch the state policy to annihilate the
Armenian entity. Therefore, they first eliminated those who could
raise their voices.”

The statement also demanded the Turkish government to unfold the
reality behind what happened in 1915

The group pledged to keep the truth alive [behind the Armenian
Genocide] in spite of the denial policies that are based on
forgetting. “We will, we did not forget you, we will not forget you,”
they said.

“Union and Progress” mentality Hanife Yıldız, a Saturday mother,
said his son’s disappearance is due to the lack of facing the truth
behind the “Union and Progress” mentality that led to the disappearance
of Armenians in 1915.

“This is a mentality that awards the killing of Armenians and Alevites
with heaven. It honors the killing of Kurds with bravery,” she added.

Towards the end of the gathering, loud speakers amplified “Hov Arek
Sarer” by Gomidas Vardapet, an Ottoman Armenian musicologist and
orchestra chef.

“Gomidas was also arrested on 24 April 1915. He was saved after a
campaign launched by major intellectuals including novelist Halide
Edip Adivar,” a Saturday People member said. “Following his release,
Gomidas ceased talking. He also ceased composing music and died in
a mental institution.” (BM/EKN)

OLD STORY, NEW TWIST

Canberra Times (Australia)
April 28, 2013 Sunday
Final Edition

The Turkish capital of Istanbul at sunset; inset, Joan Londons
Gilgamesh.

Old story, new twist Russell Wenholz enjoys an Australian tale that
spans Mesopotamia J oan Londons Gilgamesh had been on my list of
books to read for several years. I cant remember who recommended it
to me maybe I took it from a list of best Australian novels.

The title of the book, Gilgamesh, was not a word I knew. (In
my ignorance, Ithought it may be the name of a rural property). I
resisted the temptation to consult Wikipedia and gradually the story
of the original Gilgamesh emerged as I read Joan Londons novel. In
about 2500BC, Gilgamesh lived in Mesopotamia (todays Iraq). Gilgamesh
and his good friend Enkidu have many adventures.

When Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh sets off like an outcast or a holy man. He
grows his hair long; he wears animal skins. He walks hundreds of miles,
mourning, looking for the secret of eternal life.

However, he eventually accepts mortality and becomes a wise and
good king. The story was written on tablets of stone found at an
archaeological site and has some claim to being the oldest surviving
work of literature.

Londons novel opens in Europe but soon moves to the south-west
region of Western Australia. I was interested in the setting, and the
lives of the characters London placed in this setting made, for me,
compulsive reading. After the First World War, an Australian soldier,
with an English wife, returns to Australia and is granted a 64-hectare
block under a government Group Settlement scheme.

The returned soldiers lack of farming experience and the poor quality
of the land ensures their life is a struggle. Two girls, Edith and
Frances, are born and become a part of the struggle. It is the format
for a traditional Australian story.

A travelling Armenian youth leaves one of the girls, Edith, pregnant.

A son, Jim, is born. Edith, with the baby less than one year old,
decides to go to Armenia to find his father her luggage contained in a
small brown Globite suitcase. Cargo ship to England, train to Istanbul,
ferry across the Black Sea, another train to Armenia. I like to learn
about other countries by reading novels, by Australian authors, in
which Australian characters are experiencing countries that are new
to them. Incidents and descriptions contained in such novels like
Gilgamesh give me a feel for the country that I can identify with
and which I rarely obtain from dedicated non-fiction travel books
and travel guides.

When Edith and Jim left Istanbul, Edith felt she had left the safety
of the pink territory and crossed over into the vast unknown green. I
was reaching for my atlas.

I enjoyed Londons awareness of social history. It is World War II.

Edith and her child are travelling in Mesopotamia. They stayed each
night with the local inhabitants. They sat on straw matting and were
served by women moving in and out of the shadows from the oil lamp.

Rice and grilled fish and rough Arab bread. Goats milk for Jim. They
were so tired that time seemed to slow, to almost stand still. This
was how they lived in villages along the Euphrates 5000 years ago.

People raised goats and ate fish while great civilisations came
and went.

Reading Gilgamesh, I was struck by the irony of history. Reference
is made to a period of persecution or genocide by the Turks against
the Armenians in 1915.

Many Armenians fled to the Syrian city of Aleppo Aleppo was a safe
city at that time. The day I read this last December people were
fleeing Aleppo, crossing the border into Turkey, to safety.

Edith and Jim find sanctuary from the war in an Aleppo orphanage. In
April 1945, some soldiers in khaki shorts and slouch hats came into
the courtyard of the orphanage. Edith tells them she is Australian.

One of the soldiers says Go on!

Edith and Jim return to Australia. To the south-west of Western
Australia. To the 64-hectare block. To the sister/auntie Frances. The
story is of Australia again.

Jims troubles at school, Ediths romance, discord with Frances. Several
new characters are introduced at this late stage. After enjoying the
slow pace of Gilgamesh to this point, I felt that now too much was
happening. I feared there would be a conveniently plotted end to the
story. I need not have worried. While there is certainty in the fate
of some characters, with others I was left to ponder what their lives
would become.

Also, I was left to consider the connection between this story and
the story of the ancient King Gilgamesh the competing benefits of
home life and travel, and quests. Had anything changed since 2500BC?

When I finished reading Gilgamesh, I drove into Civic and borrowed
another book from the ACT Library: Gilgamesh: the Oldest Story in
the World. But that is another story.

PHOTOS: DESIGN FOR PASADENA’S ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MEMORIAL

Patch.com
April 28 2013

Catherine Menard’s design was unveiled last Sunday.

By Redmond Carolipio

Catherine Menard, the Art Center College of Design student who is
crafting a memorial to the Armenian Genocide in Pasadena, unveiled
the actual design for the memorial last Sunday and shared some more
pictures of the proposed design with Patch.

“Now that the design is public, and it has been well received, I’m
extremely happy and relieved,” Menard told Patch in an email. “The
battle isn’t over by any means; we are waiting for the city’s response
and then begin a process with the council. So a new wave of detailed
iterations are on the horizon.

“But I already feel like I’ve accomplished what I had set out to do,
which was to create an experience that is significant and meaningful
to the Armenian Community,” she continued. “They have been incredibly
supportive, loving, and open with me. I feel as if I’ve become part
of a huge, incredible family.”

View photos at

SURVIVING THE GENOCIDE

Al-Ahram Weekly, Egypt
April 24, 2013

April is a month to remember for Armenians around the world. Two
years away from the centenary of the Armenian Genocide of 1915,
documentary filmmaker Suzanne Khardalian thought of finding out about
the fate of the Armenian women who were deported out of Ottoman Turkey
into the deserts of Syria and how they survived the Genocide. In her
recent visit to Egypt, Khardalian talked to Nora Koloyan-Keuhnelian
about her documentary Grandma’s Tattoos, produced in 2011, which was
screened for community members, revealing the reasons she decided to
go through the journey of her family, through the mysterious tattoos
of her grandmother Khanum. A review of the film and an interview with
the filmmaker will appear on these pages next issue.

RUSSIA TO CONTINUE TO WORK FOR NAGORNO-KARABAKH SETTLEMENT – FM

ITAR-TASS, Russia
April 25, 2013 Thursday 12:43 PM GMT+4

– Russia will not reduce its activity on the Nagorno-Karabakh
settlement and will work to resume the negotiating process, Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday after the talks with
his Armenian counterpart Edvard Nalbandyan.

“We exchanged views on issues of security, stability and cooperation in
the Trans-Caucasian region, including the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement,”
the minister said.

Russia’s approaches are well known. They are not something independent,
he noted. “We work only within the framework of activities of the
co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group together with our American and
French partners. At various stages, members of the Group of Three
presented proposals that were supported by the rest, he said. The
essence of the proposals irrespective of formulations was one —
to achieve the creation of conditions for the parties to agree,
since only the parties can agree, the minister noted.

The line is reflected in the fundamental principles, which were
repeatedly confirmed in statements of the Russian, U.S. and French
presidents in the past three-four years.

“We adhere to the line, and in the group of cochairmen we continue to
work for the negotiating process to be resumed,” he added. The meetings
are held regularly. Additional events are planned that will allow
understanding what progress is made for the talks to resume. “We do
not reduce our activity and will continue to work,” the minister said.

TORCHLIGHT PROCESSION HELD IN YEREVAN TO COMMEMORATE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS

Interfax, Russia
April 24, 2013 Wednesday 10:00 AM MSK

About 5,000 people took part in a torchlight procession in Yerevan on
Tuesday to commemorate the 98th anniversary of the Armenian genocide
in the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

The participants marched from central Yerevan to the Tsitsernakaberd
memorial to the victims of the Armenian genocide. The procession
traditionally began with setting fire to a Turkish flag, from which
torches were lit.

Such processions have been held in Yerevan annually since 2000. The
action is traditionally organized by the youth wing of the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun. The principal mourning
ceremonies will take place on April 24.

Some 1.5 million Armenians were killed in the Ottoman Empire in 1915.

Turkey denies the Armenian genocide, which has been recognized by a
number of countries.

ARMENIA FOR NORMALIZATION OF RELATIONS WITH TURKEY WITHOUT ANY PRECONDITIONS

Qatar News Agency
April 27, 2013 Saturday 3:26 PM EST

Moscow, April 27 (QNA) – Armenia seeks the normalization of relations
with Turkey without any preconditions, its Foreign Minister Edvard
Nalbandian said in Moscow, where he is on an official visit.

“As far as relations with Turkey are concerned, our position is based
on the well-known principle – normalization without preconditions,”
Nalbandian said in a statement carried by Russian Itar-Tass news
agency on Saturday.

“It was on that basis that the process of negotiations with Turkey
was launched at our initiative in 2008. With this

understanding we began that process and achieved agreements. From
the very start of the process and up to this day this approach of
ours has enjoyed support of the entire world community,” he said.

“Regrettably, Turkey later departed from the agreements,” the Armenian
foreign minister said. “Ankara has not only refused to ratify the
protocols, but also returned to the language of preconditions it had
been using before.”

“The international community and many countries, including Turkey’s
allies, have been saying that the ball is in the Turkish court, that
Armenia has walked its part of the way and that now Turkey must do
what it has promised to the international community,” Nalbandian said.

He recalled that “these days people in Moscow and many other cities
around the world are remembering the victims

of the 1915 genocide in the Ottoman Empire.” (QNA)

MK,MD

VARTAN OSKANIAN DISMISSES RUMORS ABOUT POSSIBLE COLLAPSE OF PROSPEROUS ARMENIA PARTY

April 29, 2013 | 18:23

YEREVAN. – Former Armenian FM, member of Prosperous Armenia party
Vartan Oskanian categorically dismissed rumors about discord and
possible collapse of the party (PHOTO).

During the Monday press conference, Oskanian assured the journalists
that the party is firm in its positions, and they are full of optimism.

Party’s absence in the presidential elections did not remain unnoticed
for the citizens, Oskanian said, explaining the reasons for optimism.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

BLASTS IN ARMENIAN-POPULATED ALEPPO DISTRICT KILL TWO

16:50 ~U 29.04.13

Four-five mines exploded in Armenian-populated Suleymaniye district
of Syria’s Aleppo, Zhirayr Reyisyan, Press Secretary of the National
Primacy of AleppoZhirayr Reyisyan, confirmed to Tert.am.

He said at least two people have died, others are injured. The
identities of the victims have not been clarified yet.

Referring to the situation existing in Aleppo, he stressed that the
clashes are far from the central districts of the city but the sounds
of fights are heard there.

“The city faces economic, electricity, communication problems,
inflation deepens from day to day. People are waiting for something
to change,” he said.

Armenian News – Tert.am