West Roxbury & Roslindale Transcript, MA
27 Oct. 2004
NAASR funds new book on Karabagh by Dr. George Bournoutian
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
A new book by renowned historian Dr. George A. Bournoutian, “Two
Chronicles on the History of Karabagh,” has been published by Mazda
Publishers with a major grant from the National Association for
Armenian Studies and Research and other funders. The book is a revised
and substantially expanded version of Bournoutian’s earlier,
out-of-print “History of Qarabagh” (1994). NAASR’s Armenian Book
Clearing House will serve as the primary distributor of the book. He
will launch the book in a lecture Oct. 29, in Toronto, co-sponsored by
NAASR, the Zoryan Institute and the Armenian General Benevolent Union.
NAASR Board Chairman Nancy R. Kolligian said, “We are honored and
excited to be able to help make this significant work available to
scholars and to the general public. Dr. Bournoutian’s scholarship is
universally respected and deserving of NAASR’s support. We welcome this
opportunity to advance understanding of this politically-charged aspect
of Armenian history.”
Bournoutian has translated and provided extensive commentary for
two Persian-language chronicles written in the 19th century on
Karabagh, Mirza Jamal Javanshir’s “Tarikh-e Karabagh” and Mirza
Adigozal Beg’s “Karabagh-name.” The two works provide a detailed
picture of Karabagh in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The
translation of the “Tarikh-a Karabagh” formed the basis of his earlier
“History of Qarabagh,” while the “Karabagh-name” makes its first
appearance in English in the new volume.
Bournoutian writes, “In the course of my research, I have realized
that in order to present a fair and balanced view of the history of the
region, one must rely not only on Russian, Armenian and European
primary sources, but also on the work of Persian and local Turkic
chroniclers as well.
“Partisans of both [the Armenian and Azeri] sides produced
polemical studies affirming their historical claims to the region ….
A number of Azerbaijani histories, led by the late Ziya Buniatov, have
gone beyond the bounds of scholarship and have manipulated the original
19th-century Persian texts written by Turkic Muslims, by expunging most
references to Armenia and the Armenians in the new editions of these
works.”
In presenting these unexpurgated translations with substantial
commentary and supplemented with material from three other sources,
Bournoutian is providing a necessary corrective to such
pseudo-scholarly behavior. “Statesmen shall ultimately decide the
validity of Armenian and Azeri claims in Karabagh,” he writes. “In the
meantime, the work of these 19th-century local historians should aid
unbiased historians to sort out the facts.”
Bournoutian is senior professor of history at Iona College. He is
the author of numerous books on Armenian history and has taught
Armenian history at Columbia University, Tufts University, New York
University, Rutgers University, the University of Connecticut, Ramapo
College and Glendale Community College. He is visiting professor of
Armenian history at Columbia.
For more information about “Two Chronicles on the History of
Karabagh,” NAASR and its programs or about the furtherance of Armenian
studies, research and publication, call 617-489-1610, fax 617-484-1759,
e-mail [email protected], or write to NAASR, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA
02478.

Folk Hero: Wayne Horvitz evokes a revolutionary spirit through music
by Gavin Borchert
Seattle Weekly
27 Oct. 2004
Timely historian Horvitz.
(Robin Laananen)
When Wayne Horvitz began work on Joe Hill three years ago, he didn’t
intend it to be an overtly political piece. As a musician, he’s more
interested in storytelling, in re-creating a period, a mood, a life; as
songs get too focused on a specific message, he feels they move into
territory where words alone can do a better job anyway. Or as he puts
it, “I always felt Joan Baez’s ‘I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill’ was the
moment in the movie Woodstock to go out and get popcorn.”
Yet the political climate in America has moved Horvitz to think harder
about the issues Hill and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
raised: questions of economic justice, the disparity of wealth, the
lives and aspirations of the working class. A history buff, Horvitz’s
first attraction to the subject was its mythological, folktale aspect:
the fiery labor crusader accused of murder and executed after a
blatantly unjust show trial, despite worldwide protests and calls for a
retrial from Woodrow Wilson on down.
Joe Hill: 16 Actions for Orchestra, Voice, and Soloist, to be premiered
on Saturday, Oct. 30 (i.e., three days before the election), at Meany
Hall, is a 90-minute song cycle with a dash of opera; unstaged, with
just a light narrative frame. Vocalists Danny Barnes and Robin Holcomb
represent, or allude to, Hill and the feminist crusader Elizabeth
Gurley Flynn (1890–1964), an activist for Hill’s release who visited
him on his last night in prison. Performance artist Rinde Eckert
narrates and takes other roles as needed. “Oratorio,” if it didn’t
connote Victorians in evening dress singing Bible stories, might be the
best term.
Horvitz chose lyrics from the IWW songbook and reset them to original
music, placing them alongside traditional songs like “Spike Driver’s
Blues.” The scoring for chamber orchestra (two dozen players, drawn
from the Seattle Symphony and other orchestras), otherwise fully
written out, includes a prominent improvised part for guitarist and
long-time collaborator Bill Frisell. The partly sung, partly spoken
text linking the songs and instrumental interludes was written by Paul
Magid (best known as one of the Flying Karamazov Brothers). Composer
and librettist came up with the idea of a Joe Hill piece separately; a
friend brought them together. For both men, American labor history and
family history intertwine: Horvitz’s father and grandfather were
involved in labor negotiations, and Magid’s grandfather, an Armenian
immigrant, was himself a Seattle longshoreman and IWW member.
Distinguished from his jazz improvisations, Horvitz’s recent
through-composed works (a much better term than “classical”) reflect a
deep love for traditional blues and mountain music. Spare and serene,
they make me think of Ives at his least aggressive and gimmicky, Virgil
Thomson without his occasional self- consciousness and sense of
“writing down,” and, in their airy, unopulent textures and mood of
reverence, Arvo Pärt. Like Bartók, Horvitz evokes a vernacular spirit
without outright quotation. His settings of the IWW texts, his
deconstructions and reharmonizations of their original tunes, are a
mirror image of Hill’s practice. Hill and other contributors to the IWW
songbook took familiar hymn tunes and added incendiary new lyrics.
Horvitz does use one original song by Hill: “Rebel Girl,” an epithet
which became Flynn’s nickname. In a curious irony, Hill’s music comes
straight out of the commercial, “cultivated,”
sheet-music-in-the-piano-bench tradition; it’s Horvitz’s original music
which, drawn from a vernacular source, seems to more authentically
reflect the story’s folktale element—especially as sung by Barnes and
Holcomb, powerfully emotive singers in the blues-folk style.
Joe Hill’s single Seattle performance will be coproduced by Earshot
Jazz and Meany Hall, moving laudably beyond presenting to
co-commissioning new work. A second performance in Burlington, Vt., is
scheduled for next year; beyond that, Horvitz plans to shop the piece
around. It should be attractive to conductors with a taste for
adventure—although anyone looking for “crossover” pops-concert material
in the manner of Edgar Meyer (who does it cleverly and engagingly) or
Mark O’Connor (who does it cheesily) probably ought to look elsewhere.
Horvitz’s music is less a matter of reconciling two musical worlds than
of creating his own, drawing from the same fundamental humanist spirit
that is the common source of honest, heartfelt music of any tradition.
–Boundary_(ID_MLkKxkRdYXemjt2ebVHsXw)–

Armenia should make & export finished metal products – President
Interfax
27 Oct. 2004
Yerevan. (Interfax) – The prospects for the development of Armenia’s
metallurgical industry are linked to ore processing with the aim of
producing and exporting finished metal products, President Robert
Kocharian has said.
Armenia will stop exporting molybdenum concentrate starting next year;
the country will be completely processing it at home and exporting
ready-made ferromolybdenum, molybdenum oxide and other products,
Kocharian said Tuesday during a visit to the recently-opened Armenian
Molybdenum Production (AMP) in Yerevan.
“We have to make full use of the country’s potential and opportunities
for exporting more value-added product,” Kocharian said. For Armenia,
this will mean economic gains, new jobs and taking advantage of the
country’s scientific potential, he said.
AMP has good prospects, he said. The plant was put into operation
with no particular breaks having to be created for it, evidence that
Armenia is a favorable place for developing industrial production,
Kocharian said.

Police panel formed to increase dialogue
By Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer
LA Daily News
27 Oct. 2004
GLENDALE — Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams announced Tuesday that
he has assembled a 25-member advisory panel that will work to keep
him better in touch with the community. Organizations including
the Kiwanis Club, Homeowners Coordinating Council, Latino Unidos
Parents Association and the Glendale Chamber of Commerce were asked
to nominate a member to serve on the panel _ the Community-Police
Partnership Advisory Committee _ that meets every two months.
“I’m a big believer that the police department is an extension of
the community, so the greater networking we have with the community,
the better the partnerships and the more effective we will be,”
Adams said. “My hope is that it will enhance communication so if
there are any issues or concerns, they’ll bring them forward while
they’re minor rather than having them become major problems.”
Panelist Louisa Gourjian, who represents the Armenian Relief Society,
said the panel will improve communication between the community and
the police department.
“The people we serve know us, and they’ll come and tell us their
problems. We’ll be able to take that to the police department,”
she said. “Also, there are a lot of cultural issues that the police
department may not be familiar with, and we can help with that.”
Any local organizations interested in joining the panel are asked
to contact Sgt. Tom Lorenz at (818) 548-4818 Naush Boghossian, (818)
546-3306 [email protected]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Opposition Again Blames Kocharian For 1999 Parliament Attack
By Hrach Melkumian and Ruzanna Khachatrian 27/10/2004 12:21
Radio Free Europe, Czech
27 Oct. 2004
The opposition Artarutyun (Justice) alliance rallied several thousand
supporters on Tuesday to mark the fifth anniversary of a shock
terrorist attack on the Armenian parliament and again hold President
Robert Kocharian responsible for it.
Eight officials, including then Prime Vazgen Sarkisian and parliament
speaker Karen Demirchian, were shot dead on October 27, 1999 moments
after five gunmen burst into the assembly and sprayed it with bullets.
Artarutyun, Armenia’s largest opposition group, is led by Demirchian’s
son Stepan and Sarkisian’s brother Aram. “Kocharian and [Defense
Minister] Serzh Sarkisian are directly responsible not only for
not preventing the October 27 crime but also obstructing the search
for its masterminds and covering up the crime,” the bloc said in a
statement read out to the demonstrators.
“A precedent of usurping power through terrorism was created in
Armenia,” the statement said, reiterating implicit opposition
allegations that Kocharian had a hand in the parliament killings.
“Practically speaking, [the shootings] made Kocharian’s rule
uncontrolled and laid the foundations of the clan-based system and
dictatorship in the country,” charged Albert Bazeyan, a senior member
of Artarutyun.
Such allegations accompanied an official investigation into the crime
and the subsequent trial of its perpetrators led by Nairi Hunanian,
a former journalist. Hunanian, who blamed the late Sarkisian for
widespread corruption and poverty in Armenia, and the four other
gunmen were sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2003.
Hunanian insisted throughout the nearly three-year trial that the
decision to seize the National Assembly was entirely his, denying
that more powerful forces were behind the plot. However, his final
court speech, cut short by the presiding judge, was more ambiguous
in that regard.
Kocharian, Serzh Sarkisian and their political allies have repeatedly
denied any involvement in the parliament massacre. The Armenian
law-enforcement authorities, for their part, say they have done their
best to solve the crime and punish the guilty — a claim strongly
disputed by relatives of the assassinated leaders.
“The authorities have done everything to cover up the case,” Stepan
Demirchian told RFE/RL. “The trial did not dispel the suspicions
existing among the people. On the contrary, it deepened them.
The Artarutyun supporters, some of them carrying pictures of the
assassinated leaders and wearing white T-shirts with “No to Terrorism”
written on them, marched to the parliament building in central Yerevan.
The march was not sanctioned by the municipal authorities.
About 60 demonstrators, most of them Artarutyun leaders were allowed
to enter the parliament compound and lay flowers at a memorial
to the attack victims. They were joined there by several dozen
pro-government parliamentarians led by speaker Artur Baghdasarian. In
an ensued speech, Baghdasarian urged Armenian political factions to
“consolidate against evil” and make sure that the parliament attack
case is “fully solved.”

Classical Music Meets Jazz at Eagon
By Min Sejin, Staff Reporter
The Korean Times
27 Oct. 2004
The 15th Eagon Concert will be held in six different venues in Seoul,
Inchon, Taejon and Pusan beginning Nov. 6.
This concert will feature the Marcus Roberts Trio, an American jazz
band with pianist Marcus Roberts, contrabass player Roland Gueri and
Jason Marsalis playing the drums.
The trio will present American jazz music considered to be monumental
of the genre, including those by George Gershwin, Duke Ellington,
Jelly Roll Morton, Scott Joplin and Thelonious Monk.
Subtitled “New Orleans Meets Harlem,¡¯¡¯ the program offers a
reinterpretation of New Orleans jazz music. The ensemble will perform
master works of improvised jazz with elements of Harlem-style music
added to them.
At two of the six concerts to be given at the Seoul Arts Center and
Incheon Multicultural and Arts Center, the ensemble will be joined by
the Euro-Asian Philharmonic Orchestra led by music director Gum Nanse.
In the second half of these concerts, the jazz musicians, together with
the classical ensemble, will play a ballet suite by Aram Khachaturian,
a 20th-century composer of Armenian origin, and “Rhapsody in Blue.¡¯¡¯
“Rhapsody in Blue¡¯¡¯ is a 1924 work by George Gershwin, a composer
known as a songwriter. Among his well-known songs is “I Got Rhythm¡¯¡¯
from the musical “Crazy for You.¡¯¡¯ The song will also be performed
in the arranged form for the jazz trio.
“Rhapsody in Blue,¡¯¡¯ originally a concerto for piano and orchestra,
displays jazz influence, particularly of Blues, and is characterized
for its colorful orchestration.
Pianist Marcus Roberts was blind from the age four and took up the
piano when he was eight. He also played the organ in church, and
since 12, he began taking formal lessons with great interests in jazz.
After graduating from Florida State University in 1985, he won the
Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition in 1987 and has since
established himself as an accredited jazz musician, actively giving
performances. He has also released about 30 recordings including
those with the Sony Classical.
He has received the Helen Keller award for personal achievements.
The Eagon Concert series began in 1990 presenting quality live
performances to concertgoers in Korea. It began with the concert of
Academia Wind Quintet of Prague, which was joined by the renowned
local pianist Shin Soo-jung.
It has invited less well-known but highly talented musicians from
overseas. Last year¡¯s concert, for example, was given by a group
of musicians highly accredited as an ensemble presenting early-
and mid-Baroque and the 17th century music.
The event is sponsored by the Korean Committee for UNICEF.
–Boundary_(ID_kldkxSacwwB/dkMWjmu4Pg)–

Iran capable of exporting gas to major markets
IranMania
27 Oct. 2004
Wednesday, October 27, 2004 – ©2004 IranMania.com
LONDON, Oct 27 (IranMania) – Iran will increase its natural gas
production capacity from 130 billion cubic meter per year to 300
billion cubic meter within next 10 years and the figure is expected
to hit 400 billion cubic meter in 20 years.
According to Petroenergy Information Network (P.I.N), Hadi Nejad
Hosseinian, deputy oil minister for international affairs, told
the conference on ‘energy transfer in Asia, Europe; challenges and
prospect’ in Brussels, Belgium that Iran is also planning to boost its
crude output from the current figure of 4.2 mln barrels per day to 6
mln barrels a day within next 10 years. He said during past seven years
more than $46 bln have been invested in Iran’s oil and gas industry,
65% of which came through foreign investment, adding, “We are planning
to invest about $100 bln in oil and gas industries by 2015.”
The official noted that Iran has made plans to export liquefied
natural gas to china, India, Japan, East Asia and Europe.
“We are currently exporting gas to Turkey and exports to Armenia,
Nakhichevan and the United Arab Emirates will start soon,” he noted.
Nejad Hosseinian added that Iran’s proximity to big gas producing
and exporting countries has given it many options in international
negotiations while geographical conditions of the country played a
great role in this regard.
The deputy minister said European countries’ dependence on natural gas
will increase in coming decades and European states are expected to
supply 65 percent of their needed natural gas through imports within
next 25 years (by 2030).
“Russia is currently supplying the lion’s share of the European gas,
but it may not be able to supply all needed gas to member states of the
Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD),” he said.
The official added that Iran, which is a neighbor to Russia,
Commonwealth of Independent States and Caucasus, is also capable of
meeting the needs of markets with exceptional demand such as Pakistan,
India, China, and even Japan. Nejad Hosseinian stated that transferring
Caspian oil to Persian Gulf through Iran was a vital projects that
would lead to bolstering regional cooperation, but “interference of
countries from outside the region that follow political goals will
result in an economic catastrophe.”
He mentioned financial requirements for gas transfer projects, low
price of gas, the need to predetermined customers, high value of gas
transfer, passage through various countries and political risks in
every country as major challenges facing gas transfer projects.
“I believe that high oil price which is partly due to inadequate
supply, is a warning for natural gas users among member states of the
European Union. Low oil price in past years preventing investment in
production which led to current undesirable situation,” he noted. He
noted that cooperation among Caspian littoral states will benefit
all those countries, noting, “Stability and lack of political chaos
are major factors ensuring safe signing of natural gas contracts.”
The conference on ‘energy transfer in Asia, Europe; challenges and
prospect’ was held in Brussels for two days and was attended by
representatives from Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Iran, and Kazakhstan
as well as directors and representatives of major oil companies.
–Boundary_(ID_+ctZ4Vfjoxt5UcRxpMZCEg)–

Armenian President Fails to Elaborate After ‘Time-Out’
Assa Irada, Azerbaijan
27 Oct. 2004
Armenian President Robert Kocharian, who requested some time at the
Astana meeting of the Azeri and Armenian leaders to clarify certain
issues, has not spoken out on the issue yet, according to Foreign
Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.
“The time-out taken by the Armenian party in Astana has expired”,
the Minister said.
The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan has already notified the OSCE
Minsk Group co-chairs about this. Kocharian’s failure to elaborate
on the matter has also led to the postponement of the meeting of the
two countries’ foreign ministers originally scheduled for this month.

British MPs’ Fact-finding Visit to Nagorno Karabakh
Assa Irada, Azerbaijan
27 Oct. 2004
The issue on recognition of the separatist Karabakh regime was not
discussed during the visit by British parliament members to Khankandi
on October 22, as the UK government’s position on the issue remains
unchanged, G. Matsen, head of the British parliamentary delegation,
said upon completion of the visit to Nagorno Karabakh region of
Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan should not be concerned by this as this was a fact-finding
visit, the British embassy in Baku told AssA-Irada.
A delegation comprising Vice Speaker of the British House of Lords
Baroness Cox and 4 members of the House visited Nagorno Karabakh
through Yerevan on October 20 without prior permission from the
Azerbaijani government.
The Karabakh Liberation Organization put a black wreath in front of the
British embassy in Baku in a protest against the visit on the same day.
Armenia occupied former autonomous Nagorno-Karabakh region and also
seven other Azerbaijani districts in 1991-94 war, forcing over 700,000
Azerbaijanis to leave their homes. Despite an armistice signed in May
1994, no final solution has been achieved to the conflict between the
two countries.

Armenian church holds annual dance
Press & Sun-Bulletin, NY
27 Oct. 2004
Binghamton’s St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Church will host
its fifth annual fund-raising Armenian Dance from 8 p.m. to “after
midnight” Saturday at the Kalurah Temple, 625 Dickson St., Endicott.
Featured will be Armenian delicacies, door prizes, raffles and dancing
to the New England Ararat Orchestra, which specializes in Armenian
and American music.
Admission: $25 (students and ages 6-18, $12). Buy tickets at the
door, or, for reservations, call 237-6330 or 722-8801, or visit
[email protected].