ARMENIA: EUROVISION ENTRY CASUED LOVE AND HATE REACTIONS INSIDE THE COUNTRY
Stella Kosma reporting from Athens (Greece)
Source: Gayane Abrahamyan, armenianow.com
oikotimes.org, Greece
April 18 2006
On May 18th and 20th Armenian pop singer Andre will appear before the
European TV viewing public under the Armenian flag at the Eurovision
international song competition in Athens. He will perform a song
that has become the focus of debate and even political speculation,
even gaining discussion among Parliament Members. Critics say the song
“Without Your Love” does not represent Armenian music and that it is
in fact Arabic or Turkish and that Armenia is pandering to European
tastes by presenting such a song. “If Europe loves it today we serve
it, if it wishes Indian, we will write an Indian one. Armenian is not
in respect, forget it,” says the Chairman of the Union of Composers
of Armenia Robert Amirkhanyan, then dismisses the song as not being
worth his criticism. The music was written by the leader of the State
Jazz Band of Armenia, composer Armen Martirosyan, with instrumental
arrangements by Ara Torosyan (Murzik) and lyrics by Katrin Bekian.
“Yes, Europe is inclined towards Eastern (culture), but we are not
the West either,” says arranger Torosyan. “Armenians have not heard
their folk songs for so long that they don’t differentiate between the
Armenian and the Turkish; this song is a compilation of the European
and the Eastern, just as we are between Europe and the East.
Here there is no deviation from ethnographic music and the Armenian
tune.” Other pop singers view the song as well-suited for the
competition, which is held annually. The winner is selected by means
of phone and SMS messages and the number of votes also decide the top
ten countries to participate automatically in the next year’s finals.
One of the important preconditions is that a country cannot vote for
its own song. “There is no need to make a scandal,” says singer Shushan
Petrosyan. “We have numerous other reasons for talking about Arabic
and Turkish motives in the Armenian pop music; this is not the case,
we just need to be willing and do everything for Andre to win.”
Singer Aramo says he likes the instrumental arrangement of the song
more than the lyrics and the video. Aramo says the song does not fit
Andre somehow, and the East is embellished in the song, which is not
typical to Armenian music.
But conductor Tigran Hekekyan says there is no need to present a
piece of national cultural value in such a festival. He describes
the competition as a “market”, adding that the best chance of winning
is whatever “sells”. Hekekyan also says that the debate over eastern
influence in Armenian music seems a little late. “The song is not born
occasionally, it’s the mirror of a whole cultural layer and there is
a need in discussing the problem of that layer existence and not cling
on one song,” says Hekekyan. Debate on the matter is useless, says the
Chairman of the Board of the Public Television Alexan Harutyunyan,
since he is the one to decide the song and the singer to be sent to
the competition.
“This is the musical competition of the European broadcasters union
and the choice of the song to be presented is ascribed purely to us.
I could make the decision myself but I listened and took the opinion of
the best musicians and (popular music) authorities of the republic,”
says Harutyunyan. And while Armenians are discussing the song,
Azerbaijanis are flooding Andre with threats. A month ago the
Minister of Culture of Azerbaijan addressed a letter to Eurovision
protesting Andre’s participation, citing the fact that the singer
was born in “Nagorno Karabakh Republic” an “occupied territory”
of Azerbaijan. The singer has even gotten death threats on Internet
forum discussions. “Nobody can kill me, they simply envy me,” Andre
told ArmeniaNow. “For me it was more unpleasant at first to hear the
criticism on the Armenian side, but I don’t pay attention to them
either. Let them not listen to my song if they don’t like it.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress