A SHOW OF SPIRIT
By Erica Liu

Burbank Leader, CA
July 25 2007

‘Spirit of Armenia’ brings singers and dancers to the Hollywood Bowl.

"Spirit of Armenia!," a night of dance and music focusing on Armenian
culture, will take place on Sunday as part of the KCRW World Festival
series at the Hollywood Bowl.

The concert will feature 15 performing acts presenting everything
from more traditional Armenian music to modern Armenian pop tunes and
performances by Armenian vocalists and dance ensembles, said Stepan
Partamian, who is producing the event in collaboration with the Los
Angeles Philharmonic Assn.

This concert is the first of its kind in both ambition and scope,
Partamian said.

"This is the first time ever that we are presenting our own culture
to the general Los Angeles public and seeing Armenians collectively
contributing to a nonprofit organization that enriches cultural
awareness in Los Angeles," he said.

By organizing this concert, Partamian hopes to squash the
preconceptions that Armenian musicians have to imitate mainstream
artists in order to be accepted, and that there is no room for
authentic Armenian artists.

"My philosophy is totally different: I can go in and perform my own
culture and people will come and accept me," he said.

In choosing artists to perform at the concert, Partamian had only
one requirement.

"I don’t want to pick people that want to sound like someone else,"
he said. "A music note is a music note, but how you use it becomes
cultural."

The show will be divided into two contrasting styles, said Laura
Connelly, the program manager for jazz and world music at the Los
Angeles Philharmonic Assn.

"We wanted to reflect the breadth of the Armenian culture. The first
half is the more traditional and classical side of the music and the
second half is the more pop and fusion side," Connelly said.

Sako, an Armenian pop artist who has lived in Burbank for the past
15 years, is one of the artists scheduled to perform Sunday.

For the concert, Sako will perform "Shall We Dance?" and "Life is
Good," his upbeat tribute to life.

"What I try to do is make people happy with my music," he said. "That
is my main intention."

Sako considers his music to be a blend of trance and pop boosted by
traditional instruments.

"It has the groove of trance music but the melodies of Armenian music,"
he said.

Sako is also known as a pioneer of the genre within the Armenian
community, said Susan Piliguian, Sako’s manager.

"With his music, he is ahead of his time by about 15 years," she
said. "He introduced a different kind of music to the Armenian music
industry. It’s very new to the young generation and now, after 15
years, they’re listening to old CDs and going ‘Wow, is this new?’"

This is the first time Sako will be performing under the white shell
of the Hollywood Bowl and also before an audience of what ticket
sales so far indicate will be at least 50% non-Armenian.

"It’s a big honor, he said.

"I grew up attending concerts there. It’s amazing to see yourself
up there. I hope people will see that we, as Armenians, do have very
professional singers and dancers. It’s really going to feel good to
show them what we are made of."

He remembers sitting in the audience during Luciano Pavarotti’s
"Good-Bye" concert, wondering "Oh my god, will I ever be on that
stage performing one day?" he said.

"I don’t try to copy other people’s style," Sako said. "I come up
with my own original style. "I’m very extremely picky in what I do.

That makes it definitely sound different."

Armenian dance will also be prominently featured by 125 dancers from
the Glendale-based Zvartnots dance ensemble and Vartan & Siranoush
Gevorkian dance ensemble, Connelly said.

"The costumes they have are so amazing, the moves … ," Connelly said.

"It’s like having an army of dancers out there. It’s quite a
spectacle."

In addition to both dance ensembles, also appearing from Glendale are
Winds of Passion, Hovhannes Shahbazyan, Soseh Keshishyan of Element
Band, Gagik Badalyan, Araks and Alik Karapetyan.

"We’ve never really done a whole night of Armenian music and thought
it was time to do it," Connelly said.

"We’re hoping a lot of non-Armenians come to the show and experience
what a really vibrant culture it is."