MICHEL LEGRAND IN YEREVAN: LOST IN TRANSLATION?

Tert.am
Sept 15 2009

No one translated world-renowned composer Michel Legrand during a press
conference in Yerevan. Before the press conference, a representative
from one of the concert’s major sponsors, VTB-Armenia Bank, announced
that they don’t have a translator and the composer will listen and
respond to journalists’ questions with the help of his producer,
Suren Apikian.

Legrand’s producer was initially quite nervous about this and during
the course of the press conference asked journalists to pose short
questions, and even asked the maestro to give short answers.

The journalists, having no other option, were obliged to communicate
with Legrand, who is in Yerevan for an exclusive concert, on these
"incomprehensible" terms. Consequently, we had no choice but to
doubt the responses we received, since either the questions were
mistranslated, or the answers.

During the press conference, the same VTB-Armenia Bank representative
insisted that it was Apikian who had offered to translate for
Legrand. In fact, the producer was so frustrated that he didn’t even
conceal his anger before the camera. In the end, a woman was invited
to the press conference room who was at least prepared to translate
Legrand from English into Armenian, but she didn’t succeed either,
since she was probably so anxious due to the unexpected situation
that she didn’t convey the maestro’s words correctly.

We would like to pose a few rhetoric questions to the organizers of
this exclusive concert: Where do the sums allocated for the concert
go after all? What do you sponsor? And how will you attempt to realize
any future projects with Suren Apikian?

The tickets for Legrand’s concert cost 3,000-20,000 AMD. Suren
Apikian’s role as Michel Legrand’s producer covers all of the
post-Soviet Union countries. Apikian is also one of Charles Aznavour’s
producers.