EUROVISION: APRICOT STONE COMPOSER SAYS ARMENIA AS CLOSE TO WIN AS EVER
NAZIK ARMENAKYAN
ArmeniaNow
19.05.10
Less than a week remains till the start of the 55th Eurovision, and
the Armenian team is already in Oslo, Norway, the venue of this year’s
popular pan-European song contest. The first semifinal in the Norwegian
capital is scheduled for May 25, followed by the second semifinal
featuring the Armenia entry on May 27 and the grand finale on May 29.
Armenia representative Eva Rivas will present the song Apricot Stone,
currently a leader on internet charts and an increasingly popular
tune among listeners in and outside Armenia.
The song’s composer Armen Martirosyan, a well-known jazzman and
conductor of the State Jazz Orchestra of Armenia, has shared
with ArmeniaNow his impressions about the Armenian performer and
expectations from the upcoming contest.
"Purely theoretically, Armenia has never been so close to victory
as it is now," says Martirosyan. "Her chances are quite high. The
guarantee of success is in the ability to present the highly artistic
work. As a professional musician, I find that the song is well ahead
of all others both in terms of its contents and quality of material."
The composer himself will join Team Armenia in Oslo on May 26 to take
part in the final rehearsal and make his last-minute remarks.
Martirosyan speaks warmly about the performer of the song. He calls
Eva Rivas a modest beauty who is very easy to work with.
"Working with her is as easy as pie. You can yell at her, scold her.
She’s got no arrogant attitudes, at the same time she has an
extraordinary will for victory. Perhaps it all comes down to her
genes. That she has Russian and Greek blood in her in addition to
Armenian only supports my idea that our people has long been in need
of a little bit of mixed blood," Martirosyan says.
Martirosyan says Armenia has already scored her first victory –
beating stereotypes. For it is the first time that a Diaspora person,
22-year-old Rivas from Rostov-on-Don, Russia, will represent Armenia
at Eurovision.
The author of the lyrics, Karen Kavaleryan, is also an Armenian from
Russia, who has translated into the song the history of his life and
nostalgia that an apricot pit symbolizes.
Next to Rivas on stage as backing vocal will perform Mariam Mehrabova,
a promising Russian jazz vocalists, as well as Gor Sujyan (soloist
of one of the best modern rock bands in Armenia – Dorians) and Tigran
Petrosyan (a well-known Armenian singer).
"We are sending the strongest vocalists, because the idea of the
song is to get an ‘anthem’ sound. The song is about the Diaspora,
about getting back to the roots. One person cannot express all the
emotions," says Martirosyan.
Nevertheless, one of the surprises embraced by all Armenians will be
the presence of Jivan Gasparyan, a world-famed master of the Armenian
duduk, who will perform along with the Armenian team. A dancer invited
from Russia will be the sixth participant (according to the Eurovision
rules, the number of performers on the stage is limited to six).
"We’ve met a lot of obstacles on the way to Eurovision that were mainly
of the same nature – we are a small country with a small budget and
limited possibilities. But now we have all become one and this keeps
us going," says Martirosyan.
The composer believes that the song will conquer the hearts of
non-Armenian listeners as well and says that this is the main mission
of the song that will be broadcast live to audiences in more than
50 countries.
"I am sure that if someone not familiar either with our culture or
history sees this beautiful girl singing this tune and gets what
she sings about at least by 20 percent, he will become ‘our man’. We
should give this person a thrill and let him listen through – this
is our chance."