ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia
 Monday


Evening of Ukrainian music was held in Yerevan House-Museum of Sergey Parajanov

 Yerevan August 21

Alina Hovhannisyan. On August 19, an evening of Ukrainian music was
held in the Yerevan House Museum of Sergei Parajanov. In a close
circle of friends of the Ukrainian Diaspora in Armenia, the vocal
ensemble "Dnipro", which turned 20 this year, performed a number of
folk songs under the artistic direction of Nune Aroyan. During the
music program, Ukrainian writer Mikhail Kotsyubinsky - "A Writing
Board", sounded a famous song from the cult film by Sergei Parajanov
"Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" on the motives of the same story.

"I am very happy that we managed to organize such a wonderful evening
today," Zaven Sargsyan, director of the museum house, said in his
welcoming speech, noting that he was a longtime admirer of Ukrainian
music. He noted that Sergei Paradzhanov was the person who could unite
around him people of different nationalities, in particular Armenians,
Georgians, Ukrainians, Russians, etc. "This is exactly the feature
that is extremely necessary in our days and which can exclude enmity
", Z. Sargsyan stressed.

For her part, the head of the NGO "Federation of Ukrainian Armenians"
Anna Harutyunyan noted that Paradzhanov was a close person for her.
Having Armenian-Ukrainian roots, Mrs. Harutyunyan's childhood passed
in Tbilisi, in the same area where Sergey Josifovich lived. She noted
that S. Parajanov united people with his love, creativity, and,
despite all the difficulties that he had to go through, he remained a
cheerful person. "I like the phrase that Sergey Yosifovich said about
himself most of all:" I am an Armenian who was born in Tbilisi, who
was imprisoned in the Ukrainian prison for Ukrainian nationalism, "A.
Harutyunyan cited.

At the evening there were also official guests, including employees of
the Embassy of Ukraine in Armenia. "I've been in Armenia for more than
a month and I want to say that I'm just delighted with the Armenian
people," said Taras Yakovenko, advisor to the Ambassador of Ukraine to
the RA for cultural issues. Expressing gratitude to Mr. Sargsyan for
the initiative in organizing the evening of Ukrainian music, the staff
of the Embassy of Ukraine noted that the Museum really has a special
spirit. "Sergei Parajanov was and remains the cultural bridge that
unites Ukraine and Armenia," he stressed.

It is noteworthy that both the members of the Ukrainian community and
the Armenians attended the event in the House-Museum of Sergei
Parajanov, who attended the event with the aim of getting closer to
Ukrainian culture.

To remind, by the decision of the Armenian government in 1988 the
museum of S. Parajanov was founded in Yerevan. The earthquake in 1988
delayed construction, and the museum was opened only in 1991. The
basis of the meeting is more than 600 works of Parajanov. Now, the
museum's collection consists of about 1,400 exhibits.