Author: Karapet Navasardian

Sports: Henrikh Mkhitaryan speaks Armenian in new Adidas ad (video)

Karapet Navasardian
PanArmenian, Armenia
  – 13:34 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Arsenal midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan speaks Armenian in a new ad for Adidas.

“You want these boots? They no come with conditions,” the Armenia captain says in the video which also features English subtitles for those who do not understand Armenian.

“In these boots you must strike fear.

“The is the way I play the game, and these boots are for creators only.

“Take the deal.

“Dare to create.”

Watch video at

California State Sen. Portantino: Ambassador Baibourtian Joins Senator Portantino in Sacramento for Armenian Trade Office Bill Hearing

Karapet Navasardian
The California Senate Democrats
July 9, 2019 Tuesday 9:00 AM EST
California State Sen. Portantino: Ambassador Baibourtian Joins Senator Portantino in Sacramento for Armenian Trade Office Bill Hearing
 
SACRAMENTO, California
 
The California Senate Democrats issued the following news release on behalf of California State Sen. Anthony J. Portantino, D-La Canada Flintridge:
 
Today, SB 302 authored by State Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D-La Canada Flintridge) passed the Assembly Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy Committee. The bill seeks to reestablish the trade office between California and Armenia which was ended in 2008. Ambassador Armen Baibourtian flew to Sacramento to offer his testimony in support of SB 302 as it would be the first international trade office reestablished since California ended the program.
 
"I am very happy to be in a position to foster strong economic ties between California and Armenia which can be formalized under SB 302. California is an international economic driver and home to the largest Armenian American Community in the country that has a large presence in our business community. We should seize upon the opportunity presented by our healthy economy and these inherent advantages and use the trade office to help both economies. I'm am looking forward to watching the momentum behind this effort build and to the success it will inspire," commented Senator Portantino.
 
SB 302 is Co-authored by Senators Scott Wilk (R- Santa Clarita) Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger), Scott Winer (D-San Francisco), Henry Stern (D- Calabasas), Assemblymembers Autumn Burke (D- Inglewood) and Evan Low (D-Silicon Valley). Portantino, Wilk, Stern, Low and Burke have all travelled to Armenian.
 
"These are exciting times in California and in Armenia. I am very pleased with the progress of the Trade Office and I look forward to the work ahead to make it a success. I as well as the Armenian community are grateful to Senator Portantino for his friendship and his stewardship of this laudable effort," commented Ambassador Baibourtian.

Turkey’s Crackdown on Academics Represses History Once Again

Karapet Navasardian
The New York Times
July 8 2019
 
 
Turkey’s Crackdown on Academics Represses History Once Again
 
A campaign of silencing and prosecution is creating a vacuum at a pivotal moment.
 
By Brennan Cusack, Ms. Cusack, a journalist, was based in Cairo and Istanbul from 2017 to 2018.
 
July 8, 2019
 

For the past two decades, the Turkish academic Ayse Gul Altinay has been providing, through her writing and research, incisive analysis of the impact of violence on her country. Her work offered a better understanding of how conflict has passed through generations and was beginning to build a blueprint on how to break this cycle.

But last May, the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sentenced Ms. Altinay, a professor of anthropology and director of Sabanci University Gender and Women’s Studies Center of Excellence, to 25 months in prison. Her crime? Aiding a terrorist organization by signing a 2016 petition supporting a peaceful resolution to a three-decades-long conflict with a Kurdish militant group. Of the petition’s more than 2,000 signatories, nearly 700 were put on trial and over 450 were removed from their posts by government decree or direct action from their own university.

These “Academics for Peace” are only a fraction of the thousands of academics being silenced under the Turkish government’s purge of academic institutions. The crackdown, which followed the failed coup against Mr. Erdogan in 2016, has created a vacuum at a pivotal moment, just as the country was beginning to openly confront some of its painful past. The work of academics has been critical to the process, piecing together more complete histories to promote understanding and basic human rights. The ongoing repression will cost future generations knowledge that is vital not only to overcoming past trauma, but also to easing the perpetuation of conflict.

Two of the most polarizing issues in Turkey’s history have been the campaign of deportation and mass killings of the Armenians by the Ottomans during World War I, and the decades-long oppression of the country’s Kurdish citizens. As Ms. Altinay wrote in a 2013 article, after the emergence of the Turkish Republic in 1923, the new nation experienced a national “forgetting” in regard to the estimated 1.5 million Armenians who were killed and the uncountable number of Armenian women and children survivors who were Islamized to assimilate in the lead-up to the creation of the state. For nearly a century, what is now known as the Armenian genocide was largely deemed a threat to the state’s Turkishness and remained a risky topic in Turkey.

But in the 2000s, Turkish academics began to challenge off-limits issues. The effects of militarism; religious, sectarian and ethnic exclusions; gender politics; and, eventually, the Armenian genocide became topics of academic research and societal debate. What influenced this change? Ironically, it was the ascension to power of Mr. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, known as A.K.P.

After taking office in 2002, Mr. Erdogan’s A.K.P. set off a series of progressive reforms in a push to begin the process of joining the European Union. The hold on academia loosened slightly and historians felt freer to pursue their topics of interest. Laws were amended to allow the Kurdish language, which had been nearly quashed for a decade after a 1980 coup, to be taught in private schools and broadcast in the media. And in 2005 — the same year E.U. accession negotiations commenced — a public discussion on the Armenian genocide was accelerated by academics who hosted a groundbreaking conference on the events of 1915 at Istanbul Bilgi University.

Following the conference, nearly 20 books on the Armenian survivors of the genocide were published in Turkish, including “The Grandchildren: The Hidden Legacy of ‘Lost’ Armenians in Turkey” by Ms. Altinay and Fethiye Cetin. A collection of testimonies by grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Turkey’s “forgotten Armenians,” the book helped challenge a national self-understanding. And, as repressed narratives rose into popular culture, Ms. Altinay paused to analyze the decades of silence in between.

How do gaps in history happen? Ms. Altinay pointed to the four critical moments identified by the prominent Haitian scholar and anthropologist Michel-Rolph Trouillot in his book, “Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History”: “The moment of fact creation (the making of sources); the moment of fact assembly (the making of archives); the moment of fact retrieval (the making of narratives); and the moment of retrospective significance (the making of history in the final instance).” Academics are crucial in each of these steps, from recording primary sources through putting narratives into historical context. Without them, this process remains incomplete.

Mr. Erdogan himself seemed to recognize this. Six years ago, when the country was closest to peace talks with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., after three decades of bitter conflict that had already cost 40,000 lives, he called on prominent academics to help facilitate the process, and appointed a committee of “wise people.” The group of 63 included prominent academics, intellectuals and artists who traveled the country, hosting panels and town halls to convince a bitterly polarized nation that peace not only was important, but also possible. 

But by then, a new way of governance had also begun to emerge, one that favored the nation-building of the early state, to the pluralist promise of 2002. European Union ambivalence had left little incentive to pursue a progressive agenda. In 2013, peaceful protests against Mr. Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian 10-year rule erupted and the government responded with a violent crackdown. Peace talks with the P.K.K. officially dissolved in 2015.

Then came the failed coup attempt of 2016. Academic activism on sensitive subjects like the Armenian and Kurdish issues quickly flipped from an act of social progression to near treason, and the Turkish government issued decrees that removed more than 5,800 academics and shuttered over a hundred universities. One wave of dismissals nearly gutted Ankara University’s departments of law and of political science.

Hundreds of the dismissed academics fled to safety abroad, yet they have largely remained quiet, worried their words will be used against family members and colleagues back home. Many others are trapped inside Turkey’s borders, unable to work but — with holds on their passports — unable to leave. Some have become bloggers, secondhand-book sellers, consultants, restaurateurs and organic farmers. Human Rights Watch has sounded the alarm on the trumped-up terrorism charges and general lack of due process granted to these academics, but this has done little to turn the tide. Frightened of falling into this purgatory, working academics have now succumbed to self-censorship.

Nowhere is the silence more profound than in Turkey’s Kurdish region. During an offensive launched in 2015, the Turkish government shuttered cultural sites, multilingual schools and longstanding civil society organizations like the Kurdish Institute in Istanbul. The effects of these actions remain scantily documented because of a culture of fear in academia. Interviews by Human Rights Watch detailed delays on research related to the Kurds imposed by university ethics committees and instances of senior academics refusing to advise on student theses on the Kurdish issue.

This spring, nearly 200 of the Academics for Peace cases were concluded. All ended in sentences of one to three years in prison. Most of the sentences were suspended, but three dozen of them — including Ms. Altinay’s — were not.

In May, Professor Fusun Ustel, a prominent political scientist, historian and activist, became the first signatory to report to prison. As she was put behind bars, Mr. Erdogan and his A.K. Party were softening polarizing rhetoric on the Kurds in an attempt to court their votes for a rerun mayoral election in Istanbul. The tactic didn’t work. The A.K.P. lost the election in June, ceding a 25-year control of Turkey’s largest city to the opposition party. It seems a crack is beginning to show in the government’s hold on history.

Brennan Cusack is an associate producer of The New York Times television show “The Weekly.”




The Khachkar Stones of Noratus and a Peculiar Resistance of the Invasion of Tamerlane

Karapet Navasardian
Ancient Origins
July 1 2019
1 July, 2019 – 23:04 Sarah P Young

     The ancient village of Noratus, in the Gegharkunik region of Armenia, is a hidden gem with a number of historical monuments. The modern village was established in 1829, but it was first declared a settlement in the Middle Ages , and there are both Bronze and Iron Age monuments in the village.

    Many people believe Noratus was first built by Gegham Nahapet, whose ancestor Hayk Nahapet is an important figure in Armenian history . The name Noratus translates simply to ‘new houses’.
    At the southern edge of the village lies the St. Grigor Monastery. The monastery is generally attributed to the 13 th century, but the construction materials and building methods indicate a much earlier date of sometime before the 10th century.

    The St. Astvatsatin Church at the heart of the village was built during the 9 th century for a prince of Gegharkunik. The exquisitely constructed vaulted hall is built from stone, but despite the beauty of the church itself, the real treasures lie in the churchyard which is home to the biggest number of khachkars in the Republic of Armenia .

    Khachkars are a kind of elaborately carved stone cross, inspired by the art of obelisk carving, they have a fascinating history but some of the oldest and most interesting are in the graveyard at St. Astvatsatin.

    Ancient khachkars in Noratus Cemetery, Armenia.  homocosmicos / Adobe Stock.

    Khachkars are also known as Armenian Cross Stones. The most basic design is a simple cross carved into a plain stone background, but there are thousands of different designs and many of them are extremely intricate.

    There are so many variations in design that there is no archetypal khachkar – the only thing they have in common is the central cross. However, one commonly occurring theme is nature and botanic motifs. Fennel seed pods, bunches of grapes, pomegranates, and a variety of vines or leaves are present – each of them symbolic of new life and resurrection.

    A reoccurring theme of the ancient khachkar is nature and botanic motifs. ( Shchipkova Elena / Adobe Stock)

    As with many ancient Christian traditions, the khachkar has its roots in paganism and a kind of carved idol called a vishap (dragon stone) which was erected at sources of water. They were also erected at sites of pagan worship and they were usually carved from wood.

    The pagan origins of khachkars are evident in the motifs which appear in earlier khachkars. They would have been recognized as pagan symbols to people when they were made. This is a technique which was employed by Christians globally when introducing the new religion to a fresh group of people.

    Just like in other pagan countries, the stones were Christianized and then placed prominently at sites which had been important to pagans as a sign that they were now Christian, and that Christianity served the same purpose as pagan rituals . It was proven to be an extremely effective way to encourage people to convert to Christianity wherever it was employed.

    In the case of khachkars, the pagan symbols are still present in earlier carvings, but they are small designs surrounding the large central cross. This effectively sent two messages – that the cross is more important and plays a larger role and that it represents the same as all the things which are pictured.

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    Khachkars have a large central cross that is surrounded by small pagan designs. ( rparys / Adobe Stock)

    Although the idea was adopted by Christians as long ago as the 5 th century, the first carved stone khachkars were erected during the 9 th century. As Christianity was accepted and paganism disappeared in the area, later designs relied less on the former pagan symbols and references.

    When Armenia began to thrive under Arab rule, the carvings on khachkars became increasingly elaborate and they became a signifier of wealth. The last khachkars were usually covered in an enormous amount of extravagant flourishes and geometric patterns .

    Close up of an ornamental sacred Armenian Cross Stone, known as a khachkar. ( Georgy Dzyura / Adobe Stock)

    It was also during the later period that a new king of khachkar was developed. Known as the Amenarpkitch (All Savior Cross), the crosses now became crucifixes which featured Christ. Motifs on these All Savior Crosses could also include scenes and figures from the bible – examples include the Virgin Mary and angels. There are only a few known All Savior Cross khachkars, and all of them date to the 13 th century, evidence that not even memorial stones are immune to trends.

    Khachkars were erected for a wide range or reasons. As a form of gravestone, many of them were raised to save the soul of a person – though they could be either living or deceased. Others were more commemorative, or a way of conveying important information or announcements.

    There are surviving examples which memorialize the building of a church, changes to tax laws, or great military victories. Some of them served a more supernatural purpose and were meant to offer protection.

    While the vast majority of khachkars are in graveyards or distributed around towns and villages, there is a notable exception to the rule. Khachkars which commemorate a patron who enabled the building of a church would be kept inside the church itself – usually in a nook in the wall of the church.

    Ancient Sacred Cross Stone, khachkar, inside an Armenian church. ( Georgy Dzyura / Adobe Stock)

    The oldest khachkar for which a date is known is in the village of Garni. Built in 879 the khachkar is a memorial to Queen Katranide I, wife of King Ashot I Bagratuni who oversaw a Golden Age in Armenia.
    Today, the art of craving khachkars is rare but it is not lost. Producing khachkars became more popular in the 20 th century. As a distinctive part of Armenian culture it has taken on new meaning and is now a symbol of the nation and its traditions. Many modern khachkars are monuments chosen as a poignant way to honor the victims of the Armenian genocide.

    In 2010 UNESCO labeled khachkars to their list of Intangible Cultural Heritage . This list is intended as a way of protecting important ‘intangible cultural heritage’ which encompasses the unique skills, practices, knowledge, and expressions of ethnic heritage.

    It is also relevant to physical items such as musical instruments, artifacts, and cultural spaces. At the moment Japan is notoriously fighting for the kimono to be added to the list, in response to an attempt to trademark the word by an American company.

    UNESCO consider khachkars a unique and significant part of Armenian culture for both their symbolism and the special skills required to produce them. This was an important decision for UNESCO, as many khachkars have been destroyed in recent years.

    Shifting borders have led some of the khachkars to be located in Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia, and Iran. The khachkars which ended up in Turkish territory fell victim to a systematic eradication of the monuments, leaving only a handful standing in Turkey today. It has also been claimed that some members of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces destroyed khachkars in Julfa, Nakhichevanwith sledgehammers in 2005.

    Although there are up to 40,000 khachkars still standing today, their methodical destruction in places like Turkey, and the neglect of many khachkars in Armenia itself, makes it crucial that they gain greater recognition as an important part of Armenian cultural heritage.

    There may be a lot of surviving khachkars but protecting them is crucial so that no more of these spectacular ancient monuments are lost. To help preserve and protect them, several of the best examples of khachkars have been relocated to the Historical Museum in Yereven, Armenia’s capital.

    Noratus Cemetery is known for the vast number of khachkars standing in the graveyard. The cemetery has been home to the largest collection of khachkars since 2005, when the collection in Julfa in Azerbaijan was destroyed.

    The earliest khachkars at Noratus are from the 10 th century, but many of the most impressive were built during a revival of the tradition during the 16 th and 17 th centuries. Three of the most notable carvers of khachkars (Kiram Kazmogh, Arakel, and Meliset) produced work which still stands at the Noratus Cemetery.

    The Noratus Cemetery is not a sleepy little churchyard, it sprawls across a seven hectare field with plenty of space for more than a thousand khachkars. Despite the huge number of khachkars at Noratus, each one is totally unique.

    Khachkars in Noratus Cemetery, Armenia. ( homocosmicos / Adobe Stock)

    One of the khachkars was donated to the British Museum in the 1970s by Catholicos (Armenia’s chief Bishop) Vazgen I. As well as the more common botanical and religious designs, some of the khachkars at Noratus are adorned with scenes from weddings or every day agricultural life.

    There are two legends associated with the khachkars at Noratus. One dates back to the 14 thcentury and the other is from the 19 th century.

    The older legend concerns the conqueror Amir Timur, otherwise known as Tamerlane the Conqueror. He was a Turko-Mongol Persianite (a fancy way of saying he practiced Islam in the Turkish tradition and retained Mongol political traditions but was influenced by Persian culture and identity). He founded the Timurid Empire and became the first ruler of the Timurid Dynasty.

    As a fearsome Nomadic conqueror, Amir Timur led campaigns across Western, Southern, and Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the southern regions of Russia. He was considered the most powerful leader in the Islamic world after his defeat of the Egyptian and Syrian Mamluks and the early Ottoman Empire. He considered himself the heir of Genghis Khan and believed he could bring the Mongolian Empire back.

    Amir Timur defeating the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt. (Eugene a / Public Domain )

    When his army approached Noratus, the villagers were not prepared to admit defeat, but they were vastly outnumbered and under equipped compared to the invading army. The legend states that the villagers realized they would be massacred in open combat, and in a stroke of genius decided to dress the khachkars in helmets, with swords leaned against them. From a distance the khachkars looked like a sea of armed men in defensive formation and the would-be invaders made a hasty retreat.

    Though Tamerlane returned to sack Notarus, the legend remains of the mysterious army standing guard. This is the story that the villagers tell when discussing what the Noratus Cemetery stones represent: Standing up against an unbeatable foe who feared them for a day.

    The 19 th century legend is a popular story about a monk named Ter Karapet Hovhanesi-Hovakimyan. He lived at the monastery near the village and conducted the burial ceremonies at the cemetery. As time went on, the monk grew tired of the two hour trip from the monastery to the graveyard, and he built a cell on the grounds so he could stay there instead.

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    Noratus Cemetery were the monk Ter Karapet Hovhanesi-Hovakimyan built his cell among the khachkars. ( Maroš Markovič / Adobe Stock)

    When he was 90, he asked the other monks from his monastery to bury him alive in his cell. His final words were “I do not fear death. I would like you to not be afraid also. Never fear anything, but God alone. Let anyone who has fear come to me. Pour water at the burial stone, drink the water, wash your face, chest, arms, and legs. Then break the vessel that contained the water. Fear will then abandon you.”

    When people heard about the monk and his unusual instructions they began to come to the cell to practice the ritual. To this day people make the trip to follow out his orders which is evidenced by the broken glass among the khachkars.

    Many of the khachkars at Noratus are inscribed. They are a snapshot of the time they were engraved and offer a unique insight into the lives of the people they concerned.

    There is a seven line inscription about tax relief. Sinayi, a tax collector ( shahna) and the head of the village ( demetar) declared that taxes paid to the gzir (who was an official under the demetar) and accountant be abolished, for the sake of the Zakarian Avak, a son of Prince Ivaneh Zakarian. In exchange for this tax reduction, the gzir and accountant were each granted a yoke of oxen for personal use as compensation.

    Today Noratus Cemetery and its khachkars are a treasured part of Armenian culture. The stones hold a special place in the hearts of Armenians, who consider them sacred, and they are proud of the khachkars and the cemetery. With such a huge number of stones, it is preferable that visitors are accompanied by a guide who can lead them through the site to the most interesting khachkars Noratus has to offer.

    A modern-day khachkar carver's workshop in downtown Yerevan. ( Սէրուժ / CC BY-SA 3.0 )

    Hopefully the renewed interest in khachkars and their status as a symbol of Armenian culture will mean more people become aware of the beautiful carvings and help preserve them for generations to come.

    Top image: Khachkars of Noratus, old cemetery. The oldest khachkars (Armenian cross-stones) are of 9-10th centuries, but the most of them are from 13-17th centuries.          Source: CC BY-SA 3.0

    By Sarah P Young


    https://www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-other-artifacts/khachkar-0012222


Sports: Minsk 2019: Armenian boxer beats Turkish rival to qualify for semifinals

Karapet Navasardian
Panorama, Armenia
Sport 13:06 27/06/2019 Armenia

Armenian boxer Gor Nersesyan (81 kg) has qualified for the semifinals of the European Games underway in Minsk, Belarus, after defeating his Turkish opponent Malkan Bayram 3-2 in the quarterfinals on the sixth day of the competition. 

Thus, the Armenian boxer has made it to the semifinals securing at least a bronze medal. Nersesyan will fight against British Benjamin Whittaker in the semifinals on Friday, the National Olympic Committee’s press service reported.

Gor Nersesyan started the struggle from the 1/16 finals where he defeated Kosovo’s Ardit Delijaj. In the 1/8 finals the Armenian athlete took advantage over Moldova’s Andrei Chiriacov.

Earlier Hovhannes Bachkov (64 kg), Karen Tonakanyan (60 kg) and Arthur Hovhannisyan (49 kg) also qualified for the semifinals.

Armenian boxers Anush Grigoryan (51 kg), Baregham Harutyunyan (52 kg) and Gurgen Hovhannisyan (+91 kg) who performed on June 26 suffered defeats in the quarterfinals.

General Jeffrey Harrigian: My grandparents on my Dad’s side came from Armenia

Karapet Navasardian
News.am, Armenia
General Jeffrey Harrigian: My grandparents on my Dad’s side came from Armenia General Jeffrey Harrigian: My grandparents on my Dad’s side came from Armenia

00:37, 20.06.2019
                  

Author: Anna Ghazaryan

U.S. Air Force General Jeffrey Harrigian has Armenian roots, and his grandparents on father’s side came from Armenia.

General Harrigian who has recently assumed the command of NATO’s Allied Air Command, U.S. Air Forces in Europe and U.S. Air Forces Africa, responded to Armenian News-NEWS.am’s e-mail enquiry about his family and Armenian roots.

“My grandparents on my Dad’s side came from the Yerevan area in Armenia. My grandparents came through Ellis Island and ended up in Chicago,” he said.

General Harrigian added that his grandparents spoke Armenian. When asked whether his knows anything about Armenian traditions and cuisine, he replied: “I grew up eating Armenian food almost every weekend in my Dad’s parents’ house”. 

Harrigian is a fighter pilot who graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1985. He has more than 4,100 hours flying the F-22, F-15C.

General Harrigian said he is not the first military man in his family.

“I had an uncle serve in the Army and my Mom’s father served in the Navy,” he added.

Harrigian previously served as commander of Air Forces Central Command and the combined forces air component between 2016 and 2018, overseeing the air campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan and against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Court in Yerevan rules to remove arrest of ex-president’s property

Karapet Navasardian
ARKA, Armenia
June 7 2019

YEREVAN, June 7. /ARKA/. A low court in Yerevan, chaired by Judge Anna Danibekyan, ruled today to partially satisfy the request of  ex-president Robert Kocharyan’s defense lawyers, regarding the seizure of his property.  

Kocharyan is accused of overthrowing the constitutional order in March 2008. The case dates back to late February and early March 2008 following the disputed presidential election, when then prime minister Serzh Sargsyan was declared the winner, angering the opposition, led by the first Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosyan and setting off 10 days of nonstop protests that led to a crackdown on March 1, in which 10 people were killed and more than 200 injured. 

In another criminal case launched against Kocharyan, he is accused of taking a large bribe. On July 30, 2018 the Special Investigation Service ruled to arrest his property. The move was appealed by Kocharyan’s lawyers. The arrested property included also Kocharyan’s retirement bank account, which, however, was removed  at the request of the Human Rights Defender.

А court in Yerevan ruled on May 18 the release of ex-president Robert Kocharyan from pre-trial detention. Judge David Grigoryan ruled that Kocharyan be released under the personal guarantees of the current and second presidents of Nagorno-Karabakh  Bako Sahakyan and Arkady Ghukasyan respectively, who submitted a written vouch that he would appear in court when the trial resumes and would not obstruct it.  According to media reports, Sahakyan and Ghukasyan paid each 500,000 drams (more than $1,000) as a bail.

The release was appealed by prosecutors, who appealed also judge Grigoryan’s decision to send the case to the Constitutional Court with a request to suspend it.-0-

School of ‘Beluga Grads’: Raffi brings parents, kids together for two shows at Hanover

Karapet Navasardian
Telegram & Gazette (Massachusetts)
Saturday
School of ‘Beluga Grads’: Raffi brings parents, kids together for two shows at Hanover
 
 Interview with Raffi
By Richard Duckett
  
WORCESTER — They're Raffi graduates.
 
Or alternatively, "I refer to them affectionately as 'Beluga Grads,' " said Raffi, the popular Canadian singer/songwriter and family entertainer, as well as author and educator. That's to say, the millions of children who have listened to Raffi from the mid-1970s on (including his famous "Baby Beluga" song), many of whom are now parents with children of their own who are enjoying Raffi's songs.
 
Parents and children are known to sing along together at his shows. "They are so enthusiastic and they sing louder than their kids do," Raffi said of the Beluga Grads during
 
a telephone interview last week. "And we have a grand old time."
 
Raffi will be at The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts for two shows at 1 and 4 p.m. June 1.
 
But even though they've graduated, Raffi has some homework in mind for the adults after the grand old time is over, including a new online course in "Child Honouring" offered by the Raffi Foundation for Child Honouring (Canadian/British spelling). He's also released an album for grownups, "Motivational Songs," as a companion to the online course with 22 songs on various themes of peace, diversity, social justice, civic engagement and sustainability.
 
At 70, "I'm very much aware now of my legacy," Raffi said. "I speak of my online work now as my legacy work. I would be thrilled if my fans would consider taking my online course."
 
As defined online, "Child Honouring is a vision and philosophy that calls for a profound societal shift economically, culturally and ecologically. It’s about putting the needs of society’s most vulnerable members first — redesigning for the greatest good."
 
Along with that, Raffi (who as might be expected has an amiable but also a young-sounding voice) has a new children's album, "Dog on the Floor," nominated for a Juno, Canada's music award.
 
Raffii Cavoukian was born in Egypt to parents of Armenian heritage and moved with them to Canada when he was a boy. He got his education as a performer for children quite by chance. Drawn to music from an early age, Raffi's initial professional appearances had been as a folk singer in the Toronto coffeehouse circuit. In an earlier interview he recalled he was young, struggling and married in 1974 when the woman who was then his wife asked Raffi if he would sing to children at a nursery school run by her mother. He hadn't grown up with the nursery songs his prospective audience likely wanted to hear and so tried to learn some of them. Perhaps because his approach to the songs was self-taught and unfettered by the standard renderings, the engagement was a success.
 
"I just sensed that we were having fun," Raffi said last week. He was asked to return.
 
Encouraged but still on a shoestring budget, he recorded an album "Singable Songs for the Very Young" in 1976. A mix of traditional favorites and original compositions, it was "instantly popular. It opened up a whole career," Raffi said.
 
Many albums and tours would follow. In 1995 Raffi brought the "Banana Fun Tour" to the Worcester Memorial Auditorium with a selection of tunes that were described as "playful and hum-able."
 
Some performers regard children as a tough audience who can tell when they're being spoken down to.
 
"There's no need to speak down to them when you understand how intelligent they are," Raffi said. "The whole thing is to know your audience and care and show that you're caring."
 
Because of his own belief that children should not be exposed to too much television and not be directly marketed to, Raffi has rejected all offers for commercial TV shows and commercial endorsements. When approached by Hollywood to do a film based on "Baby Beluga," he declined the offer when he learned that the film’s marketing would include direct advertising.
 
"All along, I've been a children's advocate. The music all along has been honoring children. All along, respect has been a core value," he said.
 
With music influences that include the late environmentalist/singer/songwriter Pete Seeger, Raffi has also long been an advocate on environmental issues (he received the United Nations Earth Achievement Award in 1992). "Baby Beluga," released in 1980, is both a beloved lullaby and a tribute to an endangered white whale.
 
"The global issues we face are interconnected," Raffi said. "Climate crisis is not just one issue. I like to say child-friendly equals Earth-friendly. If you're serious about the well-being of children, you've got to tend to the mother planet. That's why child honoring offers a philosophy that connects the dots for people."
 
"Child Honouring" literally came to Raffi in a vision in 1997.
 
"It was nothing less than a vision that woke me up. I call it a luminous moment. I spent the next two years coming to know what I knew in that moment."
 
In 1999 he wrote a “Covenant for Honouring Children.” Evoking the U.S. Declaration of Independence, it begins, "We find these joys to be self-evident … "
 
The nine “Principles of Child Honouring” are respectful love, diversity, caring community, conscious parenting, emotional intelligence, nonviolence, safe environments, sustainability and ethical commerce.
 
The "Child Honouring" course, designed by Raffi and educator and illustrator Kristin Wiens, takes people through the "Covenant" and "Principles" in 10 multimedia modules that include videos, interactive activities, guests and Raffi’s insights and music. The course costs $125. To enroll, visit raffifoundation.org.
 
"We're getting some great early feedback," Raffi said. One educator wrote to him that the course is " 'a beautiful and profound offering.' "
 
He would like to see the course become something that's mandatory. "It would be wonderful. I think that's what we need in this day and age."
 
Asked if children have changed in the 45 years since he first sang to them, Raffi replied, "What's really changed is the world they live in. Young children, their needs are universal. That becomes a little more complicated in the digital age. As parents and adults it's important to give children at the beginning of life a connection with nature. We need to make sure that in their formative years they get their foremost needs met. Learn the rhythms of a slow, carefree summer."
 
A slow, carefree summer sounds good at any age.
 
"Remember them?" Raffi said.

Raffi

When: 1 and 4 p.m. June 1

Where: The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts, 2 Southbridge St., Worcester

How much: $37.50 and $47.50; $84.50 meet-and-greet. (877) 571-7469; www.thehanovertheatre.org

Ստուգվում են Բակո Սահակյանի հասցեին հնչեցրած սպառնալիքները. բերման ենթարկված կա

Karapet Navasardian
  • 26.05.2019

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  • Հայաստան

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  • arm

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  • rus

 47

Ոստիկանությունը քրեադատավարական գործողություններով ստուգում է «Ազատության» հրապարակում մայիսի 25-ին տեղի ունեցած հավաքի մասնակիցների՝  ԼՂՀ նախագահ Բակո Սահակյանի նկատմամբ բռնություն գործադրելուն ուղղված սպառնալիքները:


«Ազատության» հրապարակում մայիսի 25-ին տեղի ունեցած հավաքի ժամանակ մասնակիցների կողմից հնչեցվել են սպառնալիքներ պարունակող արտահայտություններ, ասված է Ոստիկանության հարղորդագրության մեջ: Կատարված արարքում հանցագործության հատկանիշներ պարզելու ուղղությամբ ոստիկանությունն իրականացնում է ստուգում քրեադատավարական գործողություններով։


Այդ հավաքի ժամանակ մասնակիցների կողմից հնչեցված սպառնալիքների կասկածանքով այսօր ոստիկանության կենտրոնական բաժին բերման է ենթարկվել մեկ անձ։ 


Հիշեցնենք, երեկ «Ազատության» հրապարակում մի խումբ քաղաքացիներ հավաք էին կազմակերպել՝ հանուն Հայաստանի անկախ դատական համակարգի և ի պաշտպանություն վարչապետ Նիկոլ Փաշինյանի, սակայն վարչապետի ձևավորած քաղաքական ուժը՝ ԱԺ «Իմ քայլը» խմբակցությունը հայտարարեց, որ ակցիայի հետ «Իմ քայլը» կապ չունի։

Sports: Ex-Armenia head coach: I think Mkhitaryan should not go to Baku

Karapet Navasardian
News.am, Armenia

Former manager of Armenia national squad Vardan Minasyan believes that Arsenal midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan does not have to travel to Baku for Arsenal vs. Chelsea Europa League final.

“I think he should not go if there is a security problem. Other problems can be solved, but is person’s safety is at stake, football is out of the question,” press service of Ararat Armenia FC quotes Minasyan.

Armenia national squad captain and Arsenal midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s participation in the Europa League final is still uncertain.

As reported earlier, however, Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Leyla Abdullayeva had assured that Mkhitaryan can play in this match in Baku.

“Many major sports events have been hosted in Azerbaijan, and Armenian athletes have taken part in them,” Abdullayeva had said. “Sports and politics are separate.”

UEFA also had informed that the Armenia international faces no safety concerns in the Europa League final in Azerbaijan. The organization had informed that it had asked for guarantees that Mkhitaryan will have no problems, and that the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan had confirmed that he will have no problems with respect to entry to the country and accommodation in capital city Baku, and that all necessary measures would be taken to ensure his safety.  

Henrikh Mkhitaryan is on the Azerbaijani border guards’ “blacklist” because of visiting Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) numerous times.