AVE FENIX...Reborning to Log, Venice, Turkey, Georgia and others...

Hi to all!!!
I know i know, i am a liar...always saying i will log and then i disappear...like now you see me now you don't...

Ok, stop the stupidities!!! Here i am.

I left the logs when Karekin II arrived to Argentina. Maybe his materialism ruined my spirit, who knows?

During June and July my brother Kevork has been in Turkey and Armenia, where he met again with Raffi K. and Aram H., our soulmates in ArMeNia ! haha. I have been watching the video of the trip and i can assure that Raffi and Aram will not forget about my brother for a long time. Isnt true Raffi?
I must assume that Yerevan has changed a lot its physonomy, the urban style has changed, maybe its just an impression from the video i watched but well, must see it alive to re-confirm it!

I have been in Venice during August, and i will log separately about this, becuase it deserves a detailed explanation of an armenian world i did not know until last month and it really changed my life about HAYASIROOTIOON...

Congratulations about the ARMENSTOCK!!! I wish i was there seeing all that movement of armenian music and people playing... I feel so alone here with my band, sometimes we are looked as martians...understandable...its difficult to do Armenian Punk in Argentina ! ! !

I want to write some lines about the Georgian National Ballet that has been dancing in Argentina on August and September. It has been INCREDIBLE!!! I got astonished and i was touched by this caucasian young men and women that jumped and danced like lions. The georgian dance is totally different from the armenian. The georgian is more skilful but not rich as the armenian about the choreographic scenes. I mean, female dances were a few and not important as male dances, while armenians dances give importance to both, women and men. It's interesting when you see the cossaks dancing and you learn about georgian history, because then you realize why this nation has been a nation of fighters in constant war, the war of the mountains...
I have not seen the list of the dancers to notice if there was any armenian on the troup, but when i stared at their faces i realized that maybe some of them would be. They danced "the dance of the merchants of Tiflis", as i recognize it as the popular armenian SHALAKHO, that the old armenians merchants (the humoristic GINDONNER) used to dance as an urban tradition of the Armenian Tblisi of XIX Century...
When you carefully study this dances while you are watching them, you can realize how deep is the history of this nations, every step, every jump, every human-tower symbolizes an antique tradition of these nations, the root of identity...

Enough...

From Argentina

Juan

VIVA ARMENIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

Although the official release date on our new CD, Iakovos Kolanian- Shoror: Armenian Folk Music for Guitar isn't until mid October, I am making copies available for purchase online at www.cdbaby.com/cd/kolanian in case anyone wants to get a sneak peak at what will be our biggest release yet. I was able to give away about 20 copies in Karabagh and Yerevan to music enthusiasts and the feedback was very positive. Since my trip, I've gotten back into the swing of daily life, but, have also been completely revamping our label with a new website due out on October 15th. It will have a Live 365 internet radio station of Armenian music from out label and others. We will have interviews with musicians and then play whole albums with some background on each project. Should be fun. We begin recording Lilit Pipoyan in November in Yerevan and I am trying to coordinate a collaboration with the Armenian Navy Band and Arto to play a few songs on the album with Lilit. I will keep you posted.

Armenia 2004, Part 1.

It had been about 2.5 years since I was in Armenia. In those few years, I had felt a bit disconnected from Hayastan, expecially since the feedback from people was that the social and aesthetic landscape was rapidly changing. Due to my MBA classes, the wedding, and a very tight schedule, a trip wasn't possible. However, in March of 2004, I was in touch with a representative from the Tufenkian Charitable Foundation in Karabagh about a possible recording project in Shushi. The purpose was to promote and market Shushi as an historic Armenian cultural center on the road back to recovery in the area of the arts. I was game for the project and I made plans for the trip. From Boston I flew to Armenia via Washington and Vienna on Austrian Airlines. Our flight was delayed 16 hours and I had to stay at the airport hotel across the street.

When I landed in Yerevan at around 8pm, it was strange. This time, there was no nostalgia. I was excited to be there, but, this time I was focused on the recording and conserving my energy for all of the traveling that was to be done in 5 days. Yerevan has changed drastically. The glitz factor is high and the people seem more comfortable and happy. This may be a mirage since the outlying areas of Yerevan are as poor as can be. I checked into the Tufenkian Avan Villa in Nork Marash and then went out to see some friends in Lena, Kojian, Hajian, Jack, etc. Artbridge is still thriving, but, has some serious competition in Square One. More on that later. After dinner/drinks, I headed back to the Tufenkian Hotel at around 1am and stayed up until about 5am reading and preparing for the 6am drive to Karabagh. The hotel is beautiful and has a graceful touch. As 6am rolled around, the Tufenkian driver greeted me and we loaded up the Niva with his wife and daughter in the backseat. The road to Karabagh would be about 5.5 hours and I planned to sleep the whole way.

The last months has been eventful. Armenstock... then Olympics, then days later I'm on a plane to Armenia. I covered Armenstock, now Olympics.

The return of Harout, Chicago won Olympics, West Coast invasion, Karnig Sarkissians debut performance... so many things made this year unique. My favorite was that Chicago won the whole thing. For those who may not know, there are actual athletic events that go on this weekend. AND, for the last 25 or so years, the only two chapters that have won are Detroit and Providence. For the first time in a quarter decade, another chapter won. For the first time ever, Chicago won. Since it was in their hometown, it made sense.

The West Coast continued to send more folks... to attend, not participate. Perhaps next year they can participate. Every year there are more new faces. But the difference this year was that everyone attended the dances. This was refreshing.

Harout came back, appropriately to the city that introduced him to Olympics in the first place. Karnig sang for the first time ever, drawing a lovely mixed crowd of East Coast, West Coast and Canadian Armenians throughout the night. Apparently there was a nice Montebello clan of musicians outside in the lobby kefing Hayastansi style with the accordian and all.

Aravod played very well, so did the all stars. It was a great weekend full of drama and excitement. You can see full coverage in the Armenian Weekly soon, with a 16 page spread and photos from myself and the infamous Tom Vartabedian who has been reporting on the Olympics for 35 years now. An institution, he is.

Now Armenia. Only 48 hours after my return to DC, I was on another flight to Vienna, then Armenia. 5 days later, I'm still jetlagged, but having a blast. I have already seen Nune perform live with French singer Patrick Fiori (whom I preferred to be honest). I love Nune as much as she does (if that's possible), but that was not her best performance. Particularly because Patrick lit up the stage. Apparently he's half Armenian.

Otherwise, I'm being very lazy, catching up on much needed sleep, spending a lot of time at my dear friend Sam's restaurant Square One which is wonderful and very successful. I'm going to Artsakh on Friday, met some lovely people, the typical "I just got to Armenia and have done more in a day here than what I do in a month in America" type stuff.

More later!

Armenia Trip Recap: So I got to Armenia on July 15 with my sister, brother, and 5 other AYF members who were going to Artsakh for 5 weeks. There were more arrivals the following week, 4 cousins and a friend, and another friend arrived the week after. Even though the Youth Corps group left for Artsakh, the house was quite crowded... Everyone wanted to do different things, and of course I didn't want to do any of the tourist-y things. To tell you the truth, I don't quite remember what I did for an entire month, but I know that there were many nights spent at Meghedi, many days spent running errands, and trying to see as many friends as possible. Also, I have to write about a medical situation we had.... One of the girls who went to Artsakh got an eye infection and they sent her to Yerevan. We spent the day looking for an eye doctor and finally went to Zeytoon's 8th hospital's eye "wing". It turns out we had to go back there EVERY morning for the next 2 weeks. So that's what I was doing for almost 2 weeks....

With all the "tashkhala", I felt like I needed to get away a little. I was already planning on going to Lebanon (first time) sometime in September, so I decided to move that trip up, and bought a ticket and left for Lebanon on August 8. Lebanon was nothing what I expected. So many people had told me so many negative things... and on the other hand, so many people had made it seem like Lebanon was God's gift to humans... I spent the week going around and seeing all the sites. I also got to see where the house that my grandfather had built in the village. Hearing all those stories about my mom's family spending summers in the village, it was nice to finally see it.

It was in Lebanon that I received an email telling me about my grandfather's death, so as soon as I got to Armenia, I bought a new one-way ticket and returned home in time for the funeral. I suppose I was disappointed that I didn't get to do any of the projects I was planning on doing...since I planned on doing them after everyone's departure. I was even more disappointed that I got home before some of them! So, this Armenia trip wasn't one of the best ones.. although it was really nice to be there and I got my dose, I suppose it'll have to last me until winter break. :) --- Yes, New Year's in Armenia... again! Who's in?

Today was my first day of teaching fifth grade... excellent day! The students are great, and I think we're going to have a great year together. I guess you could say I'm somewhat of a strict teacher. But all my rules are logical, and I don't expect the impossible. My emphasis is on improving their reading and writing skills, but most of all trying to INSPIRE them to read and write more. :)

TSUH :)~

Hello. I am back in Boston from Armenia and Karabagh and have some pretty funny stories to pass along about my brief trip. In the meantime, it was good to see the "posse" of Raffi Koj, Lena, Jack, Aram, etc this week. Yerevan has changed a lot and Karabagh is still a really incedible experience. Our recording came out great in Shushi and look for a CD release date of December 7 on that. It is the first recording ever done in Shushi. Luckily, I was able to be in Karabagh in September 2, Independence Day where there were over 10,000 people in the streets celebrating to live music brought in from Russian and Armenia. Our project was sponsored by the Tufenkian Charitable Foundation.

Also, Austrian Airlines was a downer in terms of service and the lenght of layover, etc. The Tufenkian Hotel in Yerevan was a nice stay for one night. And, my most pleasant surprise was my stay at the Shoushi Hotel in Shushi. Rooms are like $35 a night and the food is the best I've had in Armenia yet. $6 gets you a made to order, fresh, authenic Armenian feast. www.shoushihotel.com

More to tell later...

Arsineh's not the only one who's been idle... (pointing finger at self...) me tooooooo. I WAS in Armenia this summer and was planning on staying there until November. Somehow it seems nothing ever goes the way I plan... EVER! I ended up taking a one week trip to Lebanon from Armenia August 8-16, only to find out while I was there that my grandfather passed away in Los Angeles. So I sped back to Yerevan, bought me a new ticket through Vienna and sped back to L.A. to make it on time for the funeral. My grampa, Hairabed Avakian, was 95 years old and was a man who had his regular routine and he always stuck to it. I'm not going to write about all the thing he did in his life, but he will definitely be missed.

After the funeral and family reunion that came with it, I started the job hunt (since my mom replaced me in my absence). I decided to look for something in the education field and found a 5th grade teacher position at Mesrobian Armenian School in Montebello. I started today... mainly setting up my classroom and meeting the rest of the faculty. I have to say this is a much better environment than the real estate industry... yukh.

What happened to me moving to Armenia? Well, unfortunately it's on a temporary hold. There are a few things I need to take care of here, before I can independently move to Armenia for good.

That's pretty much my update... I loved finally seeing Lebanon (after hearing about it for so many years)... Next trip? New Year's in Armenia!!!

TSUH! :)~