Armenia, Armenia

I haven't logged in a long time. Many reasons...none very interesting.

Last night I fulfilled one of my long-held wishes and that was to see Rouben Hakhverdian in concert in Armenia. I had seen him in concert in the US, but had never had the opportunity to do so in Armenia--in Yerevan, the city which his songs immortalize.

Although the venue was not one that I necessarily enjoyed, and one would argue somewhat ironic, the concert was nonetheless very enjoyable.

Hakhverdian's sense of irony, sense of political incorrectness, and his ability to conjure nostalgia about a by-gone era in every listener, even when one has no frame of reference of the Yerevan of yester-year, is uncanny and simply invigorating.

He began and ended the 2 hour affair with his signature "Sa Erevann Eh" (This is Erevan), which reminded the audience of a Yerevan that now is in the throws of rapid modernization, and he sang the praises of Digin Arus, the quintessential Armenian grandmother, in the sunset of her life. Having seen the transformation of some of the physical reminders of that era, I thought of a picture that I had taken earlier yesterday, which at the time was simply an interesting image, but last night turned into a more palpable testament to what we had, what we have, and where we're going--and perhaps what we have lost, irrevocably.

All in a day's life, today, in Yerevan.