Music Plans 2008

Well, 2007 came and went with 2008 greeting us all. I haven't blogged in a while, but, have kept busy otherwise. Lot's to share, hope some of it is interesting to you. So, here is the run-down.

YerazArt- I am just coming up on my 2 year tenure with YerazArt, an organization that is dedicated to resolving the challenges of prodigious Armenian musicians in Armenia. We are in our infant stages right now, but, have mapped out a plan to assist deserving youth with new instruments, concert performances, master classes, and private lessons. This will be my third tour here in 2008 as some of the best and brightest will be chosen to showcase their talents in North America. Our collection of Armenian teachers, musicians, and pedagogues in Armenia have spoken, and the YerazArt Young Musicians from Armenia for 2008 are the following:

Aleksanyan Hovhannes (15, folk singer)
Vardan Gasparyan (18, cello)
Vahan Davtyan(19, flamenco/classical guitar)
Hovhannisyan Angela (14, violin)
Petrosyan Arsen (15, duduk)
Anahit Dilbaryan (17,piano, kanon)

Our returning musician from Armenia is the show-stopper people saw in concert last year in Anahid Dilbaryan on kanoon and piano. Every year we will bring back the person who made the biggest impact and label them an official "YerazArtist". Last year our returning "YerazArtist" was 16 year old duduk sensation Harutyun Chkolyan. A student of Shoghaken member Gevorg Dabaghyan, I will be producing Harutyun's solo album for Pomegranate this year for his exciting recording debut.

Communities/organizations interested in hosting a YerazArt concert this season may contact me directly at yerazart at gmail dot com. We are going to be in the States September 16 through 26, 2008. For those who did not get a chance to see last years 10 city tour, a DVD of the concert in Albuquerque will be available shortly entitled "YerazArt Young Musicians from Armenia Live From New Mexico". The new CD, "Seeds 2" is currently starting recording the first week of February and will continue our series of recording works that will be performed in concert. All proceeds from both the DVD and CD go directly toward our YerazArt activities in Armenia.

Pomegranate Music News: In addition to Wunderkind Harutyun Chkolyan's debut duduk CD, there are a few great classical guitar titles that are going to be released in 2008. In fact, I have hired my friend and colleague Arsineh Khachikian to fly to Milan, Italy and Athens, Greece to do photo shoots and eventually CD design work on our Italian classical guitar duo, SOLODUO. We have two CD's from them under production including the "Goldberg Variations for Two Guitars" by J.S. Bach as well as the "Complete Mario Castelnuovo- Tedesco for Two Guitars". Over in Athens, Greece, it's time for Iakovos Kolanian's third Pomegranate CD. This one will feature the works of Greek composer/politician Mikis Theodorakis with his "Epitafios" and "Romancero Gitano". It is our hope that Mr. Theodorakis will allow Arsineh for a photo shoot, with our appointment having been set up well in advance.

Finally, for those interested in seeing what the buzz is on SoloDuo (Lorenzo Micheli and Matteo Mela, guitars), they are performing at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall through my newest company World Music Management. If interested, tickets are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office for a date of March 4, 2008, 8pm show. HERE is the link with tickets at only $20. Hope to see you all there...

Some funny video...

I promise I am going to blog very soon...
But in the meantime...
Take a look of this.

The First...Armenian...Alligator...Reptile.

Yes Yes Yes ! ! !

Gogortilloz ! ! ! HaShiSh In the Tzemerug Rock Festival.

A concert to honor an Armenian entertainment industry great

The Komitas International Academy of Arts (whoever or whatever that is) is honoring Sarky Mouradian on April 10th at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. Since this blog is about life in the Armenian diaspora I wanted to point out what a pivotal role this man (love him or hate him) has played in bringing Armenian film, song and television into scores of Armenian homes. I don't think it would be too far fetched to say he was one of the pioneers to pave the way for Armenian television and film. Some his most popular films like Promise of Love, Sons of Sassoun and Tears of Happiness were out in the early 70's.

Personally, I appreciate all he did over the years. Without Sarky would we have had the Armenian Teletime to watch on weekends throughout the 80's? If he hadn't written and directed Fourty Days of Musa Dagh my Armenian schools wouldn't have had a cool film to play for us and we would probably have had to do a book report on Franz Werfel's book. If he hadn't written and directed Sons of Sassoun what film would Armenian school teachers show students when they didn't have a lesson plan for the day?

If it weren't for Sarky Mouradian I would not have had a childhood crush on Manuel, which turned into a sick obsession in adulthood. Seriously, I own Manuel lp's cd's, and movies. I know the film Tears of Happiness by heart and I quote different parts from the movie so much that I'm pretty sure my friends and family (whom I've made watch the film with me multiple times) are sick of me randomly saying things like "Mama? Menk inchou baba chouneenk?" or shouting "anbadeev!" for no good reason. I have uploaded the soundtrack from the film into my ipod and I listen to "Silva, inchou katseer" and "Tu Spasir, yes gukam" all the time. In fact, almost ten years ago when I was a counselor at summer camp I taught my campers a Manuel song and had them perform it at the camp talent show. I'm sure those camper's parents were perplexed when their daughters came home from camp singing Manuel songs instead of revolutionary songs.

As anchorman would say, Sarky Mouradian (in my book at least) "is sort of a big deal'. Afterall, he's got his own imbd page.

Will I be attending this shindig? Well, knowing that Manuel himself, Adiss and Vatche will be there, among others, is very enticing, however, I haven't purchased a ticket just yet, but I feel like it's the least I can do to show appreciation for a man whose work has impacted my life to such an extent.

Modern Genocides and Global Responsibility

The President's Forum on International Human Rights
Modern Genocides and Global Responsibility
February 11 - 13, 2008

Greetings!

I hope everyone is enjoying a great start to a fresh year. I’m looking forward to 2008, though I think it’s not going to be any more forgiving than the last. So much for simplification! So I took the opportunity to take two weeks off from school and work to just chill. No vacation plans or looming deadlines…except the one that ends my vacation:( Sometimes all a girl needs is to feed her addiction to magazines and a good cup of morning coffee at 11am! I hope you all got a chance to enjoy in some guilty pleasures as well before getting back into the swing of things.

Cal State Long Beach is hosting an interesting event during it‘s President‘s Forum this year - the topic on hand will be Modern Genocides and Global Responsibility. The three day itinerary is currently disabled but when I looked at this a few days ago there was an entire session that specifically focused on the Armenian Genocide. Not sure why the link is now disabled but I am hoping that the schedule of events remain the same.

http://www.csulb.edu/president/humanrights/

Events are during the week, during working hours so it would take some planning to attend but all events are free of charge and without reservation. I hope each of us try to be part of these events.

And Happy New Year. I hope to talk again soon.

Lisa