Gagik Aghbalyan,

Singer and composer Masis Arakelyan was born in Iran, but moved to Germany after graduating from school.

Arakelyan says he continues to live encumbered with the mindset of an exile, always longing for Armenia.

Last May, he staged a solo performance in Iran, the proceeds of which went to Artsakh. He performed the Krounk Suite in Tehran, which deals with Armenian history and the Genocide. His music was a bit hit, even with foreigners, and the auditoriums were packed. But Armenians in Germany, Arakelyan says, aren’t interested.

Masis, you’ve lived in Germany for a long time, near the forest in a wonderful place. But you still feel homeless. Why?

Yes. I was raised in Iran. There, we thought that the culture wasn’t ours. You’d go out on the streets and see a foreign culture and language. Germany has a Christian culture, but it’s still foreign. Originally, I wanted to call the suite Antouni (Homeless), and not Krounk, because 7.5 million of the world’s 10 million Armenians live scattered all over. This work is also my story. When I walk down a street, I wonder which is my homeland, Iran, Germany or Iran.

No matter how many decades ago one’s ancestors migrated from the homeland, living on foreign shores is becoming torturous for Armenians. Why?

You must look for the reason in our history. They’ve always tried to change and destroy us. We’re afraid to live scattered about, to live in a foreign place, even though the history of the diaspora is quite old.

Look at my forbearers. Four hundred years ago, Shah Abbas used force and moved them to Persia, to benefit his country, so that the Armenians would develop the new capital Isfahan. That’s what happened. Armenians built churches, founded the first print house in Persia, and spurred advancements in the technical and cultural sectors. From that time on, Isfahan became one of the most beautiful and modern cities. But we lost Nakhichevan, the homeland of our ancestors.

But the possibility exists to return to Armenia. You do not return, and instead continue to live a confused life on foreign shores. Wouldn’t you feel more at ease if you moved to Yerevan?

I have thought about it. Globally, Armenians have attained high positions. If they moved to Armenia with their resources, imagine what the country would become. But they don’t return, because the country has lost its allure. In Iran, they say “homeland, homeland”, but coming to Armenia they see a tumbledown country and the dream vanishes.

The road of mass return must be for us to make Armenia attractive, like an 18-year-old beauty. The objective defines the road.

If you want the people to trust and support you, the government must first be truthful towards the people and not follow personal ambitions. It must be for the community. This is the only road of return.

Why isn’t the government honest with the diaspora? If it was, many would return. Living on foreign shores is a bad thing. Many in Armenia receive a great education and move to America. They deliver pizza or travel down crooked paths.

Those in government must much more for a mass return of Armenians.

You have encountered Armenian communities in many countries. Isn’t there, at least, unity in those communities?

No. There is constant bickering. They don’t support one another. You also find it in European communities. I’ve heard it’s the same for Armenian communities in America. Armenians think of their personal gain.

Why did our kingdoms fall apart? It was due to disunity. Persia retained its kingdom even though it was a multi-national country. We, despite being homogeneous, lost what we had. Look at what the Jews accomplished in a few decades. We have enriched the diaspora, but not the homeland.

Berlin is replete with an Arabic lifestyle. I haven’t noted any Armenian traces in the two weeks I have been here. Who is your audience for the national culture you present?

In Berlin, there are three Armenian communities. There’s the embassy as well. But they are scattered and remain apart. They even commemorate the Genocide separately. There are no Armenians at my concerts. Last year, I performed a concert in Berlin for the Krounk album. Europeans attended, but not Armenians. Sorry, there were three Armenians; a Turkish-Armenian father and son, and one person from Armenia. I advertise all the events within the Armenian communities. No one attends.

Masis, how can you make a living by presenting Armenian culture to non-Armenians?

I don’t only work with Armenian culture. I perform in Iran and other foreign countries. I performed my Persian project, Recital for Voice and Piano, at the famous Berlin Pergamon Museum in 2011. Now, I working on a piece for a symphonic orchestra and hope to stage it soon.

When I sing in Armenia, I bring money with me. Armenia doesn’t pay and I don’t expect any such thing. Just as long as they make Armenia attractive so that we can all return.

By Siranush Ghazanchyan

Known as the greatest living Armenian composer, Tigran Mansurian was in Istanbul for a special occasion. Commissioned by the 43rd Istanbul Music Festival, the premiere of Mansurian’s work titled ‘Sonata da Chiesa for Viola and Piano, In Memoriam Gomidas Vartabed’ was held in the evening of June 10 at the Surp Vortvots Vorodman Church with a concert titled ‘A World Premiere with Kim Kashkashian & Péter Nagy’.

In an interview with Istanbul based Agos weekly Mansurian told about his friend Parajanov, composing film scores, the feelings he has had while visiting Turkey for the first time.

“It was 1969, and I was 30 years old when Parajanov asked me to compose the score of ‘The Colour of Pomegranates’. “I am travelling to Kiev, I’ll come back when you’re finished,” he said, gave me the film, and went. There was no sound in the film, but the images were complete. For three months, I worked every day, from 9 in the morning until 9 in the evening. It was fascinating work. Parajanov would transform even the simplest things in such ways… He would elevate them from the ground into the sky, and then, take them even higher than the sky. He would conjure up incredible symbols from very simple objects, giving them artistic forms. I tried to do for sounds what Parajanov had done with images,” Mansurian said.

Speaking about the difference between the film scores and other compositions, the composer said: “It’s a completely different kind of work. My approach changes entirely when I am composing a film score. Because the music I make for a film does not belong to me but to the film, and every film has its own unique music. So I become a different person from one film to the next. I have composed scores for more than hundred films, and each work is different. But the music that belongs to me, that has stayed the same over the years. No doubt, some things change, but I can say that the essence of my music has always remained the same.”

“There is a truth within me, and when that truth meets with the work you are doing, then you know you are doing something right,” Mansurian said. Speaking of the source of that truth, he said: “I love Armenian music. Our culture has been conveyed to the present day from very ancient times. For instance, ‘Anganimk’, from the 5^th century… ‘Anganimk’ is a hymn that takes me back 1,500 years. In a single second, I go back 1,500 years and return to the present day. This journey is my wealth. And this journey of immense wealth has been travelled by a great number of people throughout history. The work of each and every one of them has been inscribed along this path.”

“I believe that the language a musician speaks is his or her greatest teacher. You constantly speak and hear this language. Every language has its unique phonetics and intonation. For instance, in some languages the emphasis is on the final syllable of the word. That is how it is in Armenian, and also in French; but it is entirely different in Russian… So in the works of a musician who speaks Armenian, you observe influences unique to that language, and that musician becomes ‘the musician of the Armenian language’. I, too, am a musician of the Armenian language,” the composer noted.

Tigran Mansurian also spoke about three names in Armenian classical music:

“Komitas is our father, he is the father of us all. He brought us everything about us, laid it all out before us and said, “Here, this is what we are”. And the whole world saw this, began to discover Komidas, and that discovery continues to this day

“Aram Khachaturian came to say, “We lost one and a half million of us, but we continue to live”. And he made that heard with such a voice that the whole world heard him, and they came to know him and Armenian music.”

“Tigran Hamasyan is a very sweet musician. His singing takes me back to Armenia. Whether with his piano or his voice, he shows that he is a child of those lands. He has a very rich memory. It’s fascinating how he has such an immense memory. I can’t tell whether the music is borne from him, or he from the music.”

An Iranian-Armenian Musician in Germany: “Government in Armenia Must be Honest with the Diaspora”

Gagik Aghbalyan,

Tigran Mansurian: I am the musician of the Armenian language