{"id":15977,"date":"2014-12-24T14:11:43","date_gmt":"2014-12-24T14:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/?p=15977"},"modified":"2015-01-14T18:11:55","modified_gmt":"2015-01-14T18:11:55","slug":"sensational-news-centenary-armenian-year-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/?p=15977","title":{"rendered":"Sensational News \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c Centenary Armenian Year 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ayg\u0569\u0085\u0539\u055el Erce \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c The Joan Baez of Kurdistan sings in Perfect \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u00bb Armenian<\/h2>\n
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The Legendary Joan Baez, with her acolyte Aygul Erce in London<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By Edwina Charles, BA<\/em> (Phil), BSc<\/em> Hon (Psych)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many are the classically trained opera singers that sing in languages which are not their own mother-tongue.\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0 But rare is the \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056d\u009cforeign\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7 singer whose articulation is as good as the native speaker, and even rarer is the one whose command of the foreign tongue even surpasses that of some native speakers\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u00bb There are for example some Pakistanis in Britain, who manage to speak better \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u00bb Cockney than English native cockneys!<\/span><\/p>\n

Ms Ayg\u0569\u0085\u0539\u055el Erce, the Kurdish folk singer based in London, it seems \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c I am assured by Professor Hovhanness I. Pilikian, an Armenian philologist (masters 8 (+) ancient and modern languages, among other disciplines he dominates, as a unique Polymath) enunciates in Armenian better than most Western Armenians fragmented world-wide, assimilated in disappearing Diasporas \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u00bb<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UN_WchfKzls&list=UUESxU5sPB1Jy7JN-S48pkjw<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

This is not surprising \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c as a classical music composer himself, the Professor had recognized a massive talent in Ms Erce (classically trained as an opera-singer), and had recently taken her under his wing, translated personally into literary Armenian (in a way that is understood by both Eastern \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c the Republican \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c and Western Diaspora Armenians) one of Ms Erce\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s famous songs, originally in a double version of Kurdish & Turkish.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/norkhosq.net\/2014\/02\/aygul123\/<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The Professor\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056d\u009cmusically\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7 fitted translation (I am told by Armenian friends) is \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093a glorious mixture of both literary Armenian dialects\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d, almost a perfect \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093new language\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d; for example, \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093Yess hakin em vznots-s<\/em>\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d = I am wearing my scarf\/necklace.\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0 In grammatical form, the sentence is in Eastern Armenian, but perfectly legible in content for Western Armenians, with the added ambiguity of the scarf meaning as well a necklace. There are magnificent puns in the line \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093Vostikanner@ ints bantetsin<\/strong><\/span><\/em>\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d = the police (also the soldiers<\/em>) jailed (but also killed\/murdered<\/em>) me; s-bannel<\/em><\/strong> echoically (the sound from the two words) = murder, kill.<\/p>\n

A-political Pop<\/strong><\/p>\n

The deliberate de-politicization of the Pop-world by the American ruling elite over several decades<\/strong> now has finally succeeded in inventing a fantasy drug-fuelled world of no more than androgynous male singers<\/strong> (mostly gay) usually singing in Beatles<\/em>-type of falsetto<\/em>, and female pop-divas<\/em>, their lyrics emptied of all serious content, are left with nothing else to do but sell their boobs-and-butts for the cocaine-addled delectation of the Wall Street Bankers playing casino-games with the world\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s money\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u00bb<\/p>\n

Gone are the days, when the legendary Bob Dylan<\/strong> and Joan Baez<\/strong> could raise global consciousness against the War in Vietnam and topple official America\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s drunken tipplers!<\/p>\n

Idolizing Joan Baez as an artist, Ms Erce\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s surplus-value is that, she is preserving and modernizing Ms Baez\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7 tradition of writing politically humanitarian protest-songs, shaming the evil doers of this world<\/strong>, and displaying compassion for the underdog, the unfairly abused, and the masses lacking any social justice, oppressed by ruthless and brutal governments, lacking any human decencies.<\/p>\n

And here is her best hitherto \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c titled Pu<\/strong>\u0569\u0085\u056a\u0534<\/strong>e<\/strong> = Scarf<\/em> \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c about a young, totally innocent (presumably Kurdish) university student, waiting at a bus-stop, to catch the bus to go to his Uni \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u00bb\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0 instead, the \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056d\u009cAmericanized\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7 brutalized genocidal Turkish police arrive \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c they arrest him, beat him up with their batons, throw him in jail, all because he happens to wear the \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u00bb Palestinian type of large scarf worn by the Intifada<\/em><\/strong>-youth \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u00bb The Kurdish student is put on trial, as in Kafka\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s novel, never knowing why, his university cut off, his dreams of a noble career destroyed \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u00bb And all for what? For wearing a Palestinian Arab-style scarf\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u00bb<\/p>\n

The story is totally true<\/strong>, and was reported at the time in the Turkish press, inspiring Ms Erce to her most melodious and easily remembered, heart-breaking song \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u00bb I never tire of hearing it a dozen times at a time \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c it is so very sadly beautiful.<\/p>\n

Professor Pilikian it seems has personally coached Ms Erce, working meticulously on Ms Erce\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s Armenian enunciation, but especially musically on a selective translation that takes into account the complexity of the song\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s political themes and their profoundly evocative semantic dimensions<\/strong>, frequently rendering explicit what is implicit in the original \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c for example, by describing the scarf with a single word (\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093Palestinian\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d), Professor Pilikian has instantly linked (and very succinctly I think) the struggles of the two oppressed peoples, whose lands are unfairly conquered by the oppressors;<\/strong> Kurdistan<\/em> by the Turks, and Arab Palestine<\/em> by the Israelis.<\/p>\n

Two extremely rich moments in the narrative of the song is when Professor Pilikian with a philologist\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s masterly use of language, contextually vibrates with a single word several socio-political layers of references;<\/p>\n

(1) \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093Anonk ints voghchagizetsin<\/strong><\/em>\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d= they {the brutal genociders} holocaust<\/em>-ed me\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d, referring easily to the Nazi genocide of the Jews, and<\/p>\n

(2) In the main refrain of the song \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093O yaman, yaman, yaman<\/em>\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d, mourning in his prison cell, and bewailing, the young student remembers heartbreakingly his mother (\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093Oi mama-s, mama-s, mama-s<\/em>), apologizing to his mother for causing her grief (by the use of the possessive \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093s<\/em><\/strong>\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d), while expressing longing for her maternal love and warmth.<\/p>\n

\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093<\/span>It was not at all difficult to work with Ms Erce<\/span>\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d<\/span><\/span>, the Professor tells me humbly, \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093<\/span>She is pitch-perfect \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c very rare even among experienced opera-singers, a fount of melodious harmonies and her lyrics are always deeply significant, highly political, profoundly compassionate and humanitarian. \u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0Her musical phrasing is smooth and tuneful, richly and memorably tuneful \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c in other words, a second JOAN BAEZ<\/strong> indeed! No wonder the legendary Ms Baez is Ms Erce\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s ideal and idol. I was very pleased when on a recent appearance of Ms Baez in London, Mr Mark Spector, Ms Baez\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7 perceptive and sensitive agent performed the impossible miracle \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c upon my recommendation, he kindly arranged for the star to meet her young acolyte, hence this most beautiful sisterly picture, published here for the first time<\/span>!!!\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ms Erce was so pleased with the result of her work with Professor Pilikian, that she told me she already feels like an \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u00bb Armenian, and she is almost certain now that she must have had an Armenian grandmother \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u00bb at least she knows that her husband does, indeed her Kurdish husband had discovered some time ago that he had an Armenian grandmother, like many Kurds nowadays re-discovering their Armenian progeny!<\/p>\n

\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093In today\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s Turkey<\/span>\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d, continues the Professor, a distinguished historian as well, \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093so many Turks and Kurds have had the courage to come out of the woodworks and claim their part-Armenian heritage \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c it has become almost trendy to claim an Armenian connection\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u00bb<\/span><\/p>\n

\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093And imagine, Talaat Pasha<\/strong> \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c the Ottoman Minister of the Interior \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c with Enver<\/strong> & Djemal<\/strong> \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c the Young Turk<\/em> Triumvirate, who planned and organized the genocide of 2 million Armenians<\/strong>, hyenas who fed on the Armenian corpses they had murdered in 1915, had bragged to the American Ambassador in Istanbul Henry Morgenthau, that he was determined to leave only a single Armenian<\/strong>, for a taxidermist, to stuff it for a Museum as a sample of the race<\/strong>\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u00bb the proto-Nazi idiot must be turning in his rotten grave and \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093stinking up to heaven\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d (as Hamlet\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s uncle says) hearing of several million modern Turks<\/strong> being proud of their Armenian grandmothers \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c almost a \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056d\u009cnew race\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7 in formation I call \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093Armeno-Turks\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d !!!\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0 History shall never be on the side of genociders<\/strong><\/span>\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d.<\/p>\n

Indeed, I could not but agree fully with Professor Hovhanness I. Pilikian, a man who knows history full well, born of the generation who (the Professor\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s parents) as children had miraculously<\/strong> survived the genocide of the Armenians perpetrated by the Turkish ruling elite.<\/p>\n