From time to time i check You tube for Armenian stuffs and today i saw this animation. I liked it, It is not like pixar animation but its fine to me.

Wednesday night we ended up watching American Idol’s L.A. auditions on the Fox network. Last night’s program finally televised an Armenian American from Southern California. I really don’t have the nerve to describe what I saw as this performance was beyond anything I have ever seen on national television. Check out Martik Manoukian’s unusual American Idol audition now posted on YouTube. Let us know what you think. Hey, good performance or bad, Martik was fresh and entertaining.

Just read an article about the Amazing Armenian Charles Aznavour in the International Herald Tribune (Herald Asahi). Dear Charles - oh how I admire you!!!

Quick post to inform you guys that the lyrics for Armenia’s Eurovision entry have been released, and I’m quite dissappointed that no one has even checked the grammar before this song goes onto a world stage:
CHORUS:
What I say, what I hide
Without your love?
What I have in my mind
Without your love?

Leaving out the word “will” makes the sentences senseless. Nevertheless, lets hope the music makes up for this. Find out more HERE.

The Armenian Navy band won second place in their category in the BBC’s world music awards today. The winners have just been announced. Although they are also nominated for the audience choice award, not released until April.

This may be acclaimed as the weirdest item to be posted on Blogrel, but here it comes, through RIA-Novosti:

The Jackson Five to set foot in Armenia

YEREVAN, February 6 (RIA Novosti) - One of the biggest American phenomena in pop music during the early 1970s, The Jackson Five, is planning to build an entertainment center in the Armenian capital of Yerevan, the group’s bass player said Monday. Jermaine Jackson, an older brother of “King of Pop” Michael Jackson, said the center would consist of a hotel, a restaurant or cafe and the Jackson 5 television company.

The musician, who is currently visiting Armenia, did not reveal the estimated cost of the project, but added that after the center was completed, the rest of the band would probably come to Yerevan to hold a concert.
Grigor Seropyan, an American businessman and the organizer of Jackson’s visit to Armenia, said the main goal of the new entertainment center was to attract foreign musicians, so that they would tell the world about Armenia and its culture.

Pop sensation The Jackson Five - brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael - was formed by their father Joe in 1966 in Gary, Indiana. Michael Jackson, the youngest in the band, was the lead singer who propelled the group to the peak of popularity in 1972 during a tour in Britain.

Note to all Armenian parents: this means curfew for your kids!

It isn’t just us talking about Andre.

Check out the Eurovision blog!

I love hip-hop. I love Armenian-stuff.

But I never thought that those two worlds would collide. Until now.

Sam, one of our readers, has a new blog: Who Knew Armenians Could Rap?

She does reviews of Armenian hip-hop artists and some great commentary.

The reason why I am making this blog is because when I was listening to couple of songs by Armenian rappers it was evident that it is very tough to get information about any of them online. So now, doing my research I’ll be able to get up to date information on the rappers that most of you love to hate because “Shat en sevakani nman iranc pahum.”

I would also like to add that Sam is a female Armenian rapper! Go Sam!

So here it is, according to Armenian Public TV company, Andre will be representing Armenia at Eurovision.

I’m not happy about this for a number of reasons :
1. There was meant to be an internet contest, where the winner would be voted by Armenia itself.
2. Andre’s english is poor, and I don’t think we stand much chance.

Nevertheless, we must support!

Earlier this week it was announced that the Armenian Meri Voskanian was picked for the Eurovision Song Contest. This young woman was a contestant on Germany’s Pop Idol program, as I understand it.

But as they put it in the original article, “German tabloid Bild… The newspaper, not always noted for its accuracy, reported…”

Today, a follow up came up that the story was untrue. Another story followed from another source.

The Public Television Company of Armenia has been forced to rush through an announcement about how it will select its song after the German tabloid Bild reported that the job of singing for the country had already gone to talent show reject Meri Voskanian.

So, hopefully there will be a fair contest to decide who will represent Armenia at this, its first year, at Eurovision.

You may like ‘em, you may not, but either way, the Armenian Navy Band is up for a BBC World Music Award right now. You can vote online if you like.

Just came across this and thought I’d share…

Liz lives in Los Angeles. She goes to grad school, goes to work, goes to concerts, and goes to Amoeba Records. In between she writes stories for magazines like Razorcake and Punk Planet. To LA clubgoers she’s DJ Liz O., beatmatcher extraordinaire; to NYC internet-readers she’s the brains behind the People’s Dance Party. She eats poseurs for breakfast, washing them down with icy-cold vodka tonics.

You are Armenian and proud. What are some things I should know about Armenian history and tradition?
Armenia is both a very old and very new nation. Technically, it has only been a country for fifteen years or so, but the history of the people extends back to Biblical ages, or something like that. I’m no authority and I’ve never been to Armenia, but I can tell you that the food is some of the best you’ll ever taste. Food varies by region and I suggest the Turkish Armenian cuisine, which my family makes. It’s really similar to Greek food. I don’t suggest drinking Tahn, which is a yogurt drink, because it is nasty. You should also note that yogurt is a traditional Armenian food, as is the fruit roll. I really wish my grandma still made fruit roll, but the apricot rolls at Armenian stores in LA are mighty tasty. Also, Mounds and Almond Joy were invented by an Armenian. Alvin and the Chipmunks was created by an Armenian and even Captain Kangaroo was, you guessed it, an Armenian. We’re really awesome people, even if there are some who will make cracks at the expense of yours truly for not speaking the language properly. Whatever, aberjon.

Just wanted to share, Christianity Today has an explaination of System of a Down:

The guys in System of a Down might have good reason not to trust governments. All four are from Armenian-American families. The nation of Armenia has seen its share of corruption and attempted genocide. That helps us to understand, in part, why they’re so furiously anti-war, including the one America is currently fighting. So while I don’t know if they’re anti-American, they do angrily speak against those who send others off to fight. In fact, the band seems to be against any authority or institution that would tell them what to do, including governments and churches. That may account for the imagery in the “BYOB” video.

They also get angry about some stuff I wish Christians got more steamed about, including “Violent Pornography” and brain-sapping TV watching. On top of that, their lyrics encourage both forgiveness and helping those who are suffering. But System of a Down is a mixed bag when it comes to their messages. There’s good and bad. I’d encourage you to steer clear, especially if listening to angry music makes it tough for you to avoid anger. They also drop plenty of f-bombs and curses when ranting about things they detest.

This is just so weird, I wanted to share it.

[source]

Taking a page from Harmick’s book, I read online that YerevanNights.com is going to broadcast a music countdown show on December 23. This is par for the course in the US and Europe, but I’ve never heard of it being done in Armenia. The songs look to be pretty mainstream, but hey… mainstream pop appeals to some.

Here’s the scoop:

Yerevan Nights online radio ( www.YerevanNights.com ) will be broadcasting “Best Songs of the Year 2005” at 6:30pm, December 23, 2005.

The live broadcast will feature the best Armenian singers from around the world.

Yerevan Nights operates 24 hours a day and is available even for users with slow Internet connection.

Having started as a modest attempt to promote Armenian music, advertisement-free Yerevan Nights is rapidly evolving into a fully operating Internet radio with comprehensive programming, rich musical library, growing army of satisfied listeners and plans for the future to launch more live programs.

The regular programming of Yerevan Nights started on November 1, 2005 and within the following week, according to the statistical data provided by www.Circle.am, recorded over 5300 visits.

Just a quick reminder that the National Music Awards are being broadcast live on H 1 tonight at : 18:00 GMT ( 22:00 Yerevan )
It promises to be a glitzy ceremony. Last year there was a red carpet and celebrities arrived in Limos. Interesting. Watch and find out who scoops the awards this year!

UPDATE: I couldn’t resist adding that Christine Pepelyan/Hrach Qeshishyans Mayrik won best video: featuring kids from a Yerevan orphanage. The kids came up on stage and it was really upsetting to see how scared they were, nevertheless they took the prize and by the end they were starting to smile. Two of the kids have also been taken back by their mother following the release of the video.

I’ll report on the rest of the awards next week.

This week sees a sensation in Armenian show business. The first publicly declared celebrity wedding.Traditionally Armenian stars have tended to keep their personal lives very seperate, however it seems Michael Kotanjyan ( son of actor Rafel ) and Lilit Karapetyan, ( well known for her scantily clad style to say the least) have decided to tie the knot. The reason I mention this is because the whole event is going to be broadcast on armenia tv over Christmas - whatever next.

This week also sees the ceremony of the Armenian “National Music Awards 2005″ run by h1.Although the jury ( controversially ) gets the ultimate decision, its nice to see that some less “favoured” acts of the Public TV have been nominated. Rap Duo haytxegh are up for best act, and Suzi Melikyan who’s video you may have downloaded a couple of weeks ago, is up for the future of Armenian pop. I urge you to vote in the hope that we can make the votes more balanced! Such contests have often been scrutinised as being corrupt and people pulling strings for awards, but this year at least the nominations are a little more balanced.

In other news, for those of you living in London, Harout Pamboukjian is having a concert here on new years eve at the London Royal Lancaster hotel in Hyde Park. Tickets start at £85, ( $160), its a shame that this costs so much. Had Harout picked a larger a venue, he would surely have packed it full had the tickets been of a normal price. This is just too expensive. I personally have always wanted to see Harout, but I guess it’ll have to wait. Its also interesting that the average ticket price for an artist direct from Armenia is usually much less at £15.

My computer has some problems: so here are all the links for you guys to cut and paste:

Lilit Karapetyans website: www.lilitkarapetyan.com
National Music Awards online voting : http://www.armtv.com/award/eng/

Today there was a shocking revelation in the Armenian music industry - or perhaps not.

There are very few “unique” acts in the Armenian music world today. Most of them have songs written by the same composers, reminiscent of some bizarre mix of French chansons and Armenian folk riffs - it was ok for the first few months, but now its really, really boring.

Christine Pepelyan, Nune Yesayan, Artur Grigorian, Arsen Safaryan, and now even Armine Nahapetian - they’re all doing it, same sounds, same songs, same lyrics (nearly).

One unique act was “Shprot”, without using her real name, this blonde bombshell created an instant storm with her folk pop song, sung in a village, and Mika petrol station - typically she got criticised for being blonde, for being a bit naughty, and was well known for her “kopit”, or..rough style of conducting interviews. Whilst this may not be to everyones taste, it was really refreshing, because, after all, “pop” music is all about being fresh, and innovative.

All that is no more. Today, on live television, sporting a new (unique!) brown hairstyle, Shprot “Came out ” as Ani Tovmasyan. This was talked about for 40 minutes, and highlights included a live apology to all those tv stations that she’d offended during her time as Shprot, and her promising that hew new music would be of a “higher taste, and higher class of language”. She also encouraged everyone to start reading more - obviously this is a reason for her decision to come out - she then performed her new “hit” :

Result? Another incredibly boring 4 minutes of music.

Oh well, its a shame that as Armenians, we are too proud to admit that sometimes we can be a bit naughty, we can allow ourselves to be influenced by pop culture , and whats worse is that Shprot was talked about by everyone - and now Ani Tovmasyan is going to be another one of those names that is constantly on Armenian television, yet never actually listened to in the street.

Perhaps this is good, and a thing to be proud of, but it all makes for very boring showbiz.

Check back next week for a review of 2 new Armenian albums, and a look at whats been happening on the pop scene.

day 2 NOVEMBER 5:

So I went to the old city. BEAUTIFUL! Walked around and enjoyed the sites. It is great to have so many old beautiful buildings in the middle of the city. Then I walked along the water for a while. I had specific instructions to go a certain way to get home. Unfortunately, there is a serious lack of street signage in Baku and I got lost a number of times. I’m so glad I had a pocket map. I utilized a lot of sign language today.

I like getting lost though, because it creates familiarity and allows me to see things that I otherwise wouldn’t. I walked through some really neat neighborhoods. Eventually it started getting dark, and I was quite lost on the way home. Hopefully the lost part will force me to know my way better. Basically I was looking for some backstairs when I should have been looking for the front driveway area.

As it got darker, I got more cat calls, which increased my urgency of getting home. Russian, German, and occasionally French werethe dominant cat calls. There could have been some in Azerbaijani, but I wasn’t able to detect a difference in tone.

I also noticed that I am speaking a lot moreBritish English than American English now. Flat, queue, lovely, proper (as in “proper” trainers)… confusing.

So many stray cats. No stray dogs — although I saw a few posh dogs. The stray cats are all different colors though and really cute.

The oil money is outrageous. I wish that the government had a better idea of what to do with it and how to create programs that workwell. There are a lot of nice buildings though. I suppose some of the money goes there.

I really need to take a shower. Maybe I can try to fix the hot water heater. I am going out tonight with a friend of a friend.

UPDATE: the shower is fixed! I will take a photo of it so it can be proven exactly how complicated it is. Can you imagine being naked, lighting a match, switching on a gas knob and determining what temperature you want?

Other thoughts: I should be reading coursework while my hair is drying but I have a not-so-small love of post-Soviet TV. Yes, Azerbaijani videos are as cheesy as Armenian ones. I already recognized videos shot in areas that I walked around in today. Although there are a few that aren’t too bad, the majority are pretty lame. I just saw one with a guy standing in front of a green screen that alternates between the Azerbaijani flag and a bunch of rocks. I have yet to see a “series” though - a set all filmed on the same stage or place for different songs on an album. Oh no. On the Russian channel, Russian boy band rappers. Ouch. Their name is “Nota Fraid.” Ugh. This is like the UK show “X-Factor” - it is sort of like the Pop Idol series, and is produced by the same people, but I don’t really understand the difference between the two shows. Right now the judges are not being kind to the youngsters. The competition is named Boby (in Russian) Lipinksy. He is really really really bad. Must change channel. Now Masha Meronakova is on. She is bad too. Is this a contest for the worst singer? In flipping the channel, I found a similar Turkish show. Flipping between the two may be entertaining. The Turkish version of the Backstreet Boys is eliciting screams from the audience. The bad boy, the cute one, the nice one, the dark one… they’re all there. Uh oh. There is a rap interlude a la Color Me Badd. These guys have to go into the bad category too. Now a girl group is starting on the Russian show. They’re cute and well dressed. Maybe there is hope. Nope. Nevermind. They sound like they are their local karaoke champions, but not much more. Korleva is the group’s name. Okay, single male singer with spiky hair. I am beginning to think that the judges sponsor certain singers and train them. This kid can sing but has a horrible song. Bad pile.

He’s speaking at the Carnegie Foundation. Details here and here.

Since that powerful Serzh is out of town, another powerful Serj came to visit. The other Serj is Serj, lead singer of System of a Down.

He met with FM Oskanyan. I’m not joking. Seriously.

Huffington Post, a rather odd blog in the USA, has a posting today by Serj from System of a Down. Interesting read.

Der Hova at Cilicia.com gives a good up-to-date but informal summary of Yerevan’s discotech scene. Here are my additions, please feel free to share yours!

The king of all clubs … Astral has been closed all summer long for renovations (wrong time to do renovations when thousands of tourists are in town)

I find Astral a little too Euro-cheesy for me.

Relax Bar which is cool and cute is in the basement of a residential building and frequently shuts down because of neighbours complaining

Never been.

claustrophobic Monte Cristo closed down a couple of days ago.

I LOVE Monte Cristo, but possibly because the guys that run it are classmates of mine. But I love that it is gay friendly and affordable.

Star Time is for the rabiz class

Absolutely.

Bunker is cool, but can seem snobby … anyway …

Never been.

First, we decided to check out Cheers. If we had stayed any longer than a minute, I think we would have all walked out with lung cancer. Even the two smokers with us were disgusted by the cigarette smoke. My work in many ways is connected with clubs, so I’ve been to hundreds of them throughout the world, but I’ve NEVER before been into a more hazardous environment than Cheers.

Never been.

We decided to head over to Atlantic instead, a place that has never let us down.

Never been.

Your thoughts?