June 9, 2009 - 23:42 AMT
ARTICLE
Bashmet's "Soloists of Moscow" and the Armenian-Japanese abstractionism
Brief review of cultural events in Armenia on June 1-7.
On June 1, on the International Children's Day, public organizations organized a number of activities in the gardens and parks of Armenia with participation of children. Children made an artificial tree with the colors of the national flag of Armenia, sang, danced, drew pictures on the asphalt and on the school desks, all this accompanied by traditional games and dances.
On the first days of June the Year of Bulgarian Culture kicked off in Yerevan. National and classical dancing ensembles performed various shows the whole week. At the inauguration ceremony, Deputy Minister of Culture of Bulgaria Ivan Tokadjiev proposed collaboration between the two countries in restoration of historical-architectural monuments and tourism. Tokadjiev noted Bulgaria was ready to afford Armenia the opportunity of exchanging the experience the Bulgarian specialists acquired through collaboration with Italian and French organizations, which are engaged in restoration of historical-architectural monuments and development of tourism.

On the International Children's Day famous Armenian duduk player Jivan Gasparyan, who celebrated his 80th anniversary last year, appeared on the stage of the Moscow International House of Music together with his grandson Jivan Gasparyan Junior, a pupils of the school after Jivan Gasparyan.

This week PanARMENIAN.Net managed to contact with the manager of Angelina Jolie. As American media outlets previously reported, Angelina Jolie had declared her intention of adopting an Armenian child, because of the relatively easy process of adoption. According to the manager, however, there is no information on this issue ready to be made public yet.

On June 4 in the Center for Contemporary Experimental Art "NPAK" there was opened an exhibition of Japanese and Armenian abstractionists. The works of 24 artists from Japan and Armenia were exhibited at the exhibition called "Transitional Hypothesis". Through the exhibition, curators Ara Aytayan and Maki Kikiko tried to build up a dialogue between the abstractionism so much vital in Japan and so resolutely unaccepted in Armenia.

Last week Yerevan also hosted the presentation of the book "John Kirakosyan: Origins of Statehood and Political Armenology", comprised and edited by the scientist's son Arman Kirakosyan. Dedicated to the 80th anniversary of outstanding historian and politician John Kirakosyan, the book comprises documents, memoranda, telegrams, excerpts of personal memoirs, notes, stories and essays written by or addressed to John Kirakosyan, as well as the author's recollections of the first investigation works of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. According to historian Vladimir Barkhoudaryan, the significance of the book consists not only in depiction of John Kirakosyan's life and activity, but also in the description of the spirit and occurrences of those times.

About 2 months ago in Children's Library after Khnko Aper in Yerevan was held the presentation of collection of children's fairy tales "Following the Sun". Dedicated to environmental problems, the book is written and illustrated by children from 11 different regions of Armenia. At the official ceremony Ambassador of Germany to Armenia Maria Andrea Wiktorin promised to publish in near future German translation of the book that would acquaint German children with the art of their Armenian friends and help Armenian children learn German. Thus, keeping her promise, already on June 5 the Ambassador presented the German version of the book "Following the Sun".

On the same day a four-day exhibition of German caricaturists opened in the House of Armenian Writers in Tsakhkadzor. Though being rather a popular newspaper genre in the West, surprisingly enough the caricature genre of comics is not so popular in Armenia. However, judging by the interest, expressed by the visitors of the exhibition, it can be concluded that this genre has a good chance of developing also in Armenia.

The first Friday of June was completed by the opening of the week dedicated to the Argentine tango, represented within the framework of movie showings in the National Gallery of Armenia. The opening ceremony took place in "The club" flavoured with screening of several short animated and feature films about the history of the Argentine tango. A short video course of basic dance movements was also organized.

The cultural week in Yerevan was completed by the performance of famous viola player Yuri Bashmet and the Chamber Orchestra of the "Soloists of Moscow". The musicians gave a concert on the birthday of great Armenian composer Aram Khachatryan. The works of Grieg, Bach, Tchaikovsky and others were performed at the concert.

Anahit Minasyan
Anahit Minasyan / PanARMENIAN News