Le Point: Why organize these concerts on Friday and Saturday?
André Manoukian: These concerts are taking place in particular because of the current situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. Fighting between Azeris and Armenians resumed in September 2022. Since December 12, 2022, in the Lachin corridor, 120,000 Armenians have been stranded. Consequently, the Armenian diaspora is under tension. The Armenians live an existential threat, the diaspora must help them, even if, concretely, we cannot do much. The concerts on Friday and Saturday aim to raise funds for a center for the disabled in Armenia, where many veterans have returned injured from Nagorno-Karabakh [the first conflict lasted from February 1988 to May 1994].
Why are you bringing up an existential threat?
Ilham Aliev, the president of Azerbaijan, wants to question the territorial integrity of Armenia. Armenia is paying for the May 1994 victory in Nagorno-Karabakh. Yerevan failed to negotiate peace when Armenia was in a strong position after six years of conflict. Azerbaijan reopened hostilities in 2022, a few months after the war caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and while Russia, Armenia’s main support, was taken by the Ukrainian front. You have to face the facts, when your support is hateful, nothing is easy…
You who are a musician, can you detail the particularities of Armenian music?
Armenian music is the most western music of the Orient. We really hear in Armenian music the soul of this people stuck between two worlds, the East of the Ottoman Empire and the European West. The Armenians, whose liturgical chants go back to the greatest antiquity, have long played the role of translators within the Ottoman Empire, and this can be heard in the music of this people. Armenian music has a wide variety of instruments. These include the kanun, davul, oud, tar and especially the iconic duduk.
What does it mean to you to be an Armenian today?
To be an Armenian means to belong to a people of exile. Both my parents are descendants of genocide survivors. And what strikes me is that today we are experiencing the return of violence. Armenian music makes it possible to reconstruct a lost paradise. As far as I am concerned, his discovery was a revelation. For once my ancestors passed on to me something other than neuroses, I took advantage of it.
On the program: Birth of David de Sassoun, opera with a Wagnerian narrative (French subtitles) and Hayastan, a poem set to music by Jean-Charles Gandrille (composer for the choir of Notre-Dame).
Second concert, Saturday June 3 at 9 p.m., Sainte-Trinité church, place Estienne-d’Orves, Paris 9th.
Donation link: https://www.payasso.fr/naissance-de-david-de-sassoun/reglement
June 2 ticketing link https://www.laseinemusicale.com/spectacles-concerts/naissance-de-david-de-sassoun/
Ticketing link for June 3 https://www.helloasso.com/associations/choeur-et-oublie-francais-d-oratorio/evenements/la-naissance-de-david-de-sassoun
