‘One of You …’: New concert program builds dialogue between Genocide survivors’ descendents

‘One of You …’, the joint concert program launched by the 100 LIVES initiative and prominent composer and musician Marine Alesis, is thought to be a unique bridge of dialogue among the descendents of the Armenian Genocide.

The concert series, which opened in the second largest city of Gyumri on October 28, is aimed at raising awareness through the initiative, the project’s director, Aren Arpikyan, said at a news conference in Yerevan on Tuesday.

“We decided to mark the opening in Gyumri, as a city survivor [of the 1988 earthquake] which hosted more than 30,000 orphans 100 years ago,” she said, adding that the event attracted a big crowd.

Arpikyan said they are also planning to introduce the concert program in other cities and towns abroad. The organizers attending the press conference added that they also think about giving concerts in countries which haven’t recognized the Genocide.

Sharing her impressions of the recent concert in Tbilisi, Ms Ales said she feels that it was something special, as it presented a combination of her old and new songs and poems to the audience from stage.

Stories by different genocide survivors accompanied the performances during the concerts.

New songs by the talented composer were performed by singers Forsh, David Amalyan, Gevorg Hakobyan, Zanina and Jivan Gasparyan Jr.

“My and my brother Ruben Vardanyan's grandfather was saved thanks to a Turkish coachman, just an ordinary man. There are many stories of the kind. It is very important for me to share stories of such ordinary people, not of public figures,” the composer said, adding that she has set her heart and soul in the project.

Speaking further, Edgar Manukyan, the acting director of Initiatives for the Deavelopment of Armenia (IDeA), reaffirmed the fund’s commitment to continue the initiative. “Art does not admit of boundaries. We are confident that thus event is needed, especially in the countries which have not yet recognized the Armenian Genocide,” he added.

In the course of their concert tours, The 100 LIVES project and Ms Ales also handed gifts to Armenian cultural centers in Tbilisi and St Petersburg, and the students of the Gyumri musical school. They gave Armenian national costumes to the dance ensemble of Hayrartun, a Tbilisi-based Armenian educational-cultural and youth center, and a piano to the musical school operating under St Petersburg’s Armenian church, St Catharine.

The Gyumri musical school and municipality ensemble received wind instruments from the organizers.