The Armenian anthem must be harsh in tone

26/01/2006 Lilit SEYRANYAN

The head of the parliamentary group on legal issues, Rafik Petrosyan says that if it is stated in the transitional chapter of the Constitution that they are to adopt an anthem, this means that a new anthem is to be adopted. “If they were intending on re-adopting the anthem they would write that a new anthem is to be adopted, but if they didn’t do so they probably meant this”, says Mr. Petrosyan. He doesn’t like this anthem and the words written by Michael Nalbandyan, because, as he says, it doesn’t show that we had victories in our past. “The anthem must be harsh, but not sad, yes, this one is sad”, says Petrosyan.

Member of the “Justice” political group, writer Stepan Zakarian thinks that it will be better for us to recover the anthem music written by Aram Khachatryan that we used to have during the Soviet period. “Although Armenia wasn’t independent then, however, this music was better for an independent state than the existing one. I think we should recover the old anthem, but with new words”, says S. Zakarian. The oppositionist MP thinks that Armenia must not forget its past, just like Russia does. “Russia was right to use their old symbols and anthem and it is good that they respect their history as well”, says Mr. Zakarian and adds, “I think this is the right way and we should use what we had in our history”. As for the words, most of MPs don’t like the words and they think that a fair competition must be organized to choose new words for the national anthem.

“We can organize a competition where people can bring their suggestions in closed envelopes. We also have to fix a sum and prize that will encourage our writers to present their creations. But the anthem mustn’t be a sad one and it should be better than the current political and other developments”, says S. Zakarian. As for Manuk Gasparyan, he thinks that we must change our anthem because according to him, it is not Armenian and this song is about some Italian rebels. According to him, Armenians have taken that song and changed a couple of words and made it their national anthem. Manuk Gasparyan thinks that this is not our own anthem and it will be better to change it or to keep the old one by changing some words in it. Even more, he is so kind that he is ready to present the anthem written for his own political party. “I have an anthem written for my party and if there is competition I will present it there and will agree to make it our national anthem. The music is written by composer Ruslan Galstyan, as for the words, it is a secret now and the author is a member of our party. We haven’t played that music anywhere and if they want I will give it to them”, says Manuk Gasparyan and adds that for Armenia he is ready to give their anthem and then he will order a new anthem for them till the next party meeting in May. We asked Mr. Gasparyan whether the anthem that was intended for the political party complied with all the standards to become the anthem of Armenia: “It is about our past, future and our development. It is not only about the party, it is about Armenia in general. Besides that I have written another anthem myself, I have both the music and the lyrics together. I am going to present it at the party meeting and if it is approved I will not tell anyone that it is written by me”, says Manuk Gasparyan.

As for the “National Unity” representative MP Alexan Karapetyan, he doesn’t agree with these people and says: “I think the anthem and the authorities must be changed at the same time. This anthem “fits” them and we shouldn’t change it as far as they are the ruling power. We will approve a new anthem as soon as they go away. There is no hope that this anthem will stay and it is very poor, the anthem must be strong so people can feel a strong power when putting their hands on their chest. But this anthem, alas, doesn’t seem to be so and when we listen to it we get disappointed and feel sad”.

P.S. By the way, during our conversation Rafik Petrosyan informed us that they had already ordered a new anthem and it would be ready soon.