Last Monday, the “HayLur” (Armenian News) public television news broadcast was dedicated to singer Andre and his delegation’s return to Armenia from Greece. Although there was too much emotion in the report, however we can understand it in some way-after all, the young singer is Armenian, he came in 8th, he helped Armenia make it to the “EuroVision” finals next year and proved that it was worth spending all that money. We were all pleased. The report that followed was not about the first black box that had been brought out of the Black Sea or the current events in the Armenian parliament. Not in the least. TV viewers witnessed a report from Artsakh telling about Andre’s sad childhood, cheerful teenage years and his promising life as a young man. TV viewers saw Karabagh, elderly people and children, the school where the teachers were lucky to have taught someone like Andre. Then Andre, a teenager singing a Russian contemporary song on a school stage…Nearly two months ago, when we were interviewing head of the Public Television/Radio board Alexan Harutyunyan, he was telling us how hard it is to adapt to the Armenians’ pro-provinciality when they keep saying that while Armenians were creating culture, other people were swinging from trees. If that’s really so, then who are you trying to kid with the aggressive tone of information before and after “EuroVision”? On Thursday, Public Television had once again invited the same people who were tired and bored of talking on television-this time to discuss the “language and style” of “Lordi”-the group that placed first at “EuroVision”. After a while, we saw head of the National Assembly constant committee on youth, culture and science Hranush Hakobyan on our TV screens, saying that if Armenians want to, they can do it and saw her give a the watch Andre as a prize. I probably shouldn’t mention the fact that we were all waiting for the representative from Armenia to win and how nice it was to see Armenia participating in “EuroVision” for the first time ever and be in the top ten. But to turn this event into Armenia’s ultimate success of all centuries and broadcast the song day and night to the point where people get tired of it means to consider the people as imbeciles and distasteful. Andre is a talented young man, but it’s really pro-provinciality to place the other artists who place first in other world festivals below Andre, who was included in the top ten. In 2005, Murad Janibekyan, who plays at the Sundukyan theatre, filmed Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” with the money he received after selling his house. Janibekyan won first place in the New York international film festival for “Best Role”. He took first place in Los Angeles, this time for best directing. But these are all minor details and don’t need to be brought into the light because society simply hears what the reports about “EuroVision” are about, rather than listening to, let’s say, Hamlet’s monologue. Candidate of psychology Angela Vartanyan doesn’t share my opinion and has her reasons.
“Andre proved that the small amount of money spent was worth it. He made it so that next year’s representative will perform in the finals. He is a star and, according to the rules of show business, it’s interesting to know everything about him. The important thing is that he was in the top ten. That was already enough.”
Ethnographer, candidate of historical sciences Harutyun MMarutyan, for example, in response to my opinion, said that showing the heroic past of Andre, especially in blockaded Stepanakert with tens of thousands of other people, is simply yet another reason to make him some kind of hero.
“That is one of the key elements of creating an idol-the fact that although he has faced hardships during his childhood and adolescence, he has had some accomplishments due to his effort. It’s just that the media made a big fuss out of the whole thing.”
According to Mr. Marutyan, this was just state politics and a way of showing our ideology.
“In my opinion, the entire scandal is part of the state political approach that independent Armenia is trying to reach the European level, especially in a field such as pop music where there are tens and thousands of competitors. But here we have the newly independent nation overcome the obstacles and make it to Europe. This was what it was all about. Basically, they barely found something to make a big show out of. Why is this being brought into the light so much? It’s because Andre is turning into part of the state ideology. What I hated was seeing people saying “our victory, his victory, we are the best, he’s going to be first place” on public television when the finals hadn’t even begun. I can say it was even disgusting. There was a contradiction-on the one hand, they were saying that the song is good, while on the other hand, the calls were made based on the votes of the Armenian communities abroad. This is a contradiction, which wasn’t really discussed. I think that the performers from Bosnia & Hertzogovina were the best. They received their points thanks to their song.”
I was also interested in finding out actor Murad Janibekyan’s opinion-why doesn’t the media talk about and evaluate his first place prizes in international film festivals?, why doesn’t the head of the National Assembly constant committee on youth, culture and science give him a prize? According to the actor, in Armenian reality, you either have to be a non-Armenian citizen or “gay” to reach success. “If you have any luck and you can be both at the same time, then all doors are open for you.”
In closing, let me repeat: it was nice to see the young Armenian performer in the top ten of the “EuroVision” song contest, but all that was going on before the contest and especially after the semi-finals, reminds us of a story when the greedy mother has a son…