A talk show aired on public television (H1) last Sunday regarding the song that Andre will sing at the “EuroVision” song contest. The guests included the writer of the song and composer Armen Martirosyan, Ara Gevorgyan, who did the song arrangements, video clip producer Hrach Keshishyan, television journalist for “Kentron” television Petros Ghazaryan, television journalist for “Armenia” television Gevorg Altunyan, singers Hayko, Shushan Petrosyan, Varduhi Vardanyan, Sirusho, director of the “Small Singers of Armenia” choir Tigran Hekekyan, director of the jazz band of the contemporary symphonic orchestra of Public Television Yervand Yerznkyan and other well-known and unknown people.
“168 Hours” had called the songwriter and video clip producer to the editorial office a couple of days ago. At first, they had agreed to the offer, but then after consulting with head of the television board, they came up with reasons for not coming. One of the guests told our reporter that he was getting ready to participate in the talk show to be aired on public television.
On Sunday, many Armenian viewers witnessed that “show”. I really regret not being here to watch the show.
While watching the show, a number of questions came into mind. The main question: who wants Andre to lose during the “EuroVision” song contest? The answer: nobody. If any of the guests in the studio (even the youth sitting in the audience and applauding whenever they felt like it) wish to participate in a similar international contest, everyone in Armenia will support their compatriot and wish him luck. No matter what kind of international contest it be, the Armenian that goes out to participate represents the nation (even in a contest for physics). But that doesn’t mean that the entire population of Armenia has to like what they see or hear, or there shouldn’t be any criticism. What happened on Sunday was the criticism of different opinions. That talk show reminded me of a show back in the mid-70s, when the then Central television network showed how workers and villagers were suing the Solzhenitsi for receiving a Nobel Prize for a novel, which hadn’t even been printed in the Soviet Union and very few had read. The only person who actually criticized the song was someone by the name of Aramazd (he didn’t wish to state his last name), who tried to explain in a nice way why he didn’t like the song. It was simply ridiculous to see how the other guests attacked Aramazd and asked him how he dared to say such a thing, or why he didn’t like it. TV journalist Petros Ghazaryan tried to explain that the media didn’t kill the song, they simply criticized it and said that the two are different from each other. But when Petros said that he would have liked to see experts sitting in the studio who actually didn’t like the song, so the talk show could have some criticism instead of having Aramazd, everyone attacked Petros. Shushan Petrosyan and many of the guests considered Aramazd and Petros as traitors. What was Shushan Petrosyan so angry about? Was it the fact that Petros said that Shushan only sings in front of the Ararat mountain, in the plateau or near cross-stones? What’s wrong with what he said? He’s only saying that for Shushan’s own good. The guests present advised Petros not to watch Shushan’s music videos and just change the channel. My dear artists, cultural figures, TV journalists and applauders-let’s not forget that the Public Television Station is financed by the state and the state, in turn, gets the money from taxpayers like you and I. This is not a private television network. Some of the guests were making offensive remarks about the press and other television network broadcasts, without taking into consideration the fact that media and television play an important role in their careers and their life.
Some of the guests were there to stand up for Andre. But what’s wrong with Andre? He is a young, talented singer who has his whole life ahead of him. In contrast to other singers, he has many fans. It’s not easy being famous and being a superstar has its advantages and disadvantages. Criticism can only make him work harder. Nobody likes every star out there and the stars don’t need all the love. The television viewers watching the talk show like Andre a thousand times more than the guests sitting in the studio, who actually know Andre a little better than them. How did Tigran Hekekyan help Andre when he said that nothing is wrong with the song and the video clip, when he hasn’t even heard the song or seen the video clip? The main point of his speech was that he wouldn’t have come to the talk show if it hadn’t been for the invitation of the Public Television staff. (now it’s time to clap). Or, how can we believe Shushan Petrosyan when she was the one who stood up a month ago and asked “How come two people can sit and decide who is going to represent Armenia with a song at “EuroVision”…? In the beginning of March, she expressed her disappointment in the fact that only Public Television takes on the responsibility of deciding who will go participate in the contest. Shushan was the one who said a month ago that two people couldn’t just get up and decide that Andre will sing at “EuroVision”(when it was really a council, rather than two people), but on Sunday she was actually defending Andre (from who and what?-we didn’t find out). According to Shushan, they could have suggested sending her, but she said that she would reject the offer because, in her words, “first of all, that contest is politicized and nobody remembers the singers on stage after the contest.” How can we believe songwriter Armen Martirosyan when he said that he denies the fact that he didn’t like the arrangement? Martirosyan told me in person that there is a huge difference between the song that he had written and the arrangement…
We can’t insist on anything and not accept criticism. We must discuss, base opinions and take responsibility for what we do, rather than blurting out comments in different places. Perhaps the song melody and the English lyrics are what hold people back from understanding the meaning of the song. Perhaps the reason is the distasteful video clip, which has nothing to do with a love song. After all, the audience got acquainted with the song when the video clip appeared on the screens.
We understand that an artist’s soul is delicate and sensitive-not only the artist, but also the taxi driver, scientist, athlete, the cook, bricklayer, your average worker, etc. Nobody wants to offend anyone; there are simply some people who have different opinions about the song. What’s the problem? How did the different opinionated media turn evil? Throughout history, media has been the one source to write about the different episodes and projects of those artists. The media has responded even when many of our cultural ministers have stepped down from office due to the mistreatment of state officials. Let’s not forget that the simple audience remembers things, has taste, understands and expresses opinions, which don’t always correspond to the opinions of others. All they are doing is politicizing the whole thing, discussing Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, differentiating between a citizen of Yerevan and someone from Karabagh, making fake patriotic speeches…now and then they recall Zeynab Khanlarova, whom, fortunately, the young generation of today knows nothing about…they decide who betrays the nation and who doesn’t…they start suspecting whether or not Turkish culture really exists or not.
Poor Andre. Who knows how much that “show” encouraged him and gave him the strength to improve? Let’s just hope that he will respect the different opinions and try to find something useful, or even learn from his mistakes based on the talk show on Sunday. As for “EuroVision”, that is just a contest, a great business plan for the Public Television Station, which gives the singer an opportunity to appear in front of others. Perhaps not many people make long speeches, they don’t show themselves off, but everyone, even the people who don’t like the song, or the people that don’t like Andre’s performance, the people who are indifferent to all the chaos going on, the people who have started to discuss conflicts-they all want Andre to perform well and win, not only in “EuroVision”, but also in other contests.