National anthem committee members, entertainers and interested people are leading heated-up debates concerning the old and new national anthems of Armenia, blaming each other for objectivity and making quick decisions. Some authors, committee members and intellectuals talk on television and give press interviews almost every day, presenting their point of views and discrediting others. It seems as though citizens of Armenia are looking at all this with great enthusiasm because it’s always interesting to hear what entertainers have to say.
Perhaps the biggest scandal concerned poets Razmik Davoyan and David Hovhannes. D. Hovhannes considers the two versions of the anthem-the Aram Khachatryan-Arsen Soghomonyan, as well as the Yervand Yerznkyan-Ararat B. compositions- as illegal and “the work of criminals”. According to D. Hovhannes, they are “criminals” because the authors of the lyrics are unknown.
Arsen Soghomonyan works at the Ministry of Culture and “is trying to mess with the genius Aram Khachatryan”. According to David Hovhannes, the other one is committee member Razmik Davoyan, who is going against rules and regulation and is lobbying the song that he wrote the lyrics to. That scandal didn’t really cause a lot of commotion because neither Soghomonyan nor Davoyan responded to a frustrated David Hovhannes, who says the following during each of his speeches.
“After seeing how illegal the committee is working, I left and never returned.” In general, during debates, the word most frequently used is “I”. Many people use that “I” as a means of explanation. “I don’t want to talk right now because people will misinterpret what I say,” say many and keep silent. The Culture Ministry is also keeping silent. The ministry is also not saying a word. The ministry may protect copyright laws, but it doesn’t check to see the real last name of the person I’m defending.: Although the ministry does protect copyright laws, however it isn’t revealing the real author’s name.
The selection of one of Armenia’s national symbols has moved to a personal level. The issue has to do with the 15th anniversary of the declaration of Armenia’s independence, as if celebrating the event by singing the old anthem is impossible, offensive, or a shame. “Everyone has the desire to change the anthem as soon as possible,” says D. Hovhannes.
Between the old and the new
Art critic Henrik Hovhannisyan had this to say during a debate with D. Hovhannes at the “Hayeli” club.
“I’m also in the industry, so why didn’t they invite me to be a committee member?”
One of the best art critics of Armenia H. Hovhannesyan is in favor of declaring contests and forming a new committee and calls on people not to hurry in making the selection for a new national anthem.
“We mustn’t hurry and choose a national anthem. We need a new committee, where there are people who actually know a thing or two about music and literature.”
D. Hovhannes said that there are “many unknown people” who are members of the current committee. H doesn’t even know half of the people there. “They’re the people appointed by the minister of culture.”
Henrik Hovhannisyan advises to look at the ethical and political aspects of the anthem and leave the personal aside. The art critic is against writing a new anthem because there are enough songs in Armenian reality, which can be considered anthems. According to H. Hovhannisyan, the anthems composed by composers Aram Khachatryan and Barsegh Kanachyan will remind us of the politics of the past. While listening to Aram Khachatryan’s composition, Armenians will recall the Soviet era and the Pioneer clubs and they won’t be able to look at it from the artistic point of view. The lyrics for “Mer Hayrenik” (Our Homeland) go way back too, according to Hovhannisyan. “There is no need to create a new anthem. Let’s pick a song that everyone knows and has been instilled in their hearts, for example, Komitas’s “Armenia: heavenly land”. We have to take the values that we already have.”
Recently, composer Robert Amirkhanyan, whose version is in the top five, gave a live interview on “Shant” television where he was trying to convince TV viewers sitting at home that it’s time to get rid of the old and bring in the new and that Armenians can’t continue singing the old anthem.
“Why shouldn’t we get rid of the old? We have good composers who can write something new.”
Based on what he said during the interview, it was clear that he had already composed his version of the national anthem and that that had been the music for Robert Kocharyan’s presidential campaign. He claimed that the people were already familiar with the music. The viewer got the impression that the new national anthem with its arrangement is supposed to be the best national anthem during Robert Kocharyan’s term. R. Amirkhanyan didn’t even talk about the national anthem with lyrics by writer Michael Nalbandyan and music by Barsegh Kanachyan, considering that as the duplicate of the Italian poem and music.
“Nalbandyan wrote about an Armenian girl. Armenian history came late into the arena and it was obvious that we were supposed to copy from others. In the melody of the current national anthem, there are some parts from Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville”.
Henrik Hovhannisyan places emphasis on the lyrics of the song.
“The lyrics are very important for a song. You don’t have to be a professional poet to write the lyrics of a song; you can even be a philologist who knows a thing or two about poems.” But before writing, it’s important to pay attention to the good texts that have already been written.
When the committee chooses from the top five and the authorities confirm, it’s quite possible that five years later, there will once again be a need to change the national anthem. There will always be people who will come up with new ideas and the new president of Armenia can join that chain of people. If the authorities decide to leave the national anthem “Mer Hayrenik” (Our Homeland) the same, then that will mean that the committee members had simply wasted their time for the past three months trying to choose a new anthem.