Epress.am News from Armenia
Showing the Armenian people in such a pitiful state and in a low-quality, provincial format is not proper form, suggested Armenia’s former prime minister (1998–99), current Rector of the Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University Armen Darbinyan, speaking about the Tashir 2011 Armenian Music Awards during a public lecture.
According to him, “putting for show such poor-quality culture is linked to the issue of national identity.” “A people, a country which really has centuries-old serious spiritual values has no right to expose itself in such a ridiculous way,” said the rector as citing on the university’s website.
“The energy and organizational talent which was spent on organizing this event could’ve been and should’ve been better spent for the opposite purposes. We need to display our culture; we have great musical legacy in Komitas, Aram Khachaturian, Avet Terterian and others — people that make up the pride of any nation’s music history. And we, having this history, display ourselves in the Kremlin hall in a completely different light — and on top of that, we say with pride that we, Armenians, have ‘captured’ the Kremlin,” he said.
The former PM also noted that the award ceremony, in a sense, reflects Armenia’s current state; in particular, it can be considered an indicator of a weak state.
“If the state has outlined a clear direction, it shouldn’t allow such national music awards to be organized; the state must lead the people to the correct perception of their own values,” he concluded.