Epress.am News from Armenia
Armenian Public Television’s decision to withdraw from the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest has stirred a wave of discontent among fans of Armenian rock band Dorians who expected that their favorite band would perform in Baku with its song “This is Our World,” which it submitted as its entry.
Several fans published comments on the band’s Facebook page deploring the public broadcaster’s decision, going even so far as to criticize the station’s own programming and its soap operas, in particular.
Recall, Dorians was one of the first Armenian artists to both state their willingness to go to Baku and participate in the contest and prepare a special song and accompanying music video. Even after a group of Armenian artists issued a statement late last month saying they were boycotting the contest and urged the public broadcaster to withdraw, Dorians continued to state their wish to perform in Baku and bring messages of peace, especially as the lyrics of their song convey just that.
In response to the outcry from Dorians’ fans, Epress.am contacted Alexan Harutyunyan, the chair of the Armenian Public Television and Radio Council, for comments. The board chair said that he highly praises the band and lead singer Gor Sujyan (pictured) personally, but he considered This is Our World not one of the band’s best songs. Furthermore, even if the public broadcaster decided to participate in Eurovision and chose Dorians as Armenia’s contestant, it would suggest Dorians change not only the music but the lyrics of the song.
Earlier, band members had written on their Facebook page: “When we were going to Russia for Eurovision, no one was speaking of security — even though in Russia nationalism knows no bounds. There, every day an Armenian is killed, but we weren’t afraid to go to Russia… Come to your senses, people, how many Armenians are killed among the hundreds of thousand that live in Turkey today? How many? In terms of percentage, 100 times much less than in Russia. Let’s remove the hatred injected within us, people of the world… Life happens only once — let us live in peace and without wars.”