Mugham is Respected Art Form in the East: Debate in Armenia

I don’t know what you’re talking about, I don’t watch television and this commotion is incomprehensible to me. I consider this to be a regular display of show, said founder, artistic director and principal conductor of the choir Little Singers of Armenia Tigran Hekekyan, speaking to journalists and addressing recent statements by singer-songwriter Vahram Petrosyan that he and his friends also listen to Azerbaijani music.

Hekekyan doesn’t believe one should tell others what to listen to, but “in any way, the state, professionals, including me, who have, of course, a wide platform, an area of influence, should be able to cultivate taste. This is the result of poor taste.”

He also said that today even “civilized pop singers” include sonority that “doesn’t have national belonging” in their music.

“We say, Azerbaijani, Turkish, Persian… I say, these nations would be insulted if that which we broadcast on TV, which we have made ours, we consider it theirs,” he said.

Hekekyan also stressed that mugham is an art form that is highly valued and enjoys much respect in the East, which those in Armenia performing it can’t even master. “Let’s decide: this isn’t ours, people,” he said.

Completely agreeing with him was singer-songwriter Lilit Pipoyan, who said that two issues have become mixed up together: the influence of neighboring nations’ culture and the issue of quality and taste.

“In no way am I a xenophobe and I respect art from all over the East,” she said. It’s another issue, she added, when vulgarity permeates Armenian music.

“Of course, we had a history and there were cross-influences; we can’t avoid these. The issue being raised now is nothing new, and I’m going to say something again that I’ve said often: since we’re a people that has survived destruction and we know from where the threat has come, it’s very important for us to specify and emphasize our identity,” she said.

She added, if someone expresses his opinion honestly, she respects him more than those who, hiding under a false image, “do the same in reality.”

Both Hekekyan and Pipoyan came to the conclusion that the state has to educate its children. In this context, Tigran Hekekyan described how 5 years ago, he had proposed that all children in Armenia learn 20 folk songs a year.

“Let’s begin to educate children,” he said.