During my interview for Hayern Aysor, singer Nara Noyan, who was hosted at the Ministry of Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia, clearly expressed her longing for Armenia, even though she has never been detached from her roots and her birthplace. She is the remarkable daughter of her Homeland and the country where she was able to grow and achieve successes. I talked about this and other topics with the singer.

Karine Avagyan: Welcome to the Homeland where your friends, relatives and a large army of your fans always wait for you. How do you feel?

Nara Noyan: I feel wonderful, but it feels like I am on my ��?first date’ with my audience because this is the first time I will be giving a concert in my Homeland, in my Yerevan where I was born and raised. I am nervous and am waiting for responses to my concert.

Karine Avagyan: Nara, where did you receive your musical education? Do you consider yourself a singer or a performer/musician?

Nara Noyan: I received my musical education at Tchaikovsky Music School and Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory, after which I studied in absentia and graduated from the Conservatory in Paris since I went there and couldn’t return. I am a pianist, songwriter, performer and accidentally became a singer because I used to have a singer who left, and I faced the fact that I had to start singing.

Karine Avagyan: What songs and melodies are mainly included in your repertoire and musical programs?

Nara Noyan: I prefer romantic songs and music. My works are poetic and dreamy. They are poems mixed with music that I never perform by screaming. I narrate more than I sing. Sometimes it seems as though I am whispering to my audience. This is my style.

Karine Avagyan: Your mother and uncle Levon Blbulyan compose. What about you?

Nara Noyan: I have been composing and creating since I was little. I started writing words and music back in kindergarten and performed the songs as well. All the members of my family compose, but we have never realized that we have something to give to the public and have never thought of working together. We discovered this in Europe. Everyone would tell us that we needed to record our songs and release an album, and we would listen to them in awe…I write the words of my songs and organize the musical arrangement by myself.

Karine Avagyan: Are there people who have helped, praised or sponsored you so that you grow in the music industry?

Nara Noyan: Music comes from my mother, poetry-from my uncle, and my father Pavel Mnoyan is also a musician. I grew up in a family that would host a lineup of artists almost every day, including Frunze Dovlatyan, Tigran Mansurian, Frunzik Mkrtchyan, Albert Mkrtchyan, Aram Satyan, Robert Amirkhanyan and other great Armenians…It is obvious that children who grow up in such an environment have no other choice, even though I had always dreamed of becoming a cosmonaut. Later, I listened to the songs of Brel, Aznavour and Brasans…Recently I started listening to Francophone music and have started performing it as well.

Karine Avagyan: Armenians are talented in almost all spheres, and if they are talented, then they are also world famous. In that sense, in which country are you more popular-France or Armenia?

Nara Noyan: I can’t say. I can only say that I no longer have control over myself and my songs on the Internet. The only thing I can say is that I recently received invitations from India and Fuji. People in France and Armenia know and appreciate me to a certain extent. I am grateful and feel obliged to be greater and work harder.

Karine Avagyan: Have you ever had the chance to meet and talk to our great compatriot, Charles Aznavour? If yes, what have you learned from him?

Nara Noyan: I have always learned and continue to learn from great musicians. I have been lucky to perform and include in my album two songs of Charles Aznavour. I worked very carefully and sent a demo to Charles Aznavour. In order to have the right to include any performance on your album, you need to get permission from the author. Aznavour liked my performances and adaptations and allowed me to include the song in my album. During our meeting, I was very nervous. The great Armenian asked for my autograph, and I asked for his. Aznavour is great and yet so simple!

Karine Avagyan: All your songs and performances are your soul children. Nevertheless, each person has a song of his soul. What is the song of your soul, the one and only, the precious song?

Nara Noyan: This might come as a surprise, but the song of my soul is Alla Pugacheva’s song “Arlekino”, which I always recall. I loved the singer so much that I even wanted her to become my mother…One day, when I was five years old, my mother said the singer had already sent the “reply” to my letter and had written that she already had a child, was very busy and couldn’t raise another child…Now when I am older, I remember that with shame and laughter. I have a wonderful and exceptional mother.

Karine Avagyan: As an epilogue, please tell us what the homeland means to you and what you feel when you say ��?Armenia’.

Nara Noyan: Roots! Wherever I go, I can’t feel complete because I am extirpated whether I want to or not. Fortunately, I have not been extirpated and have sung everywhere, staying clung to my roots. I started my career by singing Armenian songs. I have been performing French songs for the past couple of years. I presented myself to Europe and the world for the first time with an Armenian upbringing and in Armenian. My native language is my ��?passport’.

Interview by Karine Avagyan