A concert entitled “100 Concerts for Armenia” was held at Laeiszhalle in Hamburg on November 7 and dedicated to the 100^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

The concert, which was organized by Adam Barro (Mourad Amirkhanian) and Gaiane Grover, included performances of the works of Mozart, Vivaldi, Frank, Komitas, Harutyunyan, Abrahamyan, Yekmalyan and Spendiaryan by Adam Barro (bass-baritone, France), Hrachuhi Basents (soprano, Germany), Gaiane Choir (Germany) and Gaiane Grover (choirmaster, Germany).

“We selected the songs during our meeting with Adam in Yerevan. Later, we also paid heed to Gaiane Grover’s suggestions and prepared a beautiful program that included the works of Armenian and European composers, even “Ave Maria” by Charles Aznavour,” Hrachuhi Basents said in an interview with “Hayern Aysor”. Hrachuhi Basents is one of the top sopranos of the State Opera Theater of Nuremberg, Germany.

The singers’ key objective was to perform both European and Armenian songs. “It was very important for us to perform the songs by Komitas, Abrahamyan, Harutyunyan and Spendiaryan along with the songs by Bellini, Mozart, Bize and Frank. In musical terms, it was important for us to cast a spell on the people, amaze them, impress them as much as possible and connect them to Armenian songs, the Armenians, as well as their history and culture,” Adam Barro mentioned in an interview with “Hayern Aysor”. Hrachuhi Basents added: “The concert was dedicated to the 100^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, but we didn’t want it to be full of sadness. Our goal was not to present the Armenian who is always in mourning, but the Armenian who is strong, struggles, shines, is filled with hope and faith, has a rich historical heritage and is the leader in different sectors around the world.”

The performances of Harutyunyan’s song “With my Homeland”, Hovhannisyan’s song “Erebuni-Yerevan” and Abrahamyan’s song “After Ararat”, made the audience give the performers a standing ovation.

“I’m very impressed by the audience. The rounds of applause, the screams of “bravo” and the feedback that we received the following day made it clear to us that the concert was exciting and a great success.

I’m very grateful for the cordial and sincere people in the audience. I was “hunting” for looks of admiration in the audience and wanted to give more.

I was more than happy to see loyal and patriotic people who had traveled all the way from Ingolstadt to attend the concert, and I’m very happy that they were content and inspired and that they will come again,” Hrachuhi Basents mentioned.

According to Mourad Amirkhanian, both the singers and the audience were touched by the performances by Gaiane Grover’s Gaiane Choir. The singers are mainly Germans who performed Armenian songs with feeling and correct pronunciation.

The members of Gaiane Choir, who are successful in their respective fields of profession, dedicate their time from work to singing and disseminating Armenian songs under the direction and through the persistent efforts of Gaiane Grover. This is unique and very touching. The members say they always get emotional whenever they sing Armenian songs and relive all the songs that they sing, as well as the pain and suffering of the Armenian nation,” Hrachuhi Basents added.

However, the singer said she would have liked to see more Armenians in the audience. “Everything was wonderful, but to be honest, I was expecting to see an audience packed with Armenians. Unfortunately, the majority of the people in the audience were Germans. Yes, we Armenians are small in number and we are referred to as Armenians, but I would like for us to have more moments of feeling proud.

If any representative of Armenia’s neighboring countries makes even a small contribution to his or her homeland, the other compatriots support that person. But we Armenians only go to concerts that are entertaining. Are we really a nation of people who only attend entertaining concerts? What about our self-respect? The German was singing in Armenian and even getting emotional “in Armenian”.”

The best evidence of this is the following words by one of the Germans who was in the audience:

Ekke Schneider: “I am charmed. This was divine music, “delivered” from above.”

Christine Harvard: “It’s fantastic and marvelous music that I had never heard before.”

Jenny Rinka: “It was a great pleasure. I didn’t get bored for one minute. The program was unique and interesting. The transition from touching Armenian music to Mozart, Vivaldi, Bellini and Bize was simply marvelous. It was a historic event with performances of music that was pleasing to the ear.”

Kerstin Niegel: “Armenian music was new to me. I’m shocked. It was so warm and relaxing. I’m looking forward to the next concert.”

The desire of the singers can be considered fulfilled. The magical sounds of Armenian songs “penetrated” into the souls of the audience and made them feel things that were truly new to them.

This was all due to, first and foremost, Armenian singers who don’t stay detached from their roots abroad. They try to perform Armenian and foreign songs which, according to Adam Barro, has become a unique obligation for the singers. “It is my duty to perform Armenian songs properly. I convey love with my songs.”

“I would like to express my deep gratitude to Adam Barro, Gaiane Choir, Gaiane Grover, the high-class musicians Vahan Gasparyan, David Movsisyan, Andranik Sargsyan and Irina Kolesnikova for the offer to hold this concert, as well as to all those who spent these couple of hours with us. The concert was well-received. I think it will definitely be ongoing,” Hrachuhi Basents said in closing.

By Lusine Abrahamyan