Hrant Dink

Why does the Genocide continue? Because when a wound is not able to heal, when one denies the existence of something so horrible as genocide it will continue to re-infect, to weep, to scar,....
Such an honest man with a true love for humanity and people has been gunned down mercilessly and cold-bloodedly for the wrong reasons...
I cannot believe the outpouring of emotion this has generated. The 100,000 people that marched in Istanbul, the thousands that gathered in Yerevan on Tuesday, the information on the internet, youtube, journals, newspapers,... It's about time the Genocide was brought to the forefront again - but why did it have to take a brutal assassination of an innocent man who was trying to breach the gap between two peoples?
I am not one who can comprehend the reasoning in politics very well - hence I am a musician, but it hurts to see the injustice of the world - that those who love humanity the most are made to suffer. It still bewilders me that in the UK the first four pages of the paper are smattered with photos of Jade Goody and her being kicked out of the Big Brother house because of racist remarks against Ms. Shipley (Asian). So I suppose a verbal comment on a reality tv show still overrides the importance of the cold blooded assassination of an amazing journalist advocating freedom of speech in Turkey and the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915? I don't understand...
I truly hope that Hrant Dink's death was not in vain. It is a great loss for the entire world to lose a human being of this calibre. I hope that there will be some justice in all of this in the end. God rest his soul.

Onwards and Forwards 2007

Wow....what a year....Despite a year of extremes, successes, failures, happiness, sadness, and everything else that happened I have to say 2006 was a brilliant year. I woke up on New Years Day to find a bright blue sky, a crisp winters day, a bustle of activity after weeks and weeks of cloud and rain in England. I hope it is a positive sign for the year to come and something inside me tells me that this year is going to be a really good one. I seem to feel it in every fiber of my being and as a musician believing in something is more than half the battle. I am excited to be alive and I am excited to have met the people I met this past year who helped me expand on my musical journey. Some of you know that some great sacrifices were made to be able to return to what I love most - for those people who have been there - I can never thank you enough for your support. For people like my soon to be ex-husband, I hope one day you can find a similiar happiness to that which I have found and am only sorry that you were never able to share mine with me, really know or understand me or celebrate the person that I truly am. With that in mind I choose not to mourn the divorce my husband presented me with and am only excited at grasping the future. I am so happy to be alive, to be creating music, to be Armenian and come from such an amazing land with such incredible history and culture. I am excited to learn, to live, to see, to hear, and mostly to keep loving life despite everything.
So onwards and forwards! My New Years Resolutions are to see the village project through, to manage a few concerts and to definitely make my way back to Armenia to once again revive all that is creative and meaningful to me. The musical ideas seem to be breaking forth at this point and I can only imagine what might be created when I find the opportunity to return to Yerevan and collaborate with some wonderful talented musicians.
I hear there is a lot of snow on the ground in Yerevan and as one friend pointed out - it is cold but very very romantic. So for those of you in Yerevan - fall in love! For a city that is changing and evolving on a daily basis, that is growing rapidly, so full of novelty but strong in its traditions - you are in the place to be. Make it happen. I am hoping that the diasporans will start traveling out to Armenia not only in August and September but in all the months of the year to experience Armenia as it truly is... Beautiful in all its seasons and always different at different times of the year.
I spent New Years Eve this year at an organised Armenian party with some friends here in London. I must say that we managed to have a nice time dancing into the night. After several shots of traditional vodka and a glass of Armenian Brandy the world was set right once again :) I think there was a suggestion of going to eat "khash" at 3:00 in the morning but I am not sure anyone made it out there. Garlic and more vodka at 3am...hmmmm...it might have worked if we had snow on the ground too! Anyway - I am looking forward to Armenian Christmas on Saturday where I will go to one of the two Armenian churches in London to celebrate. Perhaps in the evening the world will be set right once again :) For all of those who are preparing to make "tolma" in Armenia or who have already done so....(as I have discovered this is the tradition), may your fingers be blessed and roll untiringly.
I will be back - in good spirits no doubt with hopefully some interesting stories or good news. I am now off to enjoy a traditional English leek and potato pie.....oh...what I would do for some khorovats.....
Peace, love, joy, happiness, health, and an appetite for life to all of you in 2007!
S