Hamshen week

July 22։ Opening of the Hamshen week in Armenia at the Naregatsi Art Institute. The day marked the opening of a photo exhibition dedicated to Hamshen culture, architecture and landscape and showcased a fine collection of books about Hamshen. At 7 pm Vova Hamshen Folk group took the stage to commence with what was the first concert of the group outside of Turkey and also their debut concert in Armenia. “Everything seamed very unusual at first. They were singing in what seamed a strange dialect of Armenian but with the first tune of the bagpipe the audience exploded with applause”, wrote the Noyan Tapan reporter the next day. As is customary at NAI the members of the group received ceramic pomegranates symbolizing life and a decorative rug with an engraving of the NAI logo prepared by physically impaired children; members of the NAI art family.

July 23։ Opening of a day long conference at the Congress Hotel entitled Hamshen and Hamshen Armenians։ History and Culture. The conference brought together historians, musicians, choreographs, linguists and guest speakers from Turkey and Russia, representatives of the Ministry of Culture and the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia to discuss and reevaluate Hamshen Armenian culture and history.

July 24։ Screening of two films about Hamshen at NAI; Momi by Ozdjan Alper and Carrying Life by Heshi Ousdaoghlou.
Other than taking part in the events envisaged as part of the Hamshen Week in Armenia the guests also visited many tourist and historic destination in Armenia like Garni, Geghart, Lake Sevan and the Genocide Museum. “Sometimes it seams to me that we live in times when everything is made of plastic but in Armenia everything is so real, natural and beautiful”, confessed Vova member and music manager Mustafa Biber at Garni after a stunning performance of Der Voghoromia.

The peak of the Hamshen Week was the concert of the Vova Hamshen Folk Group at the Chamber Music Hall after Gomidas on July 25. “Today you will hear miraculous music that seams as if it has reached us form the depths of the seas, the heights of the mountains and the lows of the valleys to tell you of a wondrous world”, said NAI president Nareg Haroutunian, while present the group to the audience.
“The Hamshen language, song and dance, the Hamshen culture and legacy like the tide and the forests, like the songs of the birds and like flowers, like a dieing world is vanishing forever. We began to speak out loud because this loss is breaking our hearts. We began to speak out loud to save Hamshen tuned form being forgotten eternally and to keep our culture alive.
We sing to nourish life, peace and friendship of nations. Songs sung at the sea shore will echo in the mountains. We sing for the beauty of man and of the world” said Hkmet Akchichec.

The Hamshen Week in Armenia was concluded at the Avanguard Folk Club with a joint concert with world known musician Arto Tunchboyadjian.