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PRESERVING HAMSHEN IDENTITY THROUGH SONG
Hamo Moskofian
Moscow-Krasnodar
July 20, 2012
During Vova Hamshen's historic concert at Moscow's Golden Palace,
on June 10, I grabbed the opportunity to interview Hikmet Akcicek,
the founder and main singer of the music group and his fellow artist
Mehmet Altunkaya. A cultured, patriotic and highly intelligent person,
Akcicek lives in Hopa, Turkey and in Istanbul. With composer Mustafa
Biber and musician Altunkaya, he is the central figure of the Hamshen
group. The latter has won prizes in many international competitions,
singing in Hamshen Armenian, in Turkish and in other languages. Because
Vova Hamshen has given concerts in Armenia and Akcicek has lived in
Yerevan, his Armenian is fairly understandable.
I asked him about the meaning of the group's name and its aims.
Hikmet Akcicek: In Hamshen dialect Vova means "who is it?" ("Ov
eh?" in Western Armenian-HM). Our language is one of the oldest
Armenian dialects. It's preserved in Armenian history for which
we are proud of. Most of the Hameshens in the Eastern Hopa region
can speak only Hamshen Armenian (Homshen), while in Rize and in the
Western regions, unfortunately they speak mostly Turkish. Thus they
are losing their identity. Due to the 400 years of Turkification,
many have forgotten their mother tongue.
Our group's aim was to preserve our nation, the Hamshen community
and identity, through our language. The easiest way was by music and
by singing our centuries-old, marvelous songs about our motherland,
our mountains, nature, love and marriage, and everyday life: age-old
traditions in pure Hamshen Armenian. I think we succeeded in our aim
and we are further developing our goal.
Our group is composed of male and female musicians and singers. I
am an amateur, but the others are top professionals, who perform
in several Black Sea regions. They play modern string instruments
and drums. Some are Hamshen Armenians, others have Laz parentage on
mother's or father's side. All of them excel in our dialect.
HM: Can you tell me about your political views and ideology?
HA: We are socialists. We oppose the ruling party in Turkey. My
colleague here, Mehmet Altunkaya, is a social democrat.
HM: You are Hunchaks... (they laugh).
HA: Altunkaya has even a political party-- T.B.M.M.--which opposes
religious fundamentalism in Turkey. Officially, we are Turkish
citizens. "Turks" but Armenian, and will preserve our identity on the
land that we have lived for centuries: the land called Hamshen. I have
a pain in my heart; our countrymen are dispersed all over the world,
from Turkey to Georgia, to Russia and to Kirgizstan. The first time
we succeeded in meeting together on cultural and musical level was
when a Hamshen band from Krasnodar participated with us in a joint
concert. Our concerts had huge attendance all over Russia, in Armenia
and in Lebanon. We would be very happy to organize concerts in other
countries where Armenians live. We want to remind everybody that we
alive and our language, music, culture is immortal!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8wb6QvCXxTI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HgbIzjH0H1A#!
http://www.keghart.com/Moskofian-VovaHamshen
Hamo Moskofian
Moscow-Krasnodar
July 20, 2012
During Vova Hamshen's historic concert at Moscow's Golden Palace,
on June 10, I grabbed the opportunity to interview Hikmet Akcicek,
the founder and main singer of the music group and his fellow artist
Mehmet Altunkaya. A cultured, patriotic and highly intelligent person,
Akcicek lives in Hopa, Turkey and in Istanbul. With composer Mustafa
Biber and musician Altunkaya, he is the central figure of the Hamshen
group. The latter has won prizes in many international competitions,
singing in Hamshen Armenian, in Turkish and in other languages. Because
Vova Hamshen has given concerts in Armenia and Akcicek has lived in
Yerevan, his Armenian is fairly understandable.
I asked him about the meaning of the group's name and its aims.
Hikmet Akcicek: In Hamshen dialect Vova means "who is it?" ("Ov
eh?" in Western Armenian-HM). Our language is one of the oldest
Armenian dialects. It's preserved in Armenian history for which
we are proud of. Most of the Hameshens in the Eastern Hopa region
can speak only Hamshen Armenian (Homshen), while in Rize and in the
Western regions, unfortunately they speak mostly Turkish. Thus they
are losing their identity. Due to the 400 years of Turkification,
many have forgotten their mother tongue.
Our group's aim was to preserve our nation, the Hamshen community
and identity, through our language. The easiest way was by music and
by singing our centuries-old, marvelous songs about our motherland,
our mountains, nature, love and marriage, and everyday life: age-old
traditions in pure Hamshen Armenian. I think we succeeded in our aim
and we are further developing our goal.
Our group is composed of male and female musicians and singers. I
am an amateur, but the others are top professionals, who perform
in several Black Sea regions. They play modern string instruments
and drums. Some are Hamshen Armenians, others have Laz parentage on
mother's or father's side. All of them excel in our dialect.
HM: Can you tell me about your political views and ideology?
HA: We are socialists. We oppose the ruling party in Turkey. My
colleague here, Mehmet Altunkaya, is a social democrat.
HM: You are Hunchaks... (they laugh).
HA: Altunkaya has even a political party-- T.B.M.M.--which opposes
religious fundamentalism in Turkey. Officially, we are Turkish
citizens. "Turks" but Armenian, and will preserve our identity on the
land that we have lived for centuries: the land called Hamshen. I have
a pain in my heart; our countrymen are dispersed all over the world,
from Turkey to Georgia, to Russia and to Kirgizstan. The first time
we succeeded in meeting together on cultural and musical level was
when a Hamshen band from Krasnodar participated with us in a joint
concert. Our concerts had huge attendance all over Russia, in Armenia
and in Lebanon. We would be very happy to organize concerts in other
countries where Armenians live. We want to remind everybody that we
alive and our language, music, culture is immortal!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8wb6QvCXxTI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HgbIzjH0H1A#!
http://www.keghart.com/Moskofian-VovaHamshen