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ANKARA: Syrian Musician Reflects Her Sorrow Through Melodies

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  • ANKARA: Syrian Musician Reflects Her Sorrow Through Melodies

    SYRIAN MUSICIAN REFLECTS HER SORROW THROUGH MELODIES

    Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
    July 19 2013

    ISTANBUL- Hurriyet Daily News
    by Vercihan Ziflioğlu

    Musician Lena Chamamyan came to Turkey for a concert. Chamamyan lives
    in Paris currently. She says she is planning return to Syria with peice

    Famous Syrian singer Lena Chamamyan played a long-anticipated show
    in Istanbul on July 17 as part of a somewhat melancholic "return"
    to Turkey for the jazz musician, a half-Armenian, half-Syriac artist
    whose family roots lie in Kahramanmaraş.

    "Coming to Turkey makes me sad," she told the Hurriyet Daily News.

    "This is my first visit to Turkey; I am really happy meeting
    with Turkish people and also Turkish-Armenians. ... Meeting with
    Turkish-Armenians, it's like meeting with old friends. ... I am so
    glad to be here but it's so weird in the mean time. My feelings are
    so mixed."

    Damascus-born Chamamyan, who played at Yıldız Palace alongside pianist
    Tuluğ Tırpan, cellist Ozer Arkun and kanun player Goksel Baktagir,
    has also had to abandon her homeland due to the civil war and is
    currently living in Paris. Nonetheless, Chamayan vowed to one day
    return to Syria. "If the fight were to finish in Syria, I'll return
    to my country. As an artist, I can't live under a foreign sky."

    Chamamyan also talked about her family's story in Kahramanmaraş during
    the massacres perpetrated by Ottoman forces against Armenians in 1915.

    "My grandfather told me his brother went to the army that time. My
    grandfather arrived in Syria."

    On politics

    Commenting on her trip to Turkey, Chamamyan said there were many good
    and bad people everywhere in the world. "But in general, I discovered
    that the biggest problem is always the politicians. I never, ever deal
    with politicians. Ignorance is so painful, and politicians do nothing."

    Chamamyan's obligatory exile from Syria has given her a chance to
    embark on a journey of discovery. "After the big pain, I have had
    a chance to discover myself," she said, adding that she created her
    music with sadness and sorrow. "The pain turns to music."

    She also said she told herself in 2011 that to stand up for one's
    own people, "you have to give your people hope."

    Music of Chamamyan

    The singer, who combines jazz and classical Armenian music, was born
    in Damascus, where over the course of her elementary and secondary
    education she participated in many school concerts, the first of
    which she held at the age of 5. She started studying music at the
    age of 9 and graduated from the economics management department at
    Damascus University in 2002. She studied at the higher institution
    of music in Damascus and graduated as a classical vocalist in 2007.

    She has also worked with many vocalists and musicians of different
    nationalities in many jazz festivals in Syria.

    As part of her musical trajectory, Chamamyan has mixed classical with
    oriental jazz and Armenian music to reflect the unique essence of her
    style as a vocalist. She was charmed from the very beginning by the
    idea of mixing simple oriental tunes with cords. Many friends from the
    higher institution of music helped her understand and conceptualize
    the project, the first of whom was Basel Rajoub, who has arranged
    some of her music.

    July/19/2013

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