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R-Mean and his supporters raise Genocide awareness through `Our
Wounds' movement - INTERVIEW - PHOTOS
http://news.am/eng/news/151817.html
May 04, 2013 | 00:20
By Anna Ghazaryan
Armenian media outlets have recently published a photo of The Game
wearing a T-shirt with `Our Wounds Are Still Open-1915' - the name of
a movement launched ahead of the 98th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide. Meanwhile, `Open Wounds' song by R-Mean was quickly spread
in the Armenian social networks. It was revealed that the movement was
organized by a group of American Armenian young people who wanted to
pay tribute to the Armenian Genocide victims and raise Genocide
awareness all over the globe. Those who were behind the idea - rapper
R-Mean and active Armenian community member from Boston Zareh Zurabyan
told about the project in an interview with Armenian News-NEWS.am.
Who is the author of this movement? How did the idea come along to
write `Our Wounds Are Still Open-1915'? Who designed it and whose idea
was it to have a design like that?
R-Mean: My manager Alex Kodo and I had the idea of making a new video
for this song because we knew it was a jewel. And along with it we
wanted to do t-shirts.... I had written the song and called it `Open
Wounds' so I felt like the shirt had to make the same statement as the
song. `Our Wounds Are Still Open' was perfect. It was Alex's idea to
add the `1915'. Then we contacted our graphic designer, the owner of
`Extra Good' clothing line, Narek Churukyan who we sat down and did
the actual design with.
How did you start to spread the shirts? What makes people of other
nationalities buy the shirt?
Zareh: The social medias were very helpful in spreading the new video,
and the shirt sales. R-Mean having a huge following throughout the
world specifically in the West Coast of USA, and me having a large
connection here in the East Coast specifically Massachusetts, Boston
and Rhode Island, Providence and NY, Brooklyn, I was able to spread
the shirts around here. We kind of combined our large network of
friends and jointly promoted the video and the shirts. Everybody was
happy to be part of the movement, and to help the cause. Having all my
friends and family being back home in Armenia, some studying abroad in
Germany, Moscow, France, R-Mean having family and fans back in
Amsterdam and other parts of the world, it was easy to spread the word
and have all the communities in these cities to buy the shirts -
especially when they knew the proceeds will go to ArmeniaFund.
Just from top of my head, shirts were bought from all over USA,
Canada, UK, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France,
Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Dubai, Budapest,
Lebanon, Syria, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, and of course Armenia.
What got other races to buy the shirt has to do with couple of things.
One of the reasons is the design of the shirt. Just from a style point
of view, the design and the colors that are used are modern and it
speaks to the youth. People want to wear it to look good. Another
reason is the saying, it is different, and it doesn't say Armenian
Genocide on it as many other shirts say, which in turn isolates us
from others. In this case the shirt is somewhat universal. It can be
related to many injustices in the world that are not recognized. The
1915 pinpoints the Armenian Genocide, but the Wounds can be related to
many other injustices. As Martin Luther King Jr said, `Injustice
anywhere, is threat to justice everywhere.'
How did The Game decide to wear the shirt?
Zareh: The Game and R-Mean are both from California, and they did a
song together called `Lost Angels' before, so when the `Open Wounds'
movement started, the mutual respect between them resulted in The Game
to pay his respect to the victims of the Genocide, and to the large
Armenian community in California. It was very nice of him and it is
greatly appreciated.
What other famous people were wearing the shirts, except for The Game?
How did it happen that Kim Kardashian's fan page posted the video?
R-Mean: It was important for us to show how many people in position,
and people outside of the Armenian community were supporting this
`Open Wounds' movement... We started contacting our connects in the
music industry and really just anyone with a following that we knew
people look up to and asked them if they wanted to be a part of this
and support. We had legendary radio DJ's Julio G, Romeo of Tha
Goodfellas, Sway from MTV and Tech on the world famous Wake Up Show
(on Eminem's radio station Shade45)... We had Armenians like boxer
Vanes Martirosyan, UFC fighter Manny Gamburyan, Dj Vick One, Capital
Z, Maria Cozette, Hrach Titizian, Super Sako, and so many more... We
had Singer/Actress Farrah Franklin (formerly from Destiny's child),
and then of course The Game. These are all people we knew and they
respected the movement and what we were trying to do so they
supported. They posted pictures and the video online for all of their
huge followings to see. We also got in touch with Congressman Adam
Schiff who has always supported the Armenian cause in Congress. Our
fans started reaching out to The Kardashians on twitter, IG, and FB
telling them about the `Open wounds' song and the movement...
Eventually they posted it on Kim's official fan page. That was real
cool.
`Open Wounds' song was loved by many people and it was widely spread
in the Armenian social media very quickly. Please tell a little bit
how it was written and who did the video?
R-Mean: Several years ago I had the idea of doing this song. A
genocide song named `Open Wounds'. I knew which producer I wanted to
do it and I knew which singer I wanted on it. I also knew I wanted it
to have duduk samples so I collected a lot of duduk CDs and took them
to my producer Blind. He made the beat... And then I took the beat to
Soseh. As soon as I played it she came up with the idea to use
`Kilikia' I hadn't thought of doing the chorus in Armenian but when
she said it I felt it was genius. Then I just put my heart into the
verses and that was it. It truly came together magically.
My manager Alex Kodo, who is also my director, did the video. He also
did the video for my last song `Lost Angels' with The Game. But `Open
Wounds' was all him. From the ideas, the footages, the concepts, the
editing, everything... He really killed it.
What other ideas do you have to raise awareness about the Armenian Genocide?
R-Mean: As a Hip Hop artist, this is what I do. I put the message in
my music and try to reach as many youth as possible and as many
non-Armenians as possible. The song and the video will continue the
spread... But more importantly we will be spreading the shirts all
year long. This is not a once a year in April thing. We will keep
spreading these because a good looking t-shirt is a great way of
making a statement and spreading the message. Everyone keeps asking
what that t-shirt means.
Zareh: Like R-Mean said, Hip-Hop is the voice of the youth, and his
song has aided me enormously in promoting the shirts and the awareness
here in Boston. Local artists here like G-Eyez, Tha Jist, Chris aka
Chief, Dark Blue and many more who have never heard of the Armenian
Genocide or have, but didn't know how to pay their respect to the
cause or bring awareness, reposted the video on their social networks.
It was very nice of them to do so and I thank them for it. I went to
the AYF Boston chapter and presented them with the shirts, went to
High Schools, many of my friends in different business areas wore the
shirts, and we only got positive feedback.
Boston Armenian community had been very passive these last couple of
years. The protests have had minimal participation from the youth. A
lot of the kids didn't seem to have that passion that the elder
generations used to have. So when the Boston community saw an artist
like R-Mean being so passionate in his song for everyone to see, and
spreading awareness on such a limelight along with these famous
artists - it injected this fresh breeze of pride in the youth.
It got to a point where I would see random people in the most
unexpected places wearing the shirts. It is beautiful. Best part is
that people always ask what the shirt says, so we are inclined to
inform them of our history.
April 24th, 2013 is over, I am still getting orders almost every day,
Armenian and non-Armenian. It is a beautiful thing and I am very proud
of the Boston Armenian Community for their support, passion, and
enthusiasm. Boston community is passionate once again, and excited to
do next year's protest in the newly founded Armenian Heritage Park in
downtown for the Armenian Genocide Victims. We worked 5 years to
finally get our own park here in Massachusetts, and we finally got it.
It is time that we use that park with pride.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Wounds' movement - INTERVIEW - PHOTOS
http://news.am/eng/news/151817.html
May 04, 2013 | 00:20
By Anna Ghazaryan
Armenian media outlets have recently published a photo of The Game
wearing a T-shirt with `Our Wounds Are Still Open-1915' - the name of
a movement launched ahead of the 98th anniversary of the Armenian
Genocide. Meanwhile, `Open Wounds' song by R-Mean was quickly spread
in the Armenian social networks. It was revealed that the movement was
organized by a group of American Armenian young people who wanted to
pay tribute to the Armenian Genocide victims and raise Genocide
awareness all over the globe. Those who were behind the idea - rapper
R-Mean and active Armenian community member from Boston Zareh Zurabyan
told about the project in an interview with Armenian News-NEWS.am.
Who is the author of this movement? How did the idea come along to
write `Our Wounds Are Still Open-1915'? Who designed it and whose idea
was it to have a design like that?
R-Mean: My manager Alex Kodo and I had the idea of making a new video
for this song because we knew it was a jewel. And along with it we
wanted to do t-shirts.... I had written the song and called it `Open
Wounds' so I felt like the shirt had to make the same statement as the
song. `Our Wounds Are Still Open' was perfect. It was Alex's idea to
add the `1915'. Then we contacted our graphic designer, the owner of
`Extra Good' clothing line, Narek Churukyan who we sat down and did
the actual design with.
How did you start to spread the shirts? What makes people of other
nationalities buy the shirt?
Zareh: The social medias were very helpful in spreading the new video,
and the shirt sales. R-Mean having a huge following throughout the
world specifically in the West Coast of USA, and me having a large
connection here in the East Coast specifically Massachusetts, Boston
and Rhode Island, Providence and NY, Brooklyn, I was able to spread
the shirts around here. We kind of combined our large network of
friends and jointly promoted the video and the shirts. Everybody was
happy to be part of the movement, and to help the cause. Having all my
friends and family being back home in Armenia, some studying abroad in
Germany, Moscow, France, R-Mean having family and fans back in
Amsterdam and other parts of the world, it was easy to spread the word
and have all the communities in these cities to buy the shirts -
especially when they knew the proceeds will go to ArmeniaFund.
Just from top of my head, shirts were bought from all over USA,
Canada, UK, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France,
Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Dubai, Budapest,
Lebanon, Syria, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, and of course Armenia.
What got other races to buy the shirt has to do with couple of things.
One of the reasons is the design of the shirt. Just from a style point
of view, the design and the colors that are used are modern and it
speaks to the youth. People want to wear it to look good. Another
reason is the saying, it is different, and it doesn't say Armenian
Genocide on it as many other shirts say, which in turn isolates us
from others. In this case the shirt is somewhat universal. It can be
related to many injustices in the world that are not recognized. The
1915 pinpoints the Armenian Genocide, but the Wounds can be related to
many other injustices. As Martin Luther King Jr said, `Injustice
anywhere, is threat to justice everywhere.'
How did The Game decide to wear the shirt?
Zareh: The Game and R-Mean are both from California, and they did a
song together called `Lost Angels' before, so when the `Open Wounds'
movement started, the mutual respect between them resulted in The Game
to pay his respect to the victims of the Genocide, and to the large
Armenian community in California. It was very nice of him and it is
greatly appreciated.
What other famous people were wearing the shirts, except for The Game?
How did it happen that Kim Kardashian's fan page posted the video?
R-Mean: It was important for us to show how many people in position,
and people outside of the Armenian community were supporting this
`Open Wounds' movement... We started contacting our connects in the
music industry and really just anyone with a following that we knew
people look up to and asked them if they wanted to be a part of this
and support. We had legendary radio DJ's Julio G, Romeo of Tha
Goodfellas, Sway from MTV and Tech on the world famous Wake Up Show
(on Eminem's radio station Shade45)... We had Armenians like boxer
Vanes Martirosyan, UFC fighter Manny Gamburyan, Dj Vick One, Capital
Z, Maria Cozette, Hrach Titizian, Super Sako, and so many more... We
had Singer/Actress Farrah Franklin (formerly from Destiny's child),
and then of course The Game. These are all people we knew and they
respected the movement and what we were trying to do so they
supported. They posted pictures and the video online for all of their
huge followings to see. We also got in touch with Congressman Adam
Schiff who has always supported the Armenian cause in Congress. Our
fans started reaching out to The Kardashians on twitter, IG, and FB
telling them about the `Open wounds' song and the movement...
Eventually they posted it on Kim's official fan page. That was real
cool.
`Open Wounds' song was loved by many people and it was widely spread
in the Armenian social media very quickly. Please tell a little bit
how it was written and who did the video?
R-Mean: Several years ago I had the idea of doing this song. A
genocide song named `Open Wounds'. I knew which producer I wanted to
do it and I knew which singer I wanted on it. I also knew I wanted it
to have duduk samples so I collected a lot of duduk CDs and took them
to my producer Blind. He made the beat... And then I took the beat to
Soseh. As soon as I played it she came up with the idea to use
`Kilikia' I hadn't thought of doing the chorus in Armenian but when
she said it I felt it was genius. Then I just put my heart into the
verses and that was it. It truly came together magically.
My manager Alex Kodo, who is also my director, did the video. He also
did the video for my last song `Lost Angels' with The Game. But `Open
Wounds' was all him. From the ideas, the footages, the concepts, the
editing, everything... He really killed it.
What other ideas do you have to raise awareness about the Armenian Genocide?
R-Mean: As a Hip Hop artist, this is what I do. I put the message in
my music and try to reach as many youth as possible and as many
non-Armenians as possible. The song and the video will continue the
spread... But more importantly we will be spreading the shirts all
year long. This is not a once a year in April thing. We will keep
spreading these because a good looking t-shirt is a great way of
making a statement and spreading the message. Everyone keeps asking
what that t-shirt means.
Zareh: Like R-Mean said, Hip-Hop is the voice of the youth, and his
song has aided me enormously in promoting the shirts and the awareness
here in Boston. Local artists here like G-Eyez, Tha Jist, Chris aka
Chief, Dark Blue and many more who have never heard of the Armenian
Genocide or have, but didn't know how to pay their respect to the
cause or bring awareness, reposted the video on their social networks.
It was very nice of them to do so and I thank them for it. I went to
the AYF Boston chapter and presented them with the shirts, went to
High Schools, many of my friends in different business areas wore the
shirts, and we only got positive feedback.
Boston Armenian community had been very passive these last couple of
years. The protests have had minimal participation from the youth. A
lot of the kids didn't seem to have that passion that the elder
generations used to have. So when the Boston community saw an artist
like R-Mean being so passionate in his song for everyone to see, and
spreading awareness on such a limelight along with these famous
artists - it injected this fresh breeze of pride in the youth.
It got to a point where I would see random people in the most
unexpected places wearing the shirts. It is beautiful. Best part is
that people always ask what the shirt says, so we are inclined to
inform them of our history.
April 24th, 2013 is over, I am still getting orders almost every day,
Armenian and non-Armenian. It is a beautiful thing and I am very proud
of the Boston Armenian Community for their support, passion, and
enthusiasm. Boston community is passionate once again, and excited to
do next year's protest in the newly founded Armenian Heritage Park in
downtown for the Armenian Genocide Victims. We worked 5 years to
finally get our own park here in Massachusetts, and we finally got it.
It is time that we use that park with pride.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress