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Out Of Armenia
Monday 29 December toFriday 2 January
1.45pm-2.00pm
BBC RADIO 4
Writer and historian Charles Emmerson traces the history of the
Armenian diaspora through Europe's Armenian communities today.
>From Manchester, home to Britain's oldest Armenian community, Charles
travels to Paris, the largest and most dynamic Armenian diaspora
community in Europe, still living in the shadow of the memory of the
massacres and deportations of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915.
In Venice he meets the monks charged with the safe-keeping of Armenian
traditions of literature and song on the monastery-island of San
Lazzaro. In Istanbul he hears the more recent stories of the city's
Armenian community, subtle architects building a new relationship
between Turks and Armenians from the foundations up.
Finally, at the foot of Mount Ararat, in Yerevan, underground jazz
music and Syrian refugees tell a new story, of a new focus for
Armenian identity, and fresh challenges to its survival.
Armenians have long struggled to keep their common identity alive in
communities dispersed around the world - in Cyprus, Iran and Venice.
They became leading figures in Ottoman Istanbul. In the 19th century
some moved to the dirt and damp of the booming textile city of
Manchester, establishing themselves in the city's middle-class suburbs
and building the first Armenian church in northwest Europe.
Over tea and cake in warm family homes, Charles hears the stories of a
tiny but close-knit community, now concerned about how to keep alive
its identity, language and religion for a new generation of Mancunian
Armenians. The church holds services just once a month, when a priest
comes up from London. Some ask whether there will be an Armenian
community in Manchester at all in 50 years' time.
Presenter/ Charles Emmerson, Producer/ Cicely Fell for an Above The
Title production
BBC Radio 4 Publicity
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2014/52/out-of-armenia
Monday 29 December toFriday 2 January
1.45pm-2.00pm
BBC RADIO 4
Writer and historian Charles Emmerson traces the history of the
Armenian diaspora through Europe's Armenian communities today.
>From Manchester, home to Britain's oldest Armenian community, Charles
travels to Paris, the largest and most dynamic Armenian diaspora
community in Europe, still living in the shadow of the memory of the
massacres and deportations of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915.
In Venice he meets the monks charged with the safe-keeping of Armenian
traditions of literature and song on the monastery-island of San
Lazzaro. In Istanbul he hears the more recent stories of the city's
Armenian community, subtle architects building a new relationship
between Turks and Armenians from the foundations up.
Finally, at the foot of Mount Ararat, in Yerevan, underground jazz
music and Syrian refugees tell a new story, of a new focus for
Armenian identity, and fresh challenges to its survival.
Armenians have long struggled to keep their common identity alive in
communities dispersed around the world - in Cyprus, Iran and Venice.
They became leading figures in Ottoman Istanbul. In the 19th century
some moved to the dirt and damp of the booming textile city of
Manchester, establishing themselves in the city's middle-class suburbs
and building the first Armenian church in northwest Europe.
Over tea and cake in warm family homes, Charles hears the stories of a
tiny but close-knit community, now concerned about how to keep alive
its identity, language and religion for a new generation of Mancunian
Armenians. The church holds services just once a month, when a priest
comes up from London. Some ask whether there will be an Armenian
community in Manchester at all in 50 years' time.
Presenter/ Charles Emmerson, Producer/ Cicely Fell for an Above The
Title production
BBC Radio 4 Publicity
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2014/52/out-of-armenia