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BBC RADIO 4 TRACES THE HISTORY OF THE ARMENIAN DIASPORA
16:11, 15 Dec 2014
In a program to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from December 29 to
January 2 writer and historian Charles Emmerson traces the history
of the Armenian diaspora through Europe's Armenian communities today,
according to the BBC's Media Center.
>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.
http://www.armradio.am/en/2014/12/15/bbc-radio-4-traces-the-history-of-the-armenian-diaspora/
16:11, 15 Dec 2014
In a program to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from December 29 to
January 2 writer and historian Charles Emmerson traces the history
of the Armenian diaspora through Europe's Armenian communities today,
according to the BBC's Media Center.
>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.
http://www.armradio.am/en/2014/12/15/bbc-radio-4-traces-the-history-of-the-armenian-diaspora/