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Today's Zaman, Turkey
Dec 28 2014
Rena De: I would like to represent Syria and Armenia at the Jazz Festival
Rena De is a celebrated Syrian-Armenian Jazz singer based in Yerevan.
She agreed to an interview with me in which she shares her wish to
participate in the Ä°stanbul Jazz Festival and explains how music is
instrumental in creating dialogue between people in conflict.
The night before, I speak on the phone with Rena De, a 42-year-old
Syrian-Armenian singer who performs jazz music in a venue called
Melrose in the heart of Yerevan. She calls out a `Hello,' that varies
between a stylish Australian accent and a powerful and self-contained
woman's tone, like Velma in the movie `Chicago.'
`Come to Melrose at 8 p.m., dear,' she says. Rena seems kind and
intimidating, graceful and distant. She radiates an energy that
emanates when someone is aware of her own strength while being
touchingly vulnerable at the same time.
At Melrose, Rena does event planning and public relations, apart from
performing jazz, blues, R&B and soul songs with her band Shiver. After
I swing open the door, I find Rena sitting on a red chair that extends
from wall to wall under Melrose's blue lights. She is holding a
cigarette with one hand and making calculations on her iPad with the
other. Nervous that Rena won't have time for our interview before her
9 p.m. performance, I sit and stare at her long black curly hair. But
thankfully, within minutes, she comes and sits with me. Seeing that I
am concerned about the loud noise that surrounds us, Rena suggests
that we go to the kitchen to conduct the interview.
`I read that some of your ancestors are from MaraÅ? in modern day
Turkey. I wonder how you feel about that. Is your music influenced by
their legacy?' I ask while breathing in the smell of fried oil and
ignoring the big white ventilating unit next to us that sounds like an
airplane taking off.
`I have been to Turkey five times, and I felt the energy of the land
where my ancestors once lived,' Rena says. She listens to every kind
of music. But traditional Armenian music is special for her because it
touches her in a way that's inexpressible through words. `It says
something to me because that's who I am.'
Rena was born in Syria and moved to Australia when she was two years
old. After spending 20 years there, she left for Syria. But after the
war broke out, she first moved to Lebanon in 2012 and then finally
settled in Armenia in August 2013.
The young cook in red takes out a box of sandwich loaves from a bakery
and starts applying mustard on them. I ask Rena what she thinks of
music's role in facilitating dialogue and understanding. I explain
that I have Armenian-Turkish dialogue in mind in particular, with all
its complications and promises.
`Definitely it has a role,' she says instinctively. For example, the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
organized a concert in Yerevan at the end of October, Rena says, and
its aim was to unite diaspora, local and refugee Armenian musicians.
`That was really beautiful! I was asked to say a few words on stage.
The only thing that I said was how I felt. Although we speak different
Armenian dialects [eastern and western], on stage we speak the same
language -- music. We might have different backgrounds and political
opinions. But on stage, we speak a language that everyone understands.
This brings us closer,' Rena says.
Rena thinks that the same applies to making music between Armenia and
Turkey. She communicates with me that she has heard about the Ä°stanbul
Jazz Festival. `I would like to represent Syria and Armenia at the
Ä°stanbul Jazz Festival,' she says. I immediately imagine her singing
Arabic and Armenian jazz songs with a concentrated face and her
monumental black curly hair at the Cemil Topuzlu Open-Air Theater in
Ä°stanbul.
After the interview, I see Rena where I first saw her, close to the
entrance of Melrose, sitting on that red chair. I want to thank her
for her time and hospitality, so I squeeze her hand in the dark. I
only realized after I screamed in pain that she was holding a
cigarette.
http://www.todayszaman.com/arts-culture_rena-de-i-would-like-to-represent-syria-and-armenia-at-the-jazz-festival_368215.html
Dec 28 2014
Rena De: I would like to represent Syria and Armenia at the Jazz Festival
Rena De is a celebrated Syrian-Armenian Jazz singer based in Yerevan.
She agreed to an interview with me in which she shares her wish to
participate in the Ä°stanbul Jazz Festival and explains how music is
instrumental in creating dialogue between people in conflict.
The night before, I speak on the phone with Rena De, a 42-year-old
Syrian-Armenian singer who performs jazz music in a venue called
Melrose in the heart of Yerevan. She calls out a `Hello,' that varies
between a stylish Australian accent and a powerful and self-contained
woman's tone, like Velma in the movie `Chicago.'
`Come to Melrose at 8 p.m., dear,' she says. Rena seems kind and
intimidating, graceful and distant. She radiates an energy that
emanates when someone is aware of her own strength while being
touchingly vulnerable at the same time.
At Melrose, Rena does event planning and public relations, apart from
performing jazz, blues, R&B and soul songs with her band Shiver. After
I swing open the door, I find Rena sitting on a red chair that extends
from wall to wall under Melrose's blue lights. She is holding a
cigarette with one hand and making calculations on her iPad with the
other. Nervous that Rena won't have time for our interview before her
9 p.m. performance, I sit and stare at her long black curly hair. But
thankfully, within minutes, she comes and sits with me. Seeing that I
am concerned about the loud noise that surrounds us, Rena suggests
that we go to the kitchen to conduct the interview.
`I read that some of your ancestors are from MaraÅ? in modern day
Turkey. I wonder how you feel about that. Is your music influenced by
their legacy?' I ask while breathing in the smell of fried oil and
ignoring the big white ventilating unit next to us that sounds like an
airplane taking off.
`I have been to Turkey five times, and I felt the energy of the land
where my ancestors once lived,' Rena says. She listens to every kind
of music. But traditional Armenian music is special for her because it
touches her in a way that's inexpressible through words. `It says
something to me because that's who I am.'
Rena was born in Syria and moved to Australia when she was two years
old. After spending 20 years there, she left for Syria. But after the
war broke out, she first moved to Lebanon in 2012 and then finally
settled in Armenia in August 2013.
The young cook in red takes out a box of sandwich loaves from a bakery
and starts applying mustard on them. I ask Rena what she thinks of
music's role in facilitating dialogue and understanding. I explain
that I have Armenian-Turkish dialogue in mind in particular, with all
its complications and promises.
`Definitely it has a role,' she says instinctively. For example, the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
organized a concert in Yerevan at the end of October, Rena says, and
its aim was to unite diaspora, local and refugee Armenian musicians.
`That was really beautiful! I was asked to say a few words on stage.
The only thing that I said was how I felt. Although we speak different
Armenian dialects [eastern and western], on stage we speak the same
language -- music. We might have different backgrounds and political
opinions. But on stage, we speak a language that everyone understands.
This brings us closer,' Rena says.
Rena thinks that the same applies to making music between Armenia and
Turkey. She communicates with me that she has heard about the Ä°stanbul
Jazz Festival. `I would like to represent Syria and Armenia at the
Ä°stanbul Jazz Festival,' she says. I immediately imagine her singing
Arabic and Armenian jazz songs with a concentrated face and her
monumental black curly hair at the Cemil Topuzlu Open-Air Theater in
Ä°stanbul.
After the interview, I see Rena where I first saw her, close to the
entrance of Melrose, sitting on that red chair. I want to thank her
for her time and hospitality, so I squeeze her hand in the dark. I
only realized after I screamed in pain that she was holding a
cigarette.
http://www.todayszaman.com/arts-culture_rena-de-i-would-like-to-represent-syria-and-armenia-at-the-jazz-festival_368215.html