The Armenian Students’ Association at UCLA set sail on the exploration of Armenian culture and food at the De Neve Auditorium and Plaza on April 4, 2008.
A crowd consisting of Armenians and non-Armenians came out to enjoy a night of presentations, performances, and good Armenian food.
The cultural event consisted of two principle parts; an exhibition room, which was purely informative and educational with presentation boards, and a second room which entertained an audience of nearly 100 students with both traditional and modern Armenian music as well as a couple of recitals performed by UCLA Armenian students.
The exhibition room contained an array of educational boards to enrich the spectators on different aspects of Armenian culture. The room was organized in a way in which a person walking in from any culture with absolutely no knowledge of Armenian society, would walk out with a thorough knowledge of Armenian culture, music, art, literature, and history.
A total of eleven boards were set up, all of which were executed by the Armenian students at UCLA. The ASA Cultural Director Arine Harapeti, and the other ASA executives worked strenuously to create a night of enriching displays and inspirational slides.
The demonstrations in this room were on broad topics consisting of "Armenian Cinema," "Armenian Literature," "Armenian Music," "Armenian Dialects," "Armenian-Americans," "Armenian Art through the Ages," "12.07.88 the Earthquake," "Armenian Genocide," "H.R. 106," and an extensive timeline which presented all the major Armenian events that occurred in the course of Armenian history.
After exposing the audience to the fundamental elements of Armenian culture, they were moved into the auditorium where they experienced it through art and live performances.
They witnessed first-hand the evolution of Armenian music and literature through the deliverance of exuberant and emotional presentations.
They witnessed first-hand the evolution of Armenian music and literature through the deliverance of exuberant and emotional presentations.
Two compelling recitals were made by Tigran Avoundjian and Mariam Tsaturyan. Tsaturyan performed an inspirational poem in Armenian about the troubles that Armenians experienced after the Genocide and how Armenians must continue to fight on by Hovhannes Shiraz titled "Boghok". Avoundjian recited in Armenian a nostalgic poem by Paruyr Sevag called "Hayastan".
The culturally educational night was concluded with musical performances by the renowned violinist Alen, who played a beautiful light-hearted piece.
The culturally educational night was concluded with musical performances by the renowned violinist Alen, who played a beautiful light-hearted piece.
UCLA students personally experienced one of the best violinists around as he has been playing the violin for almost 20 years. With 3 solo albums released in the past 7 years, Alen managed to captivate the hearts of the audience.
Alen was followed by the band Visa, an up and coming rock band. The band appealed to the younger crowd with its unique style and rhythm, which also seemed to form a connection with the non-Armenians in the crowd, as their music drew students from the hallway outside the auditorium, who popped in to enjoy the show.
A Journey Through the Armenian Culture successfully brought out the richness of the Armenian culture in every aspect. It successfully combined the sound of the duduk, with the words of prolific Armenian writers, to the traditional food of Armenians around the world.
At the end of the night, the ship arrived with the passengers on board fully educated on Armenian culture in every essence of the word.
At the end of the night, the ship arrived with the passengers on board fully educated on Armenian culture in every essence of the word.
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