The Moldau (Spring 08)

Osheen Abramian
itsosheen@yahoo.com

There’s a clearly visible cultural presence of Armenians in So. Cal. With restaurants, groceries, bookstores, and a morning scent of body odor in the air, Armenians have definitely put their stamp as a people with an extremely strong sense of culture. Even at this point, I can’t get enough of it.

If I had any say in it, I’d rally to have electives in Armenian history across many high schools. We spent ten weeks reading The Diary of Anne Frank due to the lack of centrifugal forces influencing the school curriculum, not because we enjoyed reading endless passages with lurid, sensationalized imagery of the Gestapo running up and down staircases in apartment buildings. It eventually amounted to forceful deglutition of pity.

The biggest void I’ve observed in the cultural awareness of Armenians though, is the stygian depths Armenians have immersed themselves in when it comes to musical awareness. The hub of what I consider as a problem lies with the obstinate doggedness most Armenians carry.
Many Armenians I know fail to be receptive when I try to play them music that doesn’t come from an overweight, middle-aged man who sings like he was trying to save time by getting a rectal examination while recording. I understand that for some, the language barrier might be dismaying, but that didn’t stop most of us when Tatu made their insulting international presence in music. I guess cleavage is bilingual.

This ossified demeanor is most apoplectic when people inexhaustibly claim they are open-minded to music, claiming they listen to musicians like System Of A Down, Lifehouse, and Akon as some form of corroboration to their claim.

Armenians lack patience when listening to new music. There is dramatically much less music I like than dislike but I always keep an open mind when listening to them for the first time. There’s a significant difference between appreciating music and disliking it. For example, the cacophonous screeching and moaning in the vocals of death metal dissuades most people from giving it a respectable chance at its qualities. However, the vocals are intended to direct the listener’s attention to the guitars of the arrangement, which are generally very technical and perfectly timed. Many of these musicians spend years in music conservatories studying theory and are virtuosos of multiple instruments.

Excluding Serj Tankian, System of a Down gets exorbitant acclaim for their music. Daron and Shavo both don’t have any understanding behind music theory, and the band as a whole is comically undisciplined. Their live performances lack the proper timing, professionalism, and perseverance to finish a full set. Although it casts a shadow in the Nu-Metal genre, which is in its infancy, there is a plethora of other bands that make System of a Down sound like a garage band.
There’s also a dramatic desolation in contemporary Armenian music composition. Most new musicians merely cover old, worn out, and banal songs that are out of touch for this generation. Musicians who look like they’ve never touched a woman without giving their credit card number for it incoherently drivel on about lost loves which cheapens the whole concept of courtship.
Nevertheless, there are musicians who have brought a new breath to the music scene, like Bambir, Armenian Navy Band, and Gor Mkhitarian. The local Armenian music community is very talented but neglected, and it’s disappointing at how little the entire Armenian community encourages its blossoming. Bands like Orcus, Eminent, Ed, and Echocell would get much more exposure if Armenians were to better support them.

One of my biggest concerns is that Armenians fail to separate personal political opinions from their musical influence. I am an avid listener of Kurdish and Turkish music and feel that people who do not listen to it are at a great loss of fruition. It is a shame to disregard their music as a cause of the political issues between Armenia and Turkey. Moreover, although it is very admirable, too many musicians focus on reflecting their opinions on the Armenian Genocide. If someone has a microphone and a guitar lying around the house, chances are you’re bound to find lyrics discussing denial, murder, and injustice.

There isn’t enough music that delves into personal introspection and the individual human condition. I’m beginning to fear that less and less effort is being made on self-recognition and improvement. With so much music on the Genocide, be it reconciliatory or combative, we’re failing to realize that our identity as a people is progressively being portrayed solely as a victimized people. It never ceases to amaze me how such a small period in time can vastly overshadow three thousand years of rich culture and history.

I urge you to keep your ears open at all times. With the ease of downloading music for free, cost of albums is no longer an issue. Discovering new music that you can come to love is a very exciting and maturing experience. You might realize how much you’ve been missing out.