Memorable July dates -1/4 - July -1: 1, 2, 4, and 9

Vahe H Apelian

 

July 1, 1846

July 2, 1972

July 4, 1776

July 9, 1976

 

On July 1, 1846 the Armenian Evangelical Church was established in Constantinople. Read Link http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2024/07/memorable-july-dates-1-2-4-and-9.html

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On July 4, 1776, America declared its independence. The phrase is mostly known. But what is revolutionary is the concept of the unalienable right to pursue happiness. That surely was and still is revolutionary. Read link: http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2024/07/memorable-july-dates-3-july-4-1776.html

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As to July 2, 1972 and July 9, 1976, they are personal. If interested I invite you to read the attached blog linked below. Not on July 2, 1972 but on July 9, 1976 I made my  most westerly journey. Read link: Not on July 2, 1972 but on July 9, 1976: http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2024/07/memorable-july-dates-44-july-9-1976.html

Memorial Day: Camp Lutherlyn, Camp Haiastan, and “Pumpkin Suni”

 A short while ago I read about renovations at Camp Haiastan and an acknowledgment to our son Daniel and daughter-inl-law Nicole's donation towards renovating the clinic. I was reminded of the attached article I had written to the Weekly, years back (2000/2001).

Remembering David on Memorial Day

Vahe H. Apelian

Reproduced from Armenian Weekly (2000).

Courtesy ArmenianWeely, June 27, 2024

BUTTLER, PA:  Driving our children to the annual AYF Junior Seminar in Camp Lutherlyn became an annual ritual in our family since we moved to Cincinnati in 1995. Camp Lutherlyn is located in Prospect, Pennsylvania, 325 miles or so from us. There is no AYF chapter in Cincinnati, which is why we took upon ourselves to drive our sons to the camp.

This was the last time that David, our youngest son would attend the seminar as a junior participant. He was placed in the grown-ups cabin, a situation that made us realize that a phase in our lives has now come to its end.  Butler, the town next to Prospect, had become our Memorial Day weekend gateway. My wife and I rummaged the local antique shops and the flea markets or fairs and enjoyed Pennsylvania outdoors as our children attended the seminar these past six years. 

Most parents have not visited Camp Lutherlyn and for good reason. The AYF chapters bus the children there, covering a distance which is not meant for the faint-hearted or for those who have not set their minds for making the long journey a memorable experience. Ours was no different. During the past years, we accumulated our share of experiences of missed exits, wrong routes, memorable lunch stops and familiar landmarks.

But none of these will ever come close to the way I related to the camp and to our son's experience there. It was on our way there, on the highlands of Pennsylvania, some five seminars back. It was to be David’s second attendance. I asked him if he remembers anything from the educational from the previous seminar. He said he remembered well what “Pumpkin” Suni and his friends did for the Armenian cause. David’s slip of toque was agonizingly evident and yet conspicuously innocent and it took me to my youthful days. Born in America and now growing up in the Mid-West, tonque twists of Armenian names or wrong connotation, is the least I would have been concerned.  I was sure that in time, he would learn the correct pronunciation of the name that had fired the imagination of countless children and youth, including mine.

My father enrolled me in the Papken Suni Badanegan (Youth) Mioutyun (Association) when I was David’s age. We held our meeting on Saturday afternoons in the old building of the Beirut Gomideh. At least once a year we held the same debate over whether Papken Suni and his friends served the Armenian cause by their deed, or whether it was a reckless act. We knew the outcome of the debate and few us ever volunteered to be in the team that negated the act. But at times we did since someone had to.

And now Papken Suni’s name had acquired a new twist with my American born son who was growing up trick or treating the neighbors on Halloween day with their overgrown pumpkins. But the spirit of the act had now caught his imagination too. The passage of the legacy of sorts had indeed taken place. 

For three days, during the long Memorial Day Weekend, Camp Lutherlyn becomes the microcosm of the best the Armenian community offers to its children. Arriving from different states of the East Coast, the kids get together to renew their friendship and relate to the past year’s camp experiences as if it had happened only yesterday. Soon they realize what was meant to be only yesterday is in fact 365 days old now. Nature has taken its course and they are now a year older. For all those parents who are not there to see, we bear witness of the joy of their children seeing each other and for being together for one more time and the all too evident sadness at the departure time after three memorable days. And yes, sadly, we will miss that too. Come next year we will not be there anymore.

For the past six years, we witnessed the dedicated work of the AYFers who organize the annual Junior Seminar. It’s a huge undertaking and is well organized by the AYF Seniors or Alumni who are now shouldering their own personal responsibilities. These dedicated young men and women devoted countless hours to make the Junior Seminar a memorable event for the few hundred kids who attend.

David is an AYF member-at-large and attends the seminar independently. However, right upon our arrival, he fits with the crowd. By now we know what to do. After we pull our car on the campground and see David saluting and hugging his fellow campers of past years, we head towards the main station and give David’s name. The attendant pulls a file bearing his name. In that file, we find the program, the layout of the camp, his assigned cabin and the names of the kids who will be with him in the cabin. A similar file is prepared for each and every camper.

Each cabin is given the name of a memorable ARFer. This year David’s cabin was called Mikaelian. The next cabin was named after Palabegh Garabed, the next one over, the inevitable Papken Suni. Along with the names, a brief biography of the person with a picture is also posted on the door of the cabin. On this Memorial Days weekend, past ARFers who also sacrificed, at times with their lives, are also remembered.  Each cabin has one or two councilors. Along with the educational, the dances, the three evenings in the cabins, the long drive to and from the camp, constitute the bulk of the experience for that year.

In August David will attend Camp Haiastan for the last time as a camper. Daniel, our elder son, is now a former camper, counselor, and lifeguard at Camp Haisastan. David may follow in his footsteps and may opt to become a councilor too in the future. However, their time as an impressionable youth has now come to pass.

On behalf of our family, I would like to thank all those who organized these seminars and the experiences both at Camp Lutherlyn and at Camp Haiastan. Unknowingly maybe, they opened a window for our children in ways that we, as parents, would not have been able to do by ourselves. And for all those who made these experiences possible and memorable for our sons, we remain ever grateful.

Reverberations of a teacher

Vahe H Apelian

 

Mrs Zvart Apelian with students

Last week or so, I received two Facebook messages and the following comments were brought to my attention.  They had to do about their one-time teacher Mrs. Apelian, my mother Zvart Apelian, who was better known by her students as Mrs. Apelian (Digin Apelian in Armenian). One of them was her namesake, Zvart. The pictures are from her teaching days at Shamlian-Tatigian Armenian Evangelical Schools.

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Zvart: R u the son of Digin Zvart Apelian? All Shamlian Tatigian students adored her.

 

Me: Yes, how do you know of her? It's wonderful to hear that she was liked so much by her students. But let me tell you something. When it came to education and educating young Armenian students, she could not put the distinction whether they were her sons or her students and interestingly she was not aware of it.

 

Zvart: I lost my father when I was 10 years old. It was new when I went back to school. In her class she was teaching, and I was crying nonstop. She noticed me, stopped her teaching, called me to stand next to her and to tell her and to the class why I was crying. I still remember that minutes, when I was telling my story հեկեկալով (Sobbing). Your mom was full of compassion. She had a heart of gold. It is so interesting that I came across to write to her son. From my childhood, at that time I was 4th grade. I only remember that incident, because she lavished on me love , love and only love:

 

Zvart: We only knew about her that she had 2 sons, nd a husband. Then I heard that she has lost her husband. Then I heard that she lost one of her sons.

 

Me: yes, she lost her son before her husband. …..Zvart, you made her day. 

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Hrip: I was very delighted to have found your post and will make sure to follow your blog … 

I spoke to my daughter about my favorite teacher your mom, she left a great impact on me indeed …

Be well 🙏

 

Me: Thank you

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Hilda: Good old days when we were young and worry free. How we loved you then dear Mrs. Apelian and we still love you. Your teaching discipline and caring towards your students whom you treated like your children were extraordinary. God bless you my dear teacher.

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Silva:  Our ideal teacher, Digin Apelian.

***

 

My mother's last picture at the Ararat Nursing Facility, in LA
Courtesy  Michael Apelian

A perplexing post

 

Vahe H Apelian

I have not had the opportunity to meet Dikran Abrahamian M.D., the founder of Keghart.com journal in person, but I have talked to him on numerous occasions. In fact, we planned to meet but it never happened. For a few years I regularly contributed to Keghart.com but ceased to present articles for their consideration now that I have my own blog.

I found Dikran’s last article titled “Turbejian Twins Threaten While Armenia Dithers” disturbing. Let me say that whenever I hear Turkbeijan, I am reminded of another principal of Keghart.com, Jirair Tutunjian. I can state with confidence that it was Jirair who coined that fitting term Turkbeijan. 

Even before starting to read the text of Dikran’s article, the reader encounters a quote from Ilham Aliyev posted in bold letters on top of the body of the text of the article. After having the attention of the readers drawn to Ilham Aliyev’s quote, Dikran makes a number of bold statements that the reader obviously is meant to entertain in the context of what Ilham Aliyev has said. See below.

Yes, on January 19, 2024, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that Armenia needs a new constitution: "We want to have a constitution that makes the Republic of Armenia more viable in the new geopolitical and regional conditions," said the prime minister. The PM’s call for new constitution understandably aims to annul or rather amend the Declaration of Independence of Armenia as ratified on August 23, 1990 and have any statement in regard to the unification with Artsakh or any territorial claim from its neighbors, removed and made clear that Armenia does not have territorial claims from its neighbors.

Of course, this has come about from Azerbaijan and Turkey. But I do not entertain their pressure as I raise the following fundamental issue. Does Armenia have any territorial claim from its neighbors? If not, why does Armenia retain the reunification with Nakorno Karabagh on the preamble of the Declaration of Independence? After all, the Declaration of Independence charts the course of the Armenian state.

Let us face it. Our historical knowledge about free, independent, democratic sovereign state is from May 28, 1918 to November 29, 2020, a mere 2.51 years. Our, I mean those of us who were of age when Armenian regained its independence on September 21, 1991, that spans to this day, and is 32.75 years. I challenge Dikran - other than the school textbook issue of which I have read nothing as to how it was and how it is changed - if Armenia’s claim of historical Armenia  and for reparation, restitution of genocide has been any different during those sum total of 2.51+32.75 = 35. 26 years. I challenge him to cite an Armenian leader such as Aram Manougian, Avedis Aharonian, or Levon Ter Petrosay, Robert Kocharyan, Serzh Sargsyan  whose stand has been any different than at the present under Nikol Pashinyan. 

All these Armenian denizens prudently have not laid territorial claim, nor claims for restitution from Turkey for the Genocide. Well, I have to make an exception to the short lived tenure of Armenia’s first FM Raffi Hovannisian. As to Nagorno Karabagh Oblast, other than Nikol Pashinyan’s 'Artsakh is Armenia' uncalled for utterance, the presidents did not recognize Artsakh as a state nor annexed it to Armenia.  

Keghart.com has been on the forefront, well ahead of the rest of the Diaspora Armenian press as an open forum.  A hearty discussion and sharp exchanges ensued on its pages at the March 1 killing when the rest of the Armenian journals were almost silent. It was also Keghart.com that led the drive to alert the authorities in Armenia not to mistreat a young journalist they have imprisoned, Nikol Pashinyan. The rest of the Diaspora press was silent. That is how I came to learn the name.

One more thing. I do not Dikran expected to hear Ilham Aliyev say that the border demarcation and delimitation is proceeding according to the boarders agreed at Alma-Ata. Armenia and Azerbaijan are demarcating and delimitating accordingly. I doubt that Dikran is naïve enough to expect to hear such an announcement from Aliev.

In fact, there would have been much concern, instead of what Aliyev said on May 10, he would have said that Armenia is getting the upper hand at the negotiations at Azerbaijan's expense. 

I am sure Aliyev  is toying with Armenia and the Armenians. His only concerns are to placate his constituents. The legitimacy of his regime is based on his hegemony over Armenia and Armenians. His statements are not sources to be quoted in Armenian press as a source of information.

I am left with the impression that Dikran Abrahamian seems to have joined the ranks of Harout Sassounian. Say Nikol Pashinyan, rekindle the opposition against him and against anything he utters or advocates, period, no discussions.

 

Arshakunis: The statue of its founding king Drtad I in Louvre

Drtad I - Tiridates I – was the founder of the Arshakuni (Arsacid) dynasty. He was crowned king of Armenia by the Roman emperor Nero in 66. His statue  was found in Rome and move to Louvre. 

The  Arshakuni Armenian dynastic kingdom impacted in the shaping of the Armenian nation, like no other. The members of the Arshakuni dynastic family:

Transitioned the Armenian nation from worshipping the old gods to embracing Christianity.

It has a legendary king, Arshak II, after whom a legend has come down and an opera is named. 

Its young Arshakuni King Bab, shaped the newly established church and state relation which is reverberated to this very day and was the subject of Stepan Zorian's 1989 namesake novel.

Under the auspices of its last Arshakuni king Vramshabouh,  a young monk by the name of Mesrob Mashdots invented the Armenian alphabet, with Catholicos St. Sahak Bartev, who was a descendent of Gregory the Illuminator with whom Arshakuni king Drtad III founded the Armenian church. 

But their kingdom was marked by: “an uncommon instability and indetermination, affecting both political and social life in Armenia. Continuous plots, intrigues, murders between antagonists (local and foreign), and the struggle about the newly adopted Christian faith marked tragically the situation throughout the main homeland.”

The marble statue of the dynasty’s founding king Drtad I was found in Rome and move to Louvre. This is its story. The source is listed below.

 Vahe H Apelian

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"This marble statue of king Tiridates I, the Parthian king of Armenia, was discovered in the Villa Borghese at Rome before being transferred (in fragmentary form) to the Louvre, where it was restored (including replacing the right arm, which is a reconstruction) sometime prior to 1832 (de Clarac and Maury 1832-34, plate 336 [link] and 1850, 224, no. 2400 [link]). This is one of several statues commissioned to celebrate Nero’s crowning of this client king at Rome about 66 CE. The photo, the painting by Panos Terlemezian (who passed away in 1941), and the drawing by de Clarac picture the statue from roughly the same vantage point but may accentuate different details.

 

Standing at about two metres tall, Tiridates is pictured wearing traditional Parthian clothing among nobles, including a belted tunic, a long mantle, pants, and sheathed sword. The head-gear is reminiscent of an Attic-style helmet but may also be based on Parthian head-gear. The disposition of king Tiridates in this statue is notably passive, despite the presence of a weapon. This juxtaposition may be intentional. Although the suppression of Boudicca’s revolt in the new province of Britannia had occurred under Nero’s watch around 60 CE, the closest Nero came to achieving a new conquest was this reaffirmation of the client kingdom status for Armenia. Nero only achieved this through his Syrian governor, Cn. Domitius Corbulo (died 67 CE), who had won a series of military victories against the Parthians and Armenians between 58-63 CE (see Cassius Dio, Roman History 62-63). Cassius Dio’s narrative suggests that a diplomatic peace agreement was reached in 63 CE, which stipulated among its conditions that Nero had the right to crown the king of Armenia at Rome.

Our sources suggest that Nero was framing this diplomatic win as a military victory in light of an absence of perceived accomplishments. Suetonius (writing about 121 CE) pictures Tiridates, as defeated suppliant, falling at Nero’s feet before being lifted up by his right hand and kissed, suggesting restoration of relations with Tiridates clearly in a submissive role (Suetonius, Nero 13). Nero removes Tiridates’ hair-band or turban and replaces it with the diadem of a client king. On this compare Roman coins depicting defeated peoples kneeling as suppliants (link). Dio alludes to this victory-focussed interpretation in his more elaborate and much later (ca. 233 CE) coverage of the entire affair, including descriptions of Tiridates’ nine month journey to Italy, the spectacle events staged upon Tiridates’ arrival at port city of Puteoli, and finally the crowning in the Roman Forum where Nero is pictured dressed in triumphal gear and leading a victory procession. The negative press that Nero faced after his death and the condemnation of his memory make it hard to evaluate the nuances of Nero’s principate. Yet the pattern of this imperial propaganda and spectacle around Tiridates aligns with other similar situations involving subject peoples."

 

Source:

https://www.philipharland.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Tiridates-drawing-by-De-Clarac-from-fig-336.jpg

 

 

Trump will get the final word during closing statements

Vahe H Apelian

 

President Biden and former president Trump will hold their presidential debate this week.  I read that this debate will see major shifts from prior telecasts. Biden and Trump have both agreed to the rules, which include: no live audience, muted microphones when it’s not their turn to speak, no prewritten notes are allowed, they will stand behind their lecterns the entire time, limiting their mobility — with Biden on the right and Trump on the left. There will be no opening statements from either candidate AND Trump will get the final word during closing statements, as determined recently by a coin flip.

The fact that Trump got to have the final word by the flip of a coin is an ominous sign for me and for those who will not vote for him but will vote for Biden because where I come from, Lebanon, the final appearance is reserved for the more popular singer. But there is something Biden could do, much like Levon Katerjian did when he shared the stage with another icon of the Armenian music in their days.  But I doubt that Biden will do it.

I quote the incident as Boghos Shahmelikian wrote in the book I translated and my cousin Jack Chelebian edited - "The Dawn of Armenian Pop Music".

“"Shortly after Adiss Harmandarian’s phenomenal rise, Levon Katerjian produced a number of records that also became very popular but with older audiences. Levon Katerjian formerly sang as soloist in choirs. If remnants of Turkish music had remained in the community, Levon Katerjian helped to eradicate them. The ensuing onslaught of Armenian songs by Adiss and Levon completely changed the landscape of Armenian pop music and ushered it away from its Ottoman influences. 

Adiss interpreted mostly estradayin (pop) songs  instead of ashoughayin (folk) songs. Levon, on the other hand, interpreted more of the latter than the former. In spite of their different and distinct singing styles, the emergence of these two talented popular singers around the same time gave way to an Adiss and Levon competition. 

The beneficiary of their artistic competition became the Armenian pop music and the public, although at times it became amusing. Both brought their services to the community by singing at community fund raising events free of charge. Among such fundraising events I note the one that the Sardarabad Gomideh of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) had organized in Bourj Hammoud, in the Kermanig Hall  that can accommodate up to 2000 persons. 

The hall was filled to capacity to hear the two prominent singers. The concert was held mid-week at 9 p.m. It was scheduled to end by 11 p.m. Each singer was to perform for one hour. After much debate Levon relented and agreed to appear on stage first. It was commonly understood that a concert ended with the more popular musician performing last. The implied message of the order of their appearances was obvious, if not to the audience, but to the performing artists.  

Levon, instead of ending his songs in one hour, continued to sing past the 11th hour time slot, well into past midnight. By the time Adiss came on stage most of the audience had already left the hall to get to sleep for their next day’s routine. Adiss thus ended up singing a few songs to an almost empty hall!”

I doubt that Biden will entertain such a move. 

I also am not sure if Trump will abide by the rule of standing behind his lectern the entire time, and not move around. 

We shall find out on Thursday evening when the debate will be televised.

The Arshakunis: Church and State Conflict, Etchmiadzin city-state - 7/7 -

Vahe H Apelian

 

Whenever Armenian Church and the Armenian State conflict was mentioned, a few historical happenings came to my mind. But recent developments in Armenia have made me look back when it all began.

After the Arshakunis founded the Armenian Church, the Arshakuni kingdom became marred with conflict between the church and the state that founded the church. After the death of King Trtad III (Tiridates) in 331, and for the ensuing approximately one-century - between 331 to 428, when the Arskakuni kingdom came to its end – the period was marked with, I quote: “an uncommon instability and indetermination, affecting both political and social life in Armenia. Continuous plots, intrigues, murders between antagonists (local and foreign), and the struggle about the newly adopted Christian faith marked tragically the situation throughout the main homeland.”

The relation between these two power institutions, the church and the state, was so intense that king Diran II (338-350) ordered the killing of Catholicos St. Husik I, the grandson of St. Gregory the Illuminator.  To bolster the foundation of the state, King Arshak II, who languished in prison in Persia, had founded a capital city for his kingdom and named it Arshakavan. The city so enraged Catholicos Nerses the Great, a descendent of St. Gregory, whom king Arshak II had presented for the throne in Etchmiadzin, that the Catholicos condemned the city so much so that the name Arshakavan for Armenians became and remained synonymous with the biblical twin cities Sodom and Gomorrah. The church and the state conflict became full blown with king Arshak’s son king Bab, who inherited the throne after his father’s death and changed the church as an institution. 

The following historical anecdote also comes to my mind. After moving to the monastery Varak in Van, Khrimian Hayrig had the remains of King Senekerim exhumed and banished somewhere. Khrimian Hayrig did not see that king Senekerim merited remaining buried on the grounds of the famed monastery in Van, because, I quote “ in 1021, fearing the Seljuks, Senekerim, the old king of Vaspurakan, bestowed Vaspurakan to Byzantium and moved to Sebastia.”

In recent times, the fate of Catholicos of All Armenians Khoren I Muradbekian (Armenian: Խորեն Ա Մուրադբեկյան; December 8, 1873 – April 5/6, 1938) represents the most troubling aspect of the Armenian church and the Armenian state conflict. It is generally accepted that Catholicos Khoren I Muradbekian was killed by the commissars of the Soviet Republic of Armenia. 

The Armenian church and the Armenian state conflict appears to be reignited. On June 13, 2024, the PM Nikol Pashinyan, before presenting to the National Assembly the annual budget, alluded to the confrontation that happened the day before, on June 12, between the police and the demonstrators led by Archbishop Pagrad. The PM named two persons who, he claimed, stood behind the protesters, the former president Robert Kocharian and the Catholicos of All Armenian Karekin II. The PM also invoked Arshakuni king Bab. It is beyond the scope of this blog to speculate on the possible reasons for the PM invoking king  Bab. 

But I would like to note that there is a major disconnect and imbalance between the two power houses that make up the structure of the Armenian nation. One of which is seated in Etchmiadzin and the other is seated in Yerevan. The power house seating in Yerevan, represents the Armenian state and is elected by the citizens of Armenia. But the power house seating in Etchmiadzin, represents the Armenian church and is elected by  Armenian representatives from all over the world. 

The head of the Armenian church need not be a citizen of Armenia, as was the case with His Holiness of blessed memory, Karekin I. Nor his electors need to be citizens of Armenia. But the head of the Armenian state has to be a citizen of Armenia and be elected by the citizens of Armenia.  In fairness and most likely in matters of the constitutionality and legality, the two different electoral systems present a huge and untenable imbalance and is a focal point for simmering conflict as the church can meddle in politics or in the affairs of the state, and does so. 

It probably is time for Armenia to designate Etchmiadzin what Vatican is, a state-city. Naturally, in case of the Armenian Etchmiadzin will be the city-state that oversees the Armenian Apostolic Church spread throughout the globe. And, much like any state, Etchmiadzin city-state will have a state level relationship with the state of Armenia as it does with other countries, much like Vatican in Rome does with State of Italy and other countries. 

Without such an arrangement, the Armenian Church and the Armenian State relations will be a sour point not only for the republic of Armenia, but also for the global Armenian nation, and the spiritual mission of the Apostolic Church will continue to be mired and viewed tinted with politics eroding its Christian mission and outreach to the detriment of the Republic of Armenia and to the global Armenian nation.

Notes:

1.   This ends my take on the Arshakuni Armenian dynastic kingdom that impacted in the shaping of the Armenian nation. After all the members of the Arshakuni dynastic family transitioned the Armenian nation from worshipping the old gods to embracing Christianity. It has a legendary king, Arshak II, after whom a legend has come down and an opera is named. The young Arshakuni King Bab, shaped the newly established church and state relation and is reverberated to this day. If those were not enough, a young monk by the name of Mesrob Mashdots invented the Armenian alphabet during the last king of their dynastic kingdom, king Vramshabouh. It is no wonder that this dynastic family stirs the nation's imagination to this day. A Facebook account has been named after them.. Who were the Arshakunis? In seven installments I attempted to present them as a blogge,r not as a historian I am not.  N.B. I used Arshak as the root word when addressing the family and its members. Vahe H. Apelian  

2.   I would like to note that the schisms in the Armenian church started in the 18^th century. The Armenian Catholic Church came about on November 26, 1742, and the Armenian Evangelical Church came about on July 1, 1846. Before those dates all Armenians without exception belonged to the church Arshakuni King Drtad III and St. Gregory the Illuminator founded, which came to be known as the Armenian Church.  The designation Armenian Apostolic Church in distinction to the Armenian Catholic and the Armenian Evangelical Churches is relatively recent. It is within this context that I used the term Armenian Church.

The News music band

Recently Vartan Tashjian had posted  about The News music band noting that Teardrops may be their most popular song (see below). I have reproduced Boghos Shahmelikian’s recollection of the band and its members from his book I translated into English, edited by my cousin Jack Chelebian M.D., as “Dawn of Armenian Pop Music”. The book was published by Hrach Kalsahakian and is available on Amazon. 

 Vahe H Apelian

 

"Without a doubt, The News was the most popular music band among the youth in Lebanon. Mike Postian and Jean Taslakian from the The Lawyers music band teamed with Jack Tamoukian and Ara Hajian from The Monks music band and formed The News. From day one they left their jobs and made their living through music. Almost all the members of the other music bands in the country had their day jobs.

All the members of the band were talented singers notably Mike who had the most songs in their repertoire. They had their own songs as well, which were mostly composed by their solo guitarist Jeas Taslakian. They produced a dozen or so records of their own compositions. They traveled to France and signed a contract with Polydor Records to produce their records with the famous recording company’s label. They yad , however, set their minds to make their mark on the British music scene.

At the times England was considered the world capital of pop music.  Many of the famous bands and world-renowned recording studios were in England. The News moved to London and in a relatively short period of time earned and enviable reputation by performing in famous nightclubs. Their unique genre was well received by the youth in England. They sang in English lyrics with Armenian melodies and rhythm. Some of the traditional Armenian instruments along with electric guitar, percussion drums accompanied their songs. They thus established their own distinct style that became very popular. 

As a testament to their musical achievements, they succeeded in securing a contract with EMI Music, which is one of the world’s leading recording companies where some of the most famous bands produced their records.

They were at the pinnacle of their careers with many promising possibilities awaiting them when the unexpected happened, Ara’s father passed away and his family wanted him to return to Lebanon to take charge of the family’s business. In 1971 The News returned, Avo who played the drums with The Dreamers replaced Ara.

Instead of going back to England, they signed a lucrative contract and moved to Djibouti, Africa, intending to return to England afterwards to produce their records.  Other enticing contracts soon followed one after the other and they traveled to other countries where they performed. Unfortunately, they could not fulfill the promise that awaited them in England.

After marrying Jack stopped performing on stage and settled in Los Angeles. I met him at different occasions. One day I heard the sad news of his untimely death due to heart attack. Dear Jack, may you rest in peace.

The News continued to play as a trio to make a living. Years later Jean Taslakian, whose wife is French, moved to France where he resides. He has formed a band by the name Want, whose singer and guitarist is he. 

Avo is married to an English woman and has settled in England. He has given up playing music on stage. 

Mike Postian is settled in Los Angeles and sings as a solo singer He has a number of CDs in different languages. I have been a friend to all the band members, particularly Mike, with whom I often meet.

The News band was a musical phenomenon in its days. No other popular music band from Lebanon, arguably from the Middle East musted the appeal to the youth and achieved the recognition in western capitals and elsewhere as well as The News did. 

Many decades later Armenian lads from Los Angeles formed another hugely popular, internationally famous band named System of the Down. The Armenian community welcomed the band. Musical tastes had changed. The emerging music bands of the 1960’s had paved the way to bring about the change."