Though I have been absent from the blog for a couple months, I would like to take the opportunity of a New Year's Resolution to start blogging again. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Armenian Christmas (this Sunday, January 6) to all my readers.
There have been an inordinate amount of events planned for this year featuring popular Armenian singer Onnik Dinkjian - and not without good reason. At the age of approximately 83, Onnik is still a powerhouse performer. It truly is a feat incredible for his age. The Paris-born Onnik, who came to America as a young man, is often known as the "Frank Sinatra of Armenian Music" but even the Chairman of the Board had to retire from singing at age 79, while Onnik showed no signs of stopping in the two events I saw him at recently. The man's vocals are still incredible as well as inimitable and his energy onstage is unreal for a man of his age. The first event I attended was held in December, in Detroit (Onnik had recently played Providence on Thanksgiving weekend), which was sponsored by St. John's Armenian Church. This was a high-toned dinner dance, and the entertainment definitely focused on Onnik himself. He did all his signature songs, such as Havada Sirelis, Aghmoogi, Amenu Daran (a folk song from Dikranagerd), Agh Anoushes (Misirlou with Armenian lyrics), and Hey Jan Yerevan. He even sang a few stanzas in French in the middle of a fast Armenian dance number, in fact he did this twice as I recall. Onnik also continually connected with the audience, making remarks such as: "Wow, you guys can really dance!" and "I don't know about you, but I'm having a great time" and "I've been here (Detroit) before, but I've never seen anything like this!" (there was a 300+ crowd, large for an Armenian dinner-dance) delivered in his French-Armenian accent. He came down off the stage and strolled around the dancefloor, singing directly to various attendees. In short Onnik was Onnik and there was no stopping him. In a future post I may say more about Onnik's career but here I am focusing on the two events.
The second event I attended was PAND 2013. PAND stands for Philadelphia Armenian Nor Daree (New Year), and it is a two-day dance event thrown by an independent committee of Armenians in Philly, with the proceeds going to the 5 Armenian Churches in the Philadelphia area (including the Protestant and Catholic Armenian Church - most Armenians being Orthodox). As many readers of this blog will know, the Armenian community is horribly divided into factions due to political issues which we won't discuss here. But PAND is one of those few events/organizations that bring all members of the Armenian community together in unity. No one feels out of place at PAND, and its been going strong for some 30 years. At the Eve of the Eve Dance, Armenian pop singer Harout Balyan kept the dancers going, but for me, and the other "kefjies" the best was yet to come on New Year's Eve itself. This year, a really amazing team of musicians was brought together by the committee, and although Onnik was the featured attraction, the musical entertainment was just as focused on the accompanying musicians - Greg Vosbikian (oud), Dave Hoplamazian (violin), Chris Vosbikian (dumbeg), Jake Terkanian (dumbeg) and the internationally known composer-musician Ara Dinkjian on keyboard. Ara seemed to be serving as the "maestro" for everything that went on on stage. Onnik was once again at the top of his game and sang many popular Armenian songs such as the ones already listed. As I entered the room i heard the familiar strains of the "Laz Bar," one of the traditional Armenian dances, and headed immediately to the foot of the stage with a musician friend. I spent much of the time at the stage just watching the band play, as in between stanzas Greg Vosbikian took oud solos or Dave Hoplamazian took violin solos (both of which were outstanding). Chris and Jake even had a double drum solo on one song. It was a combination of all ages of musicians - the senior Onnik, middle aged Greg and Ara (Onnik's son) and the latest generation of musicians - Dave, Chris (Greg's son), and Jake, who i'm guessing are in their 30s. It was one of the hottest combinations of players that had been seen in Philadelphia, or anywhere else, in a long time. I can remember Mr. Vosbikian taking a solo and Onnik just feeling the music, giving Greg the limelight. I remember Dave's unique violin solos which were applauded with shouts of "Aferim" ("Bravo" in Turkish)...and Chris and Jake's wild, back to back drum solo's, which were just incredible. It was a night I will not soon forget. If anyone has video from the night, if you send it to me I will post it in this blog. I am sorry but I do not have any material to post that would do justice to this evening. I encourage my readers to purchase Onnik Dinkjian's albums, as well as those of the other musicians. Onnik himself, in addition to his impeccable vocals, talked with the audience just as he did in Detroit, although he didn't come offstage (or at least I didn't see it), dedicated a song to his granddaughter (who was in attendance) and encouraged audience participation (shouting "hey" on Hey Jan Yerevan). For me the highlight of the evening was when Onnik held the microphone up in front of the stage, and along with him, a huge group mostly of young people in their 20s, many 4th generation Armenians-Americans like myself, sang - actually shouted the chorus of the Armenian Wine Drinking Song: "Lutsnenk Ungerner, Pazhagneruh Li, Togh Hayots Kini, Mez Anoush Lini." The translation is "Friends, fill the glasses full - may the wine of the Armenians be sweet for us." These immortal words were penned by the poet Sarmen, and set to music by composer "Kousan" (minstrel) Garo Zakarian, both Soviet Armenians, yet this song is extraordinarily popular among American-Armenians, especially during wine toasts. To their words, "may the wine of the Armenians be sweet for us," I can only add, may the music of the Armenians be sweet to our ears.
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