Center "Family". A series of events dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Komitas, called "Ring of Joy"

"My singing skills will serve only one purpose: to introduce the songs and music of my great nation to the world of music and to prove that the Armenian creative nation has had its own songs and music since time immemorial." Komitas

The Family Children's and Youth Creativity Center of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the "savior" of Armenian music, the great Komitas, on a grand scale this year. As part of the events called "The Bell of Joy", on September 26, the birthday of the Patriarch, a series of Komitas concerts was launched in the Harich Monastery Complex.
The goal of the project is to appreciate the greatness of Komitas as the cornerstone of the development of Armenian song, a pioneer of musical ethnography and the founder of Armenian classical music, to present the rich legacy he left behind and to appreciate the unique creative style of the musical genius, as well as to introduce new cultural values ​​to the public.
The event, organized jointly with the Tigran Mansuryan Artik Cultural Center, was attended by Father Levon Hovhannisyan, deacons, artists and local residents.
The church resounded with spiritual chants and works by Komitas performed by choirs, duduk and harmonium. It is worth noting that for the first time, a brand new harmonium was used in the church, which was donated to the Endanik Center from France by the French-Armenian benefactor and organist Narine Simonyan with the aim of creating an organ class and an organ-building school that has no analogues in the region.
The second part of the event continued outdoors, where students from both institutions performed individually and in groups to the sounds of Komitas and presented the life, creative work and pure music collected and created by the Supreme Patriarch of All Armenians. “I attach great importance to this jointly organized event, because the students learn from each other, are educated and raised, which is instructive not only for them but also for the whole society. Komitas, our genius, saved the centuries-old culture of an entire nation from oblivion. Therefore, we are obliged to educate the younger generation with the songs of Komitas in order to preserve our heritage and pass it on to future generations,” said Lilit Harutyunyan, Director of the Artik Cultural Center named after Tigran Mansuryan, in her speech.
The event ended with a joint round dance.
The teachers and students of the Family Center performed a similar concert program in the Ani community of the Shirak region and in the Javakhk region. A series of concerts will also be held in the Ashotsk, Amasia, Aykadzor and Jrapi communities of the region. Joint events were also held in Akhalkalaki, Ninotsminda youth educational and cultural centers and the Raphael Javakhk centers of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Georgia.
The head of the educational and cultural centers of Akhalkalaki and Ninotsminda Karine Tadevosyan emphasized the importance of such mutual visits for educational institutions of the diaspora and the Armenian population, as well as mutual communication of teenagers, which contributes to the preservation of Armenian identity, the education of schoolchildren on national values ​​and the music of Komitas. Director of the educational and cultural youth center "Rafael Javakhk" in the city of Ninotsminda VASE Samtskhe-Javakheti championship Zhora Snkhchyan on his own behalf and on behalf of the spiritual pastor of the region Father Armash Poghosyan presented a letter of gratitude to the center "Family" for active cooperation with the Armenian youth organizations of Javakheti, organizing effective mutual visits, holding high-level festive events dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of the pan-Armenian poet O. Tumanyan and the founder of the Armenian national song art Komitas. Yes, the Armenian folk song in the person of Komitas found its most outstanding master, who proved that Armenians have their own music. Anyone who is zealous for the development of Armenian music must first of all study and understand Komitas in detail and be a continuer, disseminator and keeper of centuries-old Armenian culture.