The Eastern USA Region of the Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Society, in close collaboration with its Philadelphia chapter, will present its first pan-assembly (or Hamakhmboom) after a long hiatus. Hamazkayin Eastern USA is incorporating its annual regional meeting with the Hamakhmboom pan-assembly to bring members of the Hamazkayin family together for an annual gathering, while merging the organizational and flagship cultural activities of the region over a weekend.
The cultural component of the weekend will start with the screening of Eric Nazarian’s “The Blue Hour,” featuring Alyssa Milano, Clarence Williams III, and Derrick O’Connor. The film is Nazarian’s first feature film as writer-director. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California’s (USC) School of Cinema-Television. Born in Armenia and raised in Los Angeles, Nazarian worked at his father’s photo lab throughout high school, eventually becoming a staff photographer for AIM magazine in college. At USC film school, he majored in film production. In his senior year he wrote “Land of Plenty,” a post-war screenplay about child war survivors based on his experiences as a photojournalist in the southern Caucuses, which won the AFFMA Screenplay Award. He is currently working on a law enforcement saga and an international drama about globalization.
Following the screening, the evening gathering will start at 6:30 p.m. Following reception and dinner, the program will include a brief presentation of the future goals of Hamazkayin Eastern USA. The Keynote Address, entitled “Armenia at the Library of Congress,” will be presented by Dr. Levon Avdoyan, the Armenian and Georgian area specialist at the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress, the first cultural federal organization in the United States government was founded in 1800 as the Congress’s library. Since then, it has become America’s de facto national library and the largest library in the world, with items now numbering in excess of 145,000,000. Through the work of Armenian philanthropists and scholars, a growing Armenian presence has led to a major research collection of manuscripts, photographs, films, books, and periodicals that can support research in all facets of Armenian life and culture form antiquity to the present. This brief talk will outline those holdings and show rare examples from these varied collections.
Brief dance and literary pieces will be presented by Philadelphia area groups. Michael Bobelian will present his recent book Children of Armenia: A Forgotten Genocide and the Century-Long Struggle for Justice (Simon & Schuster, 2009). Bobelian is a journalist, lawyer, and author whose work has covered issues ranging from corporate wrongdoing to foreign affairs. His articles have appeared on Forbes.com, Legal Affairs Magazine, and the Washington Monthly. He has also appeared on C-Span’s BookTV, NPR’s Leonard Lopate Show, and NPR New Hampshire. Bobelian has delivered lectures at several universities, including at MIT, UC Berkeley, and Columbia University.
Hamazkayin Eastern USA will present its inaugural membership awards, the Hamazkayin Young Leader Award and the Hamazkayin Leadership Excellence Award, to two of its members. The organization will also introduce a new North American Armenian Literary Award in honor of a giant figure in Diasporan Armenian literature.
The evening will come to an end with a performance by the Zulal Armenian A Cappella Folk Trio. In Armenian, zulal means “clear water.” Zulal, the a cappella trio, aims to create music that is like clear water—fluid, clean, and unconfined. The group takes Armenia’s village folk melodies and weaves intricate arrangements that pay tribute to the rural roots of the music while introducing a sophisticated lyricism and energy. Zulal’s singers, Teni Apelian, Yeraz Markarian, and Anaïs Tekerian, have been singing together since 2002. The trio has performed in such esteemed venues as Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, New York’s Symphony Space, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Museum of the City of New York, the Alex Theatre, and the Longy School of Music, along with performances for Cirque du Soleil, the Near East Foundation, and the Silk Road Project.
For more information about the event or the band, visit http://east.hamazkayin-usa.org. Pertinent information for each performance is highlighted below:
Sat., April 30, 2011, 4:30 p.m.
Free screening of Eric Nazarian’s “The Blue Hour”
Terhanian Hall, St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Apostolic Church
8701 Ridge Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19128
tel: (215) 482-9200
web: http://www.saintgregory-philly.org/
Sat., April 30, 2011, 6:30 p.m.
Hamakhmboom Cultural Evening
Founders Hall, St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Apostolic Church
Tickets: $35.00. To purchase, call Vartuhi Komrakian at (267) 496-9990 or visit www.itsmyseat.com/HamazkayinER (secure transaction).
To learn more, visit http://hamazkayin-usa.org.
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