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ԱԶՆԱՒՈՐ Aznavour


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#1 Arpa

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Posted 06 November 2011 - 09:35 AM

ԱԶՆԱՒՈՐ-ԱԶՆԱՒՈՒՐ
AZNAWOR-Aznawour -Nobility
What does it really mean?
A variation of ԱԶԳ- ԱԶՆ-AZG - Nation, Heredity, Dynasty, Descendent. Race. Like in Դիւցազն ԴիտսազնDiutsazn/Ditsazn descended of deities. Դիւցազներգ means Epic as in the Epic of “Սասունցի Դաւիդ-David of Sasoun“.

http://linkavia.com/..._of_sassoun.jpg

Posted Image

When we spell it as ԱԶՆԱՈՒՐ-Aznawour ազնաւուր ազնաւոր it becomes aapparent..

ԱԶՆԱՒՈՐ/AznaWOR , nobility is known in the Georgian language as ԱԶՆԱՎՈՒՐ/AznaWOUR..

See below the Georgian Armenian heritage of his ancestors. His family name is spelled in the Georgian variant. Not the Armenian ԱզնաՒՈրեան/AznaWORi-an, but Ազանաւուրեան/AznaWOUR-ian. -Nobilty.
A Google search of Aznavourian turns out about 62,300 results, many of which are on or about him.

http://st-listas.20m....jpg?1219104805

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http://en.wikipedia....harles_Aznavour

Background-Aznavour was born as Shahnour Vaghenag Aznavourian in Paris the son of Armenian immigrants Michael Aznavourian (an Armenian[7][8] from Akhaltsikhe in nowadays Georgia) and Knar Baghdasarian (from Turkey).[9] His father spent his youth in Tbilisi, where his family had moved for work (Charles's grandfather was a personal chef to Governor General in Tbilisi).[10] Later, after moving to France, Michael Aznavourian sang in restaurants before establishing his own Caucasian restaurant called Le Caucase. Together with his wife, who was an actress, Michael introduced Charles to the world of theatre at an early age. Charles dropped out of school at the age of nine, already aspiring to the life of an artist. He began to perform at this time, and soon took the stage name "Aznavour". His big break came in 1946 when the singer Édith Piaf heard him sing and arranged to take him with her on tour in France and to the United States.[11]


Note. This item and some others that I have been posting are a preamble to the next- “Historical Armenian Nobility/ Noble Houses”

Edited by Arpa, 06 November 2011 - 09:40 AM.


#2 Yervant1

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Posted 21 July 2015 - 10:42 AM

Aznavour Family Risked Their Lives Saving
Jews and Armenians Under Nazi Occupation

By Prof. Yair Auron

`When World War II escalated, my father volunteered in the French
army. He wanted to thank the country that had sheltered him and his
family. A group of foreigners and apatrides - people without
citizenship, such as my father, joined the French army as
volunteers. Many of them were Jews. They did not really have time to
fight -- France surrendered very quickly. It was a strange war
(`drôle de guerre'). My father, Mish, went to war with his `tar'
(Armenian string instrument). The Jews - later my father told me
laughingly - came with their pajamas.'
`But,' continues his son, `when my father came back from the war, his
courage was revealed. During the whole period Paris was occupied by
the Nazi Army, my father gave shelter to some Russian-Armenian and
Jewish immigrants.' The Nazi army occupied Paris for more than four
years; from July 1940 to August 1944. Anyone who sheltered a Jew
risked his life, the life of his family, and that of others around
them.
The person who wrote these two paragraphs is no other than Charles
Aznavour -- the great singer, actor, writer and composer -- probably
the last `chansonnier' of the French `les chansons époque' `from
around WWII to 1980s; the Ambassador of All Armenians.
A couple of weeks ago, I spent two wonderful days with Aznavour at his
house in a little village located in Southern France. Two wonderful
and unique days. I had the chance to meet this great artist and great
human being - a great humanist.
Charles Aznavour was born in Paris 91 years ago in 1924. His sister,
Aida Aznavour-Garvarentz, who is a little older, was born in Salonica,
during the exile resulting from the Armenian Genocide of 1915. His
parents, Mish and Knar, risked their lives and the lives of Aida and
Charles continuously, for three years, day and night. Charles and
Aida, two young adults 16 to 20 years of age at that time, actively
took part in the heroic actions.
I asked Charles why he wrote only these two short paragraphs about the
heroic actions of his family in his autobiography `As Long as My Heart
will Beat' published in 2013, his answer was: `I do not know exactly,
sometimes I am shy.'
Aznavour is a very courageous man, who freely expresses his opinion
and positions to the people, media, presidents and often to his
critics.
`Actions are important, not words," he told me, even though poems and
novels are such a significant part of his success. `I am a poet who
has the ability to sing his poems' he said.
Why did the Aznavours risk their own lives to save others? Why did
Charles speak so little about the unique story of his family? These
questions remain unanswered.
`You should be proud of yourself and your parents. They were rescuers,
righteous. In my opinion, risking your life for the sake of others is
the greatest action any human being can do.'
`Yes, he told me, but ¦. '
His sister Aida tells more about the `unusual' behavior of their
family. In her book `Petit Frère' (Little brother) published in
French in 1986, she states: `In the beginning of the war, we
understood that the war was here to stay and the Jews would be victims
of cruelty. We looked with sadness and sorrow at the Jews. We knew
what Genocide was. We, Armenians, were not afraid, as the Nazis
considered us Armenians as Aryans.'
The Aznavour family started hiding Jews as early as the 1940's by
giving shelter to a Romanian Jew, who had escaped from Germany. He had
deserted the German army in 1940. He had escaped to France with a
German soldier's uniform. The Gestapo looked for him. At the last
moment he was brought to the Aznavours' small apartment by his
brother, who was a friend of Mish, Charles' father. `I can only trust
you," he told Mish. `It was extremely dangerous for our family,' Aida
wrote. `If the Nazis found us, we would disappear in a second. We knew
it and we were conscious of this fact. However, my father did not
hesitate even for a minute. `Our house is your house,' my father told
the deserter, `and we treated him as a close and good friend of ours.'
For several days he slept in the same bed with Charles. The Aznavours
do not know his name, or what happened to him after he left their
house.
`I was young at the time,' said Aida. `I did not know that we would
continuously be sheltering foreigners.' The children, Charles and
Aida, tried to move on. Both were young artists, who wanted to hit the
stage and went from audition to audition. They had some success,
especially Charles. Aida and Charles were part of a family of
survivors, who had lost the majority of their relatives during the
genocide. They did not have French citizenship, except Charles, who
was born in France. When the French government distributed gas masks
to the population in Paris, they gave one mask to every man and woman
of all ages. Charles got one because he was French. All the other
three got only one gas mask for the three of them. `We were refugees,
we were survivors, we were apatrides. We could be killed by gas¦..'
One day a madam named Carmen (her real name was Aida), an Armenian
woman, came to their house. She needed to hide with her husband Simon,
a Jew, who had escaped from the Drancy concentration camp near Paris
(the Jews of Paris were sent to Drancy and then to Auschwitz). She did
not know where to hide her husband Simon. `She was right to come to
us. This was practically only the beginning.' (Simon's last name also
remained unknown; therefore we do now know what happened to him
afterwards).
The family gave shelter to Armenians who were taken forcedly into the
German army, but later deserted.. Mish and Knar gave them a place to
hide. Charles and Aida were actively involved. They burned the uniform
of the soldiers who had escaped. Sometimes Charles liked their boots
and hid them in the ground floor. He did not realize he risked the
lives of his entire family.
Charles and Aida stopped going to school at the age of 10. At the
time, even primary education was not free. The Aznavours, refugees
with poor French, struggled for their survival doing different
temporary jobs. They had no money to send their children to
school. The children also looked for opportunities to earn some money.
Paris was in severe austerity partly because thousands of German
soldiers used up all the supplies. Many suffered from hunger during
that time, and everything was extremely expensive. The black market
was thriving, but everything was very expensive¦. However, the
Aznavour parents were very optimistic. They found ways to give food
even to the strangers hiding in their house, sleeping in their small
apartment. In the morning they had to be hidden in different corners
of the house in case somebody knocked on the door. Friends used to
come. But not only friends¦. A German neighbor named Liza came
several times. It was very dangerous.
The German woman was very proud to explicitly announce that she was a
Nazi herself. Most of the refugees slept in the living room on the
floor. They used one toilet, not really a bathroom. In the mornings
there was not a single sign of the foreigners sleeping there at
nights. When the German neighbor visited, all the sheltered people had
to stop breathing. However, in the evening after the very modest
dinner, they sang quite often. Mish even found ways to bring wine!
Aida sang in Yiddish (a Jewish language used by Jews from Eastern and
Central Europe) with the Jewish refugees. They knew that the people
around them understood that they were giving shelter. `We didn't speak
with anybody about it. Some of them knew, but they kept silent," she
said.
When the French police came to interrogate them, the concierge and his
wife said that they had not seen any foreigners coming to visit the
Aznavour family.
Mish became the manager of a restaurant called `Raffi," which became a
place where young Armenians who deserted the Nazi armed forces came to
ask for a shelter. Besides the three Jews who hid in the house and
left, quite many Armenians came to them. `We could not shelter all of
them at the same time. After a while they had to leave, because new
people came. But we could not send them without any papers that could
protect them from to French police and the German authorities. They
looked for a solution and it was through forged documents, the
falsification of papers. The Aznavours fabricated them in very simple
ways, in their apartment. `Only after did I begin to realize how
dangerous it was. How could we risk doing so?' Only then, I began to
understand how difficult it was for my father. He knew at that time
that by saving Jews and Armenians he put the very lives of his beloved
family in danger -- his children and his wife -- and continued
consciously to risk again
and again¦."
The last adventure of the family is related to the story of Missak
Manouchian, the leader of the underground military group known as
`L'Affiche Rouge' (The Red Poster) or the `Manouchian Group" which was
related to the communist Franc-Tireurs et Partisans de Main
d'Å`uvre Immigrée (FTP-MOI). It was the first underground
resistance group that took action against the German forces in Paris,
including the killing of two very high ranking German officers. The
underground network of about 100 members engaged armed resistance in
the metropolitan region of Paris between March and November
1943. Among the leaders were Poles, Hungarians, one Italian, one
Spaniard, two Armenians -- one of them was Manouchian; and only three
Frenchmen. The group consisted of 11 members - seven Polish-Jews,
three Hungarian-Jews, and a Jewish Romanian woman. Among the photos of
the 10 `criminals' posted on the `L'Affiche Rouge' were seven
Jews. After being tortured and interrogated
for three months (and not telling anything), 23 of them were
sentenced by a German court. Twenty two were executed on February 21,
1944. The Jewish Romanian woman, Golda (Olya) Barcic was taken to
Stuttgart, where she was beheaded with an axe on May 10, 1944.
In the spring of 1944, the French authorities launched a propaganda
campaign designed to discredit the group. The German and French
authorities distributed about 15,000 copies of posters including the
photos, surnames, and nationalities of the members. They characterized
them as the foreigners' conspiracy against France and the French
people.
Charles and Aida expressed a lot of love, esteem and admiration for
their parents, who were a wonderful mother and a father, and wonderful
human beings. `Everything that we have, we got it from our parents,'
said Charles.
The young Armenian poet Missak Manouchian and his wife Meline were
close friends of Mish and Knar Aznavour. On November 16, 1943, the
Gestapo arrested Missak, while his wife Meline succeeded to
escape. She stayed with the Aznavour family till the group was
executed. They tried to hide his execution from Meline for a while,
but she found out. She continued staying at their house and had a
close relationship with Aida. Many of the deserters who passed through
the Aznavour house joined the partisans. New deserters came replacing
the ones who left and the situation of the family became more and more
dangerous. Mish and Knar decided to send Aida and Charles to
Normandy. After a while, Knar joined the children and Mish stayed
alone in Paris: the photos of his children and wife were always with
him.
The Aznavours saved the lives of Jews and Armenians alike. They were
Armenians but they did not hesitate to save Jews. They did not save
them because they were Jews, but because they were human beings who
were in a life threatening situation. The Aznavours were `Justes' --
Righteous, they acted to save the lives of people they did not know!
In every humanitarian disaster, instance of ethnic cleansing or
genocide, there are perpetrators and there are victims. And then there
is the `third Party," people who are neither perpetrators, nor
victims. These are the absolute majority of humanity. Many among the
third party support the perpetrators, a small minority supports the
victims, and then there is the majority who remains silent --
practically almost all of us. Very few choose to support and save
people. In every genocide, there are a few righteous souls, who,
despite the great risk, take action to save lives. Sometimes their
deeds become known later, sometimes not.
The history of the Aznavour family was not known till now. Their
unique story of rescuers, Mish, Knar, Aida and Charles is a source of
pride for Armenians, and a significant story for Jews to know that
there were people who supported them not succumbing to the dominant
culture of that period. It is an important and significant story for
humanity -- to know that there are people who choose to save
others. It has an enormous moral educational value. It is crucial to
acknowledge these positive deeds, the highest level of human behavior,
meaningful and superior to all actions of mankind.
In Jewish sources (the Mishna), as in Muslim sources (the Koran), as
well as in other religions, there is this universal sentence: `Thus
was created a single man, to teach us that every person who sustains a
single soul, it shall be written about him as if he has sustained the
entire world." It shall be written about the Aznavour family as if
they sustained the entire world.
I live in the only Palestinian-Jewish village in Israel,
Wahat-al-Salam ` Neve Shalom (`Oasis of Peace'). Early this year, we
inaugurated the Garden of the Righteous -- rescuers, in our village. I
invited Charles and Aida to come and plant a tree in the memory of
their Righteous parents. Hopefully, they will come with their children
and grandchildren.
I am an Israeli Jew and a scholar of genocide studies. I am studying
the stories of rescuers -- `Righteous,' during different
genocides. For the last 30 years, I have struggled for recognition of
the Armenian Genocide by my country, Israel, and the world.


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#3 Yervant1

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Posted 30 October 2016 - 10:36 AM

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Oct 28 2016
 
 
Turkey has ‘lost something,’ says French singing legend Charles Aznavour

LOS ANGELES - AFP

 
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French singing legend Charles Aznavour, one of the 20th century’s most prolific songwriters who remains active at 92, was honored on Oct. 27 with a Hollywood star presented by California’s Armenians.

Aznavour, often dubbed “France’s Frank Sinatra,” said he was “deeply moved” by the recognition.

The star is not on Hollywood Boulevard’s main Walk of Fame but was dedicated by the Armenian community on a nearby stretch of sidewalk.

“I’ve been coming to Hollywood for years and I’ve worked a lot in the United States,” Aznavour said. “America is the land of show business.” 

Aznavour was born in France to Armenian parents. Up to 1.5 million Armenians died in 1915-17 in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire in what Armenia, several foreign parliaments and many historians describe as genocide.

Turkey strongly opposes the characterization of genocide, calling the episode a collective tragedy in which both Turks and Armenians were killed by either side.

“What I find very funny is that Turkey lost something. They don’t have a single great singer and I could have been a Turkish singer, while today I’m a French singer,” Aznavour said.

“Which goes to show that there’s no purpose to genocide as there are always survivors,” he said.

Aznavour has written hundreds of songs in a career that spans more than 80 years, with more than 100 million records sold worldwide.

He remains energetic and said he still feels excitement before crowds. Earlier in October he played Madison Square Garden in New York.

“I feel like I’m meeting my family, whether they’re Italian or Spanish or from elsewhere. The audience is part of my family. The stage is where I’m happiest.” And he says he is not finished: “I always have 40 songs ahead of me. I write every day.”

October/28/2016

 

http://www.hurriyetd...6&NewsCatID=383


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#4 Yervant1

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Posted 01 October 2018 - 08:40 AM

Rest in peace Armenian Legend!  :cry:

 

Hollywood Reporter
Oct 1 2018
 
Charles Aznavour, France's 'Frank Sinatra,' Dies at 94

5:46 AM PDT 10/1/2018 by Duane Byrge 

 

charles_aznavour.jpg

He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2017.

Charles Aznavour, singer and actor, whose gestures and expressions conveyed the romance of Paris to worldwide audiences, has died.

An actor turned singer, he epitomized the French chansonnier: His songs were half-sung, half-spoken acclamations of love. A popular-song stylistic, Aznavour was a charismatic stage presence, despite his 5 ft. 3 inch height and pedestrian appearance. He headlined at such Parisian venues as the Olympia and was very popular with international audiences.

In 2005, he was chosen as Entertainer of the Century in an on-line poll conducted by Time magazine, topping such superstars as Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.

In a career that spanned roughly six decades, Aznavour wrote more than 1,000 songs and sold more than 100 million records. He often wrote songs that were considered immoral. Until 1960, 60% of his songs were banned from the French radio. He also wrote music with political or social themes, which he dubbed his “faits de societe” songs.

He was sung by all the great French musical stars, including Edith Piaf, his onetime mentor, and Maurice Chevalier.

As an actor, his most memorable role was as the barroom pianist with a troubled past in Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player.

When queried about which profession he preferred, singing or acting, he said, Each of my songs is a story. He called himself a “happy sad singer.”

In 1994, he signed a deal with EMI, which authorized re-release of his life's recordings, which was packaged in a series of 30 CDs in 1996. He was feted with a cover on Billboard that year, rare for a foreign singer.

His first film Head Against the Wall won him the Crystal Star Award from the French Motion Picture Academy. He was also memorable as the marathon runner in The Games, and as a Jewish shopkeeper in Volker Schloendorff's The Tin Drum.

He also performed in Atom Egoyan's “Ararat, a film about the Armenian genocide. He was instrumental in erecting a commemorative statue for the victims in Paris.

As a singer, Aznavour packed French theaters and music halls. During a 15-year period in the '60s and '70s, only Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Elton John topped Aznavour in sales. He had a hit single, She, in 1974, which later was used covered by Elvis Costello in the romantic comedy Notting Hill, and was also used in Tadpole.

He was popular with mainstream U.S. audiences, as well: On U.S. television, Aznavour performed in a dual concert on TV with Liza Minnelli titled Love from A to Z.

He entertained at the Hollywood Bowl with a program of songs in French and English, accompanied by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He finished with Yesterday When I Was Young, which he wrote.

Sad eyed and slight-framed, Aznavour won audiences by simple emotion. Time magazine once characterized his music: “His words are the plea of any poor devil, sung in any poor devil's voice.”

“I sing about the ordinary things of life. My ideas are everyone's ideas. My problems are their. …. So the audience accepts me. I am not a handsome, talented man. My voice is froggy, everything about me is common. They identify with me.”

In 1975, he starred in Claude Chabrol's “Folies Bourgeoises, and, in 1983, starred in another Chabrol film, Le Fantome du Chapelier.

In U.S. films, he also played a wild hunchback in Candy and a villain in Harold Robbins' The Adventurers.

Other film credits include: Tomorrow is My Turn, Taxi for Tobruk, High Fidelity and Paris in the Month of August. For 20th Century Fox, he played a European police chief in Sky Riders, which also starred James Coburn and Susannah York.

He was born as Shahnour Varenagh Aznavurjian on May 22, 1924 in Paris of Armenian parents. His father was a singer, his mother an actress. At age nine, he entered acting and at 11 left school. He was 16 when World War II began and survived by selling newspapers and sweeping streets. He teamed with actor Pierre Roche in a double act, and began song-write collaboration with Roche. He wrote songs for the likes of Edith Piaf and Maurice Chevalier.

Aznavour was a member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1986.

Most recent films include Le ComedienLes MomesLaguna, and Ennemis publics.

He was married five times and had five children: Seda, Patricia, Katia, Patrick and Mischa. 

https://www.hollywoo...-was-94-1148204

 

 

 

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#5 Yervant1

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Posted 01 October 2018 - 08:42 AM

Bangkok Post
Oct 1 2018
 
 
Charles Aznavour, France's eternal crooner poet
2939194.jpg

PARIS - They told him he was too ugly, too short and that he couldn't sing. But Charles Aznavour, who has died aged 94, became one of the greatest singer-songwriters of the 20th century.

He was dubbed France's Frank Sinatra, but unlike the American crooner, Aznavour wrote his own songs, often breaking taboos about marriage, homosexuality and men talking about their emotions.

With lyrics that talked of sex, depression and flagging libidos, he said what was then unsayable, such as his 1973 hit "What Makes a Man", about a gay transvestite.

Still performing to packed stadiums well into his 90s, Aznavour continued to write every day and push the boundaries, eulogising the smell of his Swedish wife's armpits in one song celebrating their 50 years of marriage.

"It's a kind of sickness I have, talking about things you're not supposed to talk about," he said.

"I started with homosexuality and I wanted to break every taboo."

"I felt strongly and I had to take a stand," he said.

The same fearlessness made him a tireless campaigner for the recognition of the slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I as genocide, becoming Armenia's ambassador to Switzerland and permanent delegate to the United Nations.

Born Shahnour Varinag Aznavourian in Paris on May 22, 1924, to parents who had fled the massacres, Aznavour sold more than 180 million records in a career spanning eight decades and as many languages.

A gifted actor as well as linguist, Aznavour brought a rare intensity to the stage, turning every song into "a one-act play".

And it was his leading role in Francois Truffaut's film "Shoot the Piano Player" in 1960 that catapulted him to fame outside France.

- Refugee heroes -

He would later appear in the Oscar-winning "The Tin Drum", playing a kindly Jewish toy seller.

In fact, Aznavour saw himself "more as an actor who sings than a singer who acts".

Yet starring in more than 60 films did not stop him writing over 1,300 songs in a staggeringly prolific career.

It was only by chance that Aznavour was born in the French capital, where his parents were waiting in vain for a visa for the US after escaping the collapsing Ottoman empire.

Instead they set up a little emigre restaurant called Le Caucase (the Caucasus), where Aznavour and his sister sang and danced from a very young age.

Later the family hid Jews and Armenians fleeing the Gestapo during the German occupation, including the Resistance leader Missak Manouchian, who was eventually captured and beheaded by the Nazis.

Manouchian's wife Melinee only escaped thanks to the Aznavourians, who were later honoured by Israel for their bravery.

Having left school early -- a decision he forever regretted -- to become a song-and-dance man, Aznavour got his big break after the war when he opened for the rising French star Edith Piaf.

She took him to America as her manager and songwriter while he worked on his voice, "singing until my throat was sore. And it paid off. My voice developed from a small tenth of an octave to a range of nearly three octaves," he said.

Aznavour lived with Piaf for eight years, though he insisted he never became one of her many lovers because "she was not my type".

Either way she badgered him into getting a nose job.

- 'Armenia in my heart' -

Even so, his solo career had a rocky start, with the man who would later be named "Entertainer of the Century" by CNN and Time Online, once being booed off stage.

"They said I was ugly and short; that the ill should not be allowed to sing," he told AFP, referring to his unique tenor voice.

But he had his first number one hit in 1956 with "Sur Ma Vie" (In My Life). That was followed by one of his biggest hits, "Je M'voyais Deja" (It Will Be My Day).

Buoyed by the success of "Shoot the Piano Player" he took New York's Carnegie Hall by storm in 1963 before touring the world and seeing his songs recorded by stars from Ray Charles to Liza Minnelli and Fred Astaire.

He also performed duets with Sinatra, Elton John, Sting and Celine Dion and his song "She" was re-recorded by Elvis Costello for the British romantic comedy "Notting Hill".

Aznavour was always strongly associated with France's large ethnic Armenian community, and in 1988 he led humanitarian efforts to help the victims of the earthquake that shattered his parents' homeland.

"Armenia and Armenians are in my heart and in my blood. It was unthinkable that I would do nothing faced by so much misfortune and suffering," he wrote, describing the quake as a turning point in his life.

A father of six, who married three times, he said the "first time I was too young, the second I was too stupid, and the third I married a woman from a different culture and I learned tolerance".

https://www.bangkokp...al-crooner-poet



#6 Yervant1

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Posted 01 October 2018 - 08:42 AM

Deutsche Welle, Germany
Oct 1 2018
 
 
Master of the chanson Charles Aznavour dead at 94

Charles Aznavour was the best known French chansonnier and arguably Armenia's most famous son. The singer who sold more than 100 million records in 80 countries died at the age of 94.

French singer Charles Aznavour has died at the age of 94, French media reported on Monday, citing his spokesman.

The musician wrote more than 1,000 chansons. Many of them, such as "La Boheme," "Hier encore," "La Mamma" and "She," became worldwide hits at the hands of top performers like Shirley Bassey, Ray Charles, Sammy Davis Jr., Liza Minnelli and Nina Simone.

Aznavour could sing in seven languages, and in Germany, his "Du lässt dich geh'n" ("You're Lettin' Yourself Go"), addressed to a lover less than concerned with her upkeep, is a cult classic.

The multi-talented Frenchman could also act, appearing in Volker Schlöndorff's The Tin Drum and in Francois Truffaut's masterpiece Shoot the Piano Player, where he imitated a degenerate bar pianist. He also appeared on camera for French filmmaker Claude Chabrol and for Canadian director Atom Egoyan's 2002 work Ararat about the genocide of Armenians in present-day Turkey.

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By 1970, Aznavour was known throughout Europe

 

Armenian roots

Shahnour Varinag Aznavourian was born in Paris on May 22, 1924, the son of Armenian refugees. His father was a singer and his mother an actress.

Charles got his first theater gig at age nine and trotted with pride through the immigrant district where he spent his childhood. People knew him as the boy who acted. But he also went through much teasing — for being ugly, too small or hardly moving on stage.

A short man  — 1.61 meters (5'3") — but one with a relentless will, he made it to the top in the European music world. The famed singer Edith Piaf helped him achieve his breakthrough and took him along on a tour of France and the US in 1946. From then on, his career hit peak after peak.

"I don't know if I'm a good singer in the classical sense," Aznavour once said. "What's more important than the beauty of a voice is its expressiveness and how someone interprets a song, fills it with life. With my songs, I've always tried to tell personal, intimate stories."

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Aznavour and Liza Minelli gave charity concerts together

Nearly 100 albums

Over the course of his 70-year career, Charles Aznavour released nearly 100 albums with a vast range of duet partners including Placido Domingo, Elton John, Liza Minnelli, Frank Sinatra and Sting. He received countless prizes and honors, and was named Entertainer of the Century in the US in 1998.

There was a time when he loved to show off his wealth, swimming in luxury and driving a Rolls Royce. His marriage to Ulla Ingegerd Thorssell from Sweden in 1967 was his third —  and the one in which he said he found happiness.

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Nicolas Sarkozy visited Armenia in 2011 together with the singer

Support for Armenia

Aznavour used his fame to support his parents' home country — financially, politically and morally. His foundation, Aznavour for Armenia, collected millions for charity.

Former French President Jacques Chirac named Aznavour an Officier de la Legion d'Honneur for his political and social engagement. In December 2008, the singer was granted Armenian citizenship, and he has been the country's ambassador in Switzerland and to UNICEF since 2009. Yerevan, the country's capital, is home to a cultural center named after Aznavour.

https://www.dw.com/e...t-94/a-17649140

 

 



#7 Yervant1

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Posted 01 October 2018 - 08:43 AM

BBC, UK
Oct 1 2018
 
Charles Aznavour, French singing star, dies at 94
 
_103647636_charles_azanavour_getty.jpg

French singer and songwriter Charles Aznavour has died at 94 after a career lasting more than 80 years, a spokesman has confirmed.

The performer, born to Armenian immigrants, sold more than 180 million records and featured in over 60 films.

He was best known for his 1974 hit She and was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2017.

Aznavour married three times and had six children. He was named entertainer of the century by CNN in 1998.

The singer was born in Paris in 1924 to Armenian parents who fled the country's genocide to begin a new life in the French capital.

   

Aznavour's lyrics drew on his own experiences of growing up in deprivation as an immigrant.

He recorded more than 1,200 songs in seven different languages and performed in 94 countries.

https://www.bbc.com/...t-arts-45709214



#8 MosJan

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Posted 01 October 2018 - 12:05 PM

Աստված հոգի՛ն լուսավորի  Մեծն Հայ հարազատներին մխիթարություն 



#9 Yervant1

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Posted 02 October 2018 - 09:43 AM

Aysor, Armenia
Oct 1 2018
 
 
Charles Aznavour’s funeral day to be declared mourning day in Armenia
 

On the day of funeral of the legendary French-Armenian singer will be declared mourning day in Armenia, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told the reporters at the memorial service conducted in Aznavour Square in Yerevan today.

“His visit was planned to Armenia in the sidelines of Francophone summit, but unfortunately it will not take place,” the PM said.

Pashinyan said that Charles Aznavour will remain a great singer and national hero in the hearts of all. “He will always have his place in the world art,” he said.

Chansonnier Aznavour will more probably be buried in Montfort Community cemetery, not far from Paris. According to French media, Aznavour wished to be buried there.

https://www.aysor.am...ing-day/1471885


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#10 Yervant1

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Posted 03 October 2018 - 10:17 AM

Aysor, Armenia
Oct 2 2018
 
 
Eiffel Tower illuminated in Golden color in honor of French-Armenian singer Charles Aznavour (video)
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Eiffel Tower was illuminated in golden color in the honor of legendary French-Armenian singer Charles Aznavour, who died earlier on October 1 aged 94 in France.

Le Parisien posted a video on its Facebook page showing the tower. Charles Aznavour’s music was played in the area.

https://www.aysor.am...l-tower/1471944


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#11 Yervant1

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Posted 04 October 2018 - 09:10 AM

Public Radio of Armenia
Oct 3 2018
 
 
France to pay national tribute to Charles Aznavour
Charles-Aznavour-10-620x300.jpg
 

France will pay a national tribute to Charles Aznavour at Hôtel des Invalides, the Elysee Palace has reported.

French president Emmanuel Macron will chair the ceremony and deliver a speech.

The legendary French Armenian singer Charles Aznavour died Monday morning of “natural death”, following a “cardiorespiratory failure.”

The body of the artist was discovered at noon at his home in Mouriès, in the Bouches-du-Rhône.

According to Le Parisien, Charles Aznavour will be buried in the Montfort-l’Amaury cemetery, in the Yvelines. He will rest in the family vault he had built in this former twelfth-century cloister and where his parents, Micha and Knar, and his son Patrick are buried.

http://www.armradio....arles-aznavour/



#12 Yervant1

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Posted 04 October 2018 - 09:16 AM

The Gazette (Montreal)
October 2, 2018 Tuesday


Singer, actor had lifelong love affair with Quebec

by MÉLANIE MARQUIS, Presse Canadienne


The death of French singer Charles Aznavour closes a long and storied
chapter of Quebec's musical history.

The singer and actor, who died Monday at the age of 94, left an
indelible impression on the province, one he visited frequently over
the course of his career.

It's a love story that didn't begin recently. In 1948, about two years
after coming to the notice of French singer Edith Piaf, Aznavour
played at the Faisan Doré, a Montreal nightclub where, with pianist
Pierre Roche, he performed a series of shows for a year and a half. He
also became friends with other Quebec singers including Jacques
Normand and Monique Leyrac.

It was at this moment that Aznavour's career in North America began to
take off, even though it had yet to do so on the other side of the
Atlantic.

It was also during this period - the 1950s - that some tried to
dissuade Aznavour from continuing his singing career. He was told he
was too small, too untrained. And above all ... that voice.

"The teachers I spoke to were categorical, they advised me not to
sing," Aznavour recalled. "I sang anyway."

Born in 1924 in France to Armenian parents, Aznavour would end up
knowing success in France at the beginning of the 1960s and a
memorable series of shows at the Alhambra in Paris in 1957 where he
had a hit with "Je m'voyais déjà." But still he returned to Quebec.

"I came here as a 'maudit Français,'but very quickly I almost became a
Québécois," he said when receiving the Ordre national du Québec in
2009. That year, the Université de Montréal awarded him an honorary
doctorate for his "contribution to francophone culture."

During a career that spanned six decades, Aznavour regularly headlined
in Quebec. And even if he always insisted he would never have a
farewell tour, that is precisely what he did in 2002 - albeit while
leaving the door open to a return.

It was a door the singer, well known for his support of Armenia, would
walk through three years later with a tour that began in Quebec. He
came back in 2008 for the 400th anniversary of Quebec City.

A few days before performing on the Plains of Abraham, Aznavour was
named an honorary member of the Order of Canada, saying during the
ceremony "Armenia is my soul and Quebec is more my heart."

Quebec singer Robert Charlebois, who attended the ceremony, revered
Aznavour, saying that meeting him "is like meeting the pope ... the
pope of French song. And for the longest time he has always been the
most Québécois of French singers."

Over the course of his career, Aznavour performed with numerous Quebec
artists, including Céline Dion and Gilles Vigneault as well as
participating in numerous shows in the province.

"We are the writers of songs that deal with daily life," Aznavour said
during an interview in 2000. "Daily life is important, because it's
through the little things in life that we speak to people, that we
lift a little of the weight of their problems."

Aznavour, who sang of the love affairs of youth, unsatisfying love
affairs or love affairs that failed, was married three times.
!@COPYRIGHT=© 2018 Postmedia Network Inc. All rights reserved.


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#13 MosJan

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Posted 04 October 2018 - 11:48 AM


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#14 MosJan

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Posted 04 October 2018 - 12:47 PM

Շառլ Ազնավուրի հուղարկավորության օրը Արցախում սուգ կհայտարարվի

94149.jpg

https://artsakhpress...haytararvi.html



#15 MosJan

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Posted 04 October 2018 - 12:48 PM


Ինչո՞ւ է Պրագայի հիվանդանոցում խնդրել հայ բժիշկ կանչեն. հուզիչ պատմություն Ազնավուրի կյանքից

«Ինձ պատմել է Պրագայում աշխատող նեյրոխիրուրգ Արեգը… Ազնավուրը եկել է Պրագա, համերգից հետո վատացել է, տեղափոխել են հիվանդանոց , հանկարծ Շառլը դիմել է բուժքրոջը՝ էս հիվանդանոցում հայ բժիշկ կա՞, եթե կա խնդրում եմ կանչեք: Արեգն ասում է երբ իմացա, վազելով իջա Ազնավուրի մոտ, նայեց աչքերիս ու ասեց՝ հայ ես, ես հասկացա աչքերիցդ, հետո փաթաթվել է , կարծես հարազատին գտած լինի ու փոքր երեխայի նման երկար լացել է… Լույս հոգուդ Մեծություն, իսկ Մեծությունները չեն մահանում…»

 

https://socialmedia.am/16607.html



#16 Yervant1

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Posted 05 October 2018 - 09:35 AM

News.am, Armenia
Oct 4 2018
 
 
October 6 declared day of mourning in Armenia
19:39, 04.10.2018
                 
 
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Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed on Thursday a decree declaring the day of funeral of Charles Aznavour day of mourning in Armenia.

“I have signed today a decree declaring October 6, the funeral day of Armenia’s National Hero Charles Aznavour day of mourning in Armenia,” the PM wrote in his Facebook page.

https://news.am/eng/news/474412.html



#17 Yervant1

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Posted 06 October 2018 - 09:21 AM

The Guardian, UK
Oct 5 2018
 
 
'In France, poets never die': Macron pays tribute to Aznavour
 
‘Son of immigrants’ likened to Apollinaire and praised for his cultural contribution to France
 
Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
 
 
Fri 5 Oct 2018 15.53 BST First published on Fri 5 Oct 2018 14.37 BST
 
5472.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=forma  
Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron follow the coffin of Charles Aznavour, alongside his family, in Paris, Photograph: EPA
 
France has given a full state farewell to Charles Aznavour, the singer-songwriter hailed as one of the greatest variety performers of the 20th century, as president Emmanuel Macron lauded the son of Armenian refugees as one of the most important “faces of France”.
 
Aznavour, who died this week, aged 94, was a lyricist who shaped and defined French popular culture for decades and became one of the best-known French singers in the world, often using catchy melodies to explore despair and challenge taboos, from prejudice against gay people to the problems of masculinity and depression.
 
In a career that lasted more than 70 years, he recorded more than 1,200 songs, sold in excess of 180m records and appeared in more than 60 films. He was still touring and performing on stage until his death and had often said he wanted to live to 100 or die on stage.
 
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Parisians watch the national homage to Aznavour broadcast on a giant screen at the Esplanades des Invalides in the French capital. Photograph: Lucas Barioulet/AFP/Getty Images
 
At a pomp-filled state ceremony at Les Invalides military complex in Paris, where Napoleon is buried, Macron praised Aznavour’s lyrics, which he said appealed to “our secret fragility”. He said the singer’s words were “for millions of people a balm, a remedy, a comfort ... For so many decades, he has made our life sweeter, our tears less bitter.”
 
Likening Aznavour’s literary genius to the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, Macron said: “In France, poets never die.”
 
Crucially, the French president also hailed Aznavour as an example of how much children of immigrants and refugees can give to their adopted country.
 
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Former French presidents Nicolas Sarkozy (left) and François Hollande, with Sarkozy’s wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, attend the homage. Photograph: Christophe Ena/AFP/Getty Images
 
 
Aznavour was born Shahnour Varinag Aznavourian in Paris on 22 May 1924 to an Armenian actor father and singer mother who had fled the massacres in their homeland as the Ottoman empire collapsed. He left school and became a child actor aged nine. Later, he survived the German occupation of Paris singing in cabarets, while his parents hid fellow Armenians, Jews, Russians and Communists in their apartment and his father joined the resistance.
 
“He knew that the real France was a France of welcome,” said Macron of Aznavour’s mixed heritage and embracing of French culture. “This son of immigrants, who had not studied, knew that in France … the French language was a sanctuary more sacred than any other.”
 
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Emmanuel Macron stands behind the coffin of Charles Aznavour. Photograph: Yoan Valat/EPA
 
Alongside Macron, the Armenian prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, said Aznavour had given fresh momentum to Armenian pride: “He brought to life the aspirations of Armenians, and so was declared a national hero for his songs and services to Armenia.”
 
Fittingly for a man who was devoted to rhythm and had a genius for describing melancholy, one of the most poignant moments in the ceremony came when the silence of the vast military courtyard was broken by the steady sound of footsteps on cobbles as marchers carried his coffin draped in the French flag with a wreath in Armenian colours.
 
His coffin was lifted away at the end to the sound of his hit song, Emmenez-Moi (Take Me Along).
 
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People watch the ceremony in Paris. Photograph: Lucas Barioulet/AFP/Getty Images
Advertisement
 
The ceremony recognised Aznavour’s grit, fiendish hard work and determination to keep knocking on doors that were so often, at the start of his career, slammed in his face. French critics had initially dismissed him as repulsively ugly, too short, with a terrible cavernous voice and dubious song titles. His stellar success in the face of adversity was part of his great appeal in France: a national loser who became a winner – someone who was able to pinpoint emotion and magnify it.
 
The French poet and artist Jean Cocteau once said: “Charles’s true success comes from the fact that he sings more from his heart that from his vocal chords.”
 


#18 Yervant1

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Posted 06 October 2018 - 09:25 AM

News.am, Armenia
Oct 5 2018
 
 
Jonathan Lacôte: Charles Aznavour helped France to never forget Armenia
15:09, 05.10.2018
                  
 
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Since Monday France and Armenia are like one people united in commemoration of the legacy of Charles Aznavour, French ambassador to Armenia Jonathan Lacôte said at the Charles Aznavour square in Yerevan. 

“This is very symbolic that all ceremonies held in Paris are broadcasted in the streets of Yerevan at the same time when his songs are broadcasted on Republic Square,” the ambassador said.

Aznavour is an incarnation of relations between France and Armenia, and he helped France to never forget Armenia even before Armenia became independent again, the diplomat emphasized.

Lacôte added that Aznavour was present during the painful hours of Armenia, including in 1988 after the earthquake in Spitak.

“He was very dedicated to Armenia. At the same time Armenia can be very proud to have offered France one of the greatest Frenchmen of the century, one of the greatest ambassadors of the French language, one of the greatest artists we had. As Aznavour said himself he was 100% French and 100% Armenian, and I think that is why we are all united today for this ceremony,” he concluded.

https://news.am/eng/news/474540.html



#19 Yervant1

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Posted 13 October 2018 - 09:34 AM

The Globe and Mail (Canada)
October 10, 2018 Wednesday

LETTERS

I REMEMBER: CHARLES AZNAVOUR


Your recent obituary of the illustrious Armenian-French singer Charles
Aznavour missed one important feature. As a professor doing academic
research for the Armenian Genocide displays at the newly established
Canadian Museum For Human Rights in Winnipeg, and then as editor of
the first-ever Englishlanguage encyclopedia on the Armenian Genocide -
titled The Armenian Genocide: The Essential Reference Guide (2015) - I
explored the ways in which musicians and performers penned songs about
genocide.

I noted that, in 1975, as part of the 60th anniversary of the
genocide, Mr. Aznavour co-wrote and performed in French the sombre
song Ils sont tombés (They have fallen). Its lyrics, translated into
English, capture the essence of genocide: "They fell without knowing
why/Men, women, and children whose only wish was to live. ... They
were mutilated, massacred, while their eyes were full of fear. ...
They fell silently/By thousands, and the millions, while the world
remained silent./In the desert, their bodies looked like minuscule red
flowers/Covered by a sandstorm, which also concealed their existence.
... Only to die anywhere, without leaving any trace/Ignored, forgotten
as they were going into eternal sleep. .... I, myself, am of this race
which now sleeps without a resting place/Who chose to die rather than
relinquish the faith ... Death struck them, regardless of their
age/Their only crime being children of Armenia." Mr.Aznavour was a
clear and strong voice raised against genocide.

Alan Whitehorn, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Royal
Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ont.



#20 Yervant1

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Posted 17 October 2018 - 07:11 AM

Arminfo, Armenia
Oct 15 2018
 
 
Pour Toi, France International Initiative Group launched a project to build a monument to Charles Aznavour as a gift to France

Yerevan October 15

In the days of farewell to the great chansonnier Charles Aznavour, the Pour Toi, France initiative group including citizens of Armenia, France, Russia and the USA was established to implement a project on building a monument to Aznavour, which will be presented to France on behalf of the entire Armenian people.

As one of the project initiators told ArmInfo, Armenians from all over the world will participate in the building of the monument, which will highlight its importance for the Armenianpeople and the gratitude to France for the great chansonnier. According to the interlocutor, the project implementation process is planned to be organized in four stages. An international competition for the best sketch of the monument will be held headed by a professional jury, family members and friends of Aznavour. A popular vote will also take place. At the second stage, it is planned to start raising funds, including through various mechanisms - co-financing, partnership, sponsorship. Then the stage of building the monument will begin and by the anniversary of Aznavour's death the organizers of the initiative intend to organize the ceremony of donating the monument to the French people and installing it in France. The great chansonnier, composer, poet, writer and actor Charles Aznavour died on October 2 in the age of 94. The world lost one of the symbols of the twentieth century. ''Being a citizen of the world and representing French culture, Aznavour always remained the son of the Armenian people. It was natural for him to be both French and Armenian at the same time. It is this essence that gave rise to the great humanist, who has no national identity. At the same time, Aznavour at every opportunity noted his Armenian origin and did a lot for the benefit of his historic homeland. We, the Armenians, will always treat him with special love and pride, "the initiative group's statement reads. The letter notes the confidence that there will be a lot of people willing to participate in the creation of the monument to Aznavour. Therefore, the initiative group decided that if more funds than needed are raised they will be donated for charity, in particular, to the Aznavour Foundation, which for many years has been implementing humanitarian projects in Armenia and France. The initiative has already been supported by the Ministry of Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia. The details of the project of the Pour Toi, France initiative group will be published soon on a separate site, as well as in social networks.

 





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