Musa Ler

[Arpa]

(My apologies if this post is a repeat. I may have done something wrong, I can't see the first transmission)

Since we are moving mountains see if we can move this one onetoo.

In a letter to the editor Michelle Ekizian writes. See one of her

credentials below;

=======

 

"Michelle Ekizian"

Source: Armenian Reporter International, April 6, 1996, page 20

"With the opening of the National Symphony Orchestra's 65th season, the

NSO began a project honoring the anniversary of the John

F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Music Director Designate

Leonard Slatkin and the NSO have commissioned a series of

25 fanfares featuring a range of instrumental combinations from 25

composers. Among these is Michelle Ekizian. The

commissioned works are made possible by the generosity of John and June

Hechinger.

 

Michelle Ekizian was born in 1956 in New York. She earned degrees from

the Manhattan School of Music and Columbia University,

and has received fellowships from the John Solomon Guggenheim Foundation

and the National Endowment for the Arts, and was

awarded the American Prix de Rome in 1988 from the American Academy in

Rome. She has had her music performed in the United

States and in Europe, and has received numerous awards and travel

grants.

 

Michelle Ekizian is noted for the way her works reflect the nature of

her Armenian heritage. Her fanfare, entitled Slow Apocolypse:

Fanfare for Orchestra Manque was first performed by the NSO in 1995".

 

Return to the AIWA Home Page"

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In a letter, Jan 11 2003 entitled THE TRUTH REGARDING PLANS FOR THE

UPCOMING MOTION PICTURE "THE FORTY DAYS OF MUSA DAGH" Michelle writes

....

"As the designated composer of the soundtrack for the upcoming motion

picture to be based on Franz Werfel's classic novel....To answer any

questions concerning the validity of the preparation for the upcoming

film that may have been raised by these articles, I write to say that,

yes indeed, plans for a major Hollywood-produced motion picture on "The

Forty Days of Musa Dagh are underway...."

------

Great News!!!

First Ararat and now Musa Ler.

You will notice that I did not say Musa Dagh, I said Musa Ler.

Further down the letter Michelle writes; "And so the passionate story

of a village of Armenians in 1915 taking refuge on the 'mountain of

MOSES' (emphasis mine)during the Armenian Genocide to defend human

justice..." She also alludes to the fact that the "original

publication of the book (1930) was used by the Jews in the Polish Ghetto

as a handbook for their resitence to the Nazi...."

 

This is all fine, as above, it is great news yet there is a little fly

in the otherwise sweet smelling ointment. Michelle is only human and as

such she also falls in the trap that everybody, including us, has fallen

time after time. Musa Ler, Musa Dagh does not mean the "mountain of

Moses". I have yet to see a persuasive argument to corroborate that

myth. Which Moses was it named after? If, as often assumed the the

mountain was named after the Biblical Moses then I must ask for proof.

You may reverse the process and ask me for proof to the contrary, I can

say this much. That Mountain is located in historic Armenia, Kilikia to

be precise and it was labeled as such long before we in particular and

the world in general had even heard of that Moses. There are others who

dismiss it by saying that if it was not that Moses then it must must be

another Musa/Movses. Do they mean Khorenatsi or do they mean our very

own MosJan? As a matter of fact there is another Mountain of Moses

in the Sinai Desert on top of which the Greek convent of St Katherine is

located.

 

Musa Ler was originally named so by the Armenians to mean not the

Mountain of Moses but the Mountain of Muses/Musaneri Ler. It is a well

known fact that the mythical muses, just as the gods always inhabited in

high places (Masis is also the home of our ancient gods, hence it is a

forbidden ground for common mortlas, Abovian lost his life because he

defied our Church taboos and climbed the peak). Eevery poet and every

artist has dedicated at least one poem to their musas/muses, and

invariably every one of those invokes the muses dwelling in those high

places. It would be a waste of space to mention that the original idea

of the muses traces back to ancient Greece and that Mt. Olympus was

their home.

Suffice it to quote the dean of our poetry, one that knew so much about

the Muse of Poetry, Daniel Varuzhan in his poem "Musayin" says this;

Tever@s, oughigh depi bardzunq@d v@sem,

Qnar@d k'ouzen, k'ouzen q@nar@d,.. erkntsour!!....

"My arms, directed towards your hallowed heights

Ask for your lyre, they want your lyre, grant us!"

 

Please, let us not fall into that trap of cheap intellectualism and let

them rename our sacred landwarks with alien and offensive names. Ararat

is Masis and Aghri Dagh is Agori Ler. Musa Ler is not the mountain of

Moses, whoever that imposter may be, it is the LER OF

MUSA-S/MUSES.

[sen_Vahan]

Arpa,

 

In high school in Erevan we were thougth that Musa Ler means musaneri ler because of its beauty. Musa has nothing to do with Mose or Movses, what a nonsense.

[gamavor]

It might very well be a journalist's mistake.

Some people in the States believe that if you are taken for a Jew, or associated with Jewish culture is a compliment. I don't care of course, and we need to correct them every time doesn't matter if it is innocent mistake or intentional assumption.

 

As to the movie, - I just wonder how come I haven't seen any decent Armenian History Movie. There was one with Armen Jigarhanian called "Star of hope" or something like that, whose cinematography sucked but at least the contend was good.

How about Vartan Mamigonian Epic, or Raffi's "Samvel". I'm sure these kind of movies especially if presented in a Hollywood style could attract millions of visitors. Armenian History is so rich of all kinds of epics that one might get rich or richer by filming them:)