On April 21 and 22, famous pop star Garun will perform at the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex in Yerevan. Sona Hovhannisyan, director of the Yerevan Perspectives International Music Festival, said at the press conference on the occasion of the concert that the idea of Yerevan Perspectives and the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs was to present the concerts dedicated to the Francophonie to the public.
The world-famous musician mentioned that he is very excited about his visit to Yerevan, as more than 10 years have passed since his previous visit. Garou arrived in France from Canada, then in Yerevan, and will leave Armenia for Montreal. He said that the whole creative team is excited and happy to visit our country. As for the program to be presented in Yerevan, he described it as wonderful, and said that it opens the borders of the classic.
“This is something that is based on a popular element, freedom, a great ability to create together.” He gave the names of Legrand, Aznavour, Jacques Brel and others. Garou made a joke. “My name is Garou, I am Pierre Garand, not Garanyan, my connection with Armenia is only in my heart, unfortunately my grandmother is not Armenian either.”
He said that he would stay in Yerevan for a while longer, the reason being the lack of concerts in this period, which were unexpectedly taken out of Europe due to money. “I have to meet Armenians and musicians in Armenia in a natural way, to be able to find something for myself. I am looking forward to the cooperation, I hope that something will happen.” Reference was made to Quasimodo, whom he incarnated years ago in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris. “When I was offered the role of Quasimodo in the musical Notre Dame de Paris, the hero was the opposite of my character. I was playing jazz at that time, I was very sociable, I was always smiling. While I had to play a hero who needed love and attention, people avoided him. In any case, that role changed me. It’s interesting that everyone in the musical avoided me, and outside, out of spite, they ‘attacked’ me,” said Garou.
He also spoke about the great power of art and music. “We have the power to speak to the hearts of the people. The artists who use it to express some political views are not right, our job is to fight against people’s sadness, to make them happy, to speak to people’s hearts and souls…
It is not right for people to get involved in politics, to gain more power, and to use it in another way, “said Garou. There was also a question about the Armenian language. He said that Armenian sounds beautiful to his ears, it is a flowing language, and as for French, it is a language of love, it is romantic, but many musicians believe that it is difficult to sing, it does not flow like English. The journalists taught Garou one sentence. In the end, he said, “I’m happy to be here” in Armenian and received applause.
Gohar HAKOBYAN
