As for the other contestants, some of them definitely seemed like they were stuck in a time warp with their appearance and performance. In fact I had to look at the screen twice to confirm that it was Eurovision 2008 and not 1988.

Sirusho could very well finish at #1.

Not keen on the Georgian entry.

I admit that the second rehearsal is a winner because the Eurovison has low quality anyway, but the staging is just not good. She has improved a lot over the first rehearsal and her moves are lighter and more natural, but she just stands there in a Tina Turner position for the whole time except those few walks she does and just moves her head around and shakes her you know what. I think they could of done much better with staging this song. I for one find the guys completely useless, I mean common rock that stage.

I also don’t want to create the impression as if I adore pop music, I love everything but my passion is a classical music. I never understood the talk that Armenians tend to do; oh that song isn’t Armenian and etc. This song sounds more Armenians to me then many things I heard before, and I too see no shame in the fact that we have a similar culture as other countries of the region. As soon as we make peace with this, we will start having a much better cultural development. And you know I also never understood those who think Eurovison sacks. Common guys, it is fun, have fun, relax, and etc. There are many pretty ladies singing there as well, so you know ease off and just relax, it will be good for you. You cannot find reason in anything. There is no point in soccer is there? But we all love it, no?

On Onnik’s point. No I don’t think there is a pure culture anymore. In fact, isn’t that what 21st century is all about? Well, maybe it is an exaggeration but globalization and etc are themes these days, no?

Anyway, I wouldn’t say the song sounds “Turkish” although there is an obvious Eastern-feel to the song. However, the Armenian influence is also there. Great job, and yeah, I’m sure it will go down very well indeed in Europe. I dare say Sirusho now stands a very good chance of having success in the international music scene as well. Great news for Armenia, I think, and I prefer her over Andre and Haiko in representing the country abroad.

I guess when I was referring to dance I meant in a club and not in a ballet. However, while Khachaturian isn’t really my thing (too triumphant and emotive whereas I prefer “darker” classical music), I agree with you about Masquerade. It is quite excellent.

Anyway, I’ve yet to hear an Armenian pop sung that can be descibed as more “Armenian” than “Eastern” without it sounding like something traditional. Rock and jazz as genres are perhaps something different, however, as different ethnic melodies are often incorporated.

BTW: I have to admit that Armenoids did something interesting with some of their tracks. However, while that successfully incorporated Armenian folk melodies, they went and spoilt it with some annoying and badly sung rap in English.

So, I suppose it is possible to produce “Armenian pop music,” but it’s not easy. Meanwhile, there’s no doubt that Eastern-sounding pop music is better for the young things to dance to, and is popular in Europe.

Indeed, Western pop stars will incorporate it too, but nobody condemns them for it.

I suppose the reason people either like it or dislike it therefore is based on the shared history of the region — in both good and bad respects. Still, I think we should all understand that the culture of this region often overlaps and that it’s probably natural all the countries have similarities and also assimilated.

Is there anything such as a “pure” contemporary culture anywhere? Personally, I doubt it, although its true that Armenian contemporary pop music is still trying to shape its identity. Regardless, good luck to Sirusho. I think she looks and sounds a great cultural ambassador for Armenia.a

I think we better stop defining ourselves by who we are NOT or who we would NOT want to be (Turks, Kurds, Russians, Arabs, etc. – unfortunately the list is pretty long), and be a little bit less arrogant towards other people. For most of its history, Armenia has been a bridge between various cultures and traditions, and has assimilated various influences. This can be a source of cultural enrichment if we accept and support diversity in artistic and cultural life. And spend our energy on promoting creative projects than on boycotting this and that.

grigor, be careful….you sound like a traitor and turkophile and other ridiculous shite. oh wait, that only counts when talking about reasonable approaches to foreign policy.

But Khachaturyan or Babajanyan aren’t Armenian composers for me. Babajanyan was more like a soviet pop composer, and Khachaturyan was the greatest composer ever who understood the beauty of folk music and incorporated that into classical music. Because of this he is a world composer not Armenian. True, some of his music is based on the regional folk tunes and etc, but he should be viewed as a world composer not an Armenian composer. Common guys, there has never been a better waltz than Masquerade and there has never been a more popular classical music played by basically everyone, rock musicians, classical musicians, and etc, as Sabre Dance. He is a world treasure that occupies a special place in our culture.

I think the talk about Armenian music is pretty much nonsense. Even Khachaturyan’s music, from the same Spartacus or Gayane are not typical Armenian tunes but are regional (as many experts claim). I don’t have much time to write more here, but the thing is that all the people of the region share a common base culture and all of them have their own strings attached to this base culture. Turkey, shouldn’t be viewed as an enemy. It is actually because of Turkey that the culture of the region became more unified and a lot of things like Armenian coffee, mostly known as Turkish coffee these days, spread to the west. There are accounts that Turkish people did nothing but to take the good things of this or that minority and turn it into something better (this is more visible in the food culture of the region). Now, we couldn’t do that they could so we better make piece with it and instead use the amount of advertising that Turks did for us. There is not a single western country that doesn’t know what shish kabab is, so instead of slamming Turkey for stealing our culture lets use their advertisement and, in the case of Eurivision, support to advance our own culture.

Sorry had no time for a shorter post.

If you like to be perceived as a turkic nation in europe than i have no argument againts you.

Also don’t patronise.

Lighten up dude. It’s pop music. By definition its ‘popular’ and that can mean a lot of influences.

Talk of a boycott ‘to produce a higher level of songs’ is ludicrous.