The 2010 to 2015 Armenian Eurovision entries, analyzed together, display Armenia as racially homogenous but geographically wide-spread, focussing on unity that encompasses diversity. Depicted in motifs of breaking down walls and the life cycle of growing trees, the collective theme represented in Armenia’s entries is healing and regeneration of the human race as a whole through unity.
Russian-Armenian singer Valeriya Reshetnikova-Tsaturyan—better known by stage name “Eva Rivas”—described “Apricot Stone” as the story of herself and lyricist Karen Kavaleryan, children of the Armenian diaspora. Reshetnikova-Tsaturyan further asserted that the song was “about the love of one's motherland,” (which is explicitly mentioned in the chorus) “but that it was not only directed to Armenians, but rather to all diasporas in the whole world” (Eva Rivas on Eurovision Song Contest official website). As Reshetnikova-Tsaturyan recognizes, Armenian identity is central to the presentation of “Apricot Stone.” Musician Djivan Gasparyan, clad in a traditional Armenian jacket and playing the traditional duduk, accompanies Rivas, who wears in an apricot-colored chiffon-wrapped corset; the generous neckline, basque waist, and flowing train are modern parallels to a traditional Armenian dance costume. Even the title is Armenian: the apricot tree is an overt “symbol of Armenia.”
The tree is part of a larger motif that appears often in Armenian Eurovision entries: roots, seeds, fruit, and trees connote generational growth over time and the cyclical nature of life. In the Dictionary of Symbols, Jean Chevalier and Alain Gheerbrant suggest that trees symbolize “the cyclical character of … death and regeneration,” adding that deciduous trees (like the apricot) represent “this cycle since they shed their leaves and cover themselves in fresh foliage each year.” This cycle is elucidated in the third verse of “Apricot Stone” (“May God bless and keep my cherished fruit / Grow my tree up to the sky… / I just wanna go back to my roots”) by the uniqueness of the individual, the “fruit”; the larger community and collective future to which the individual belongs, the “tree”; and the final death and regeneration through the “roots”. The metaphor continues in the chorus as a tree grows behind the singers: “Apricot stone, / Hidden in my hand / Given back to me / From the motherland. / Apricot stone, / I will drop it down / In the frozen ground / I’ll just let it make its round.” The seed’s “round” is the life cycle of the apricot tree, compounding the song’s connection to the past, present, and future of a generation.
The 2011 Armenian Eurovision entry, “Boom Boom,” performed by Emma “EmmY” Bejanyan, was an about-face from the undeniably Armenian narrative the year before, trading apricots for energetic boxing motifs devoid of ethnic sound, costume, or implications. EmmY appears in a satin warm-up robe and a thick gold champion’s belt, sitting on an enormous boxing glove. During the bridge, EmmY’s four backup dancers use satin ribbon to create a boxing ring around her as she sings, “You are the strongest fighter / … / It’s time to win me in the ring of love.” While boxing originated in early Greece, today’s sport—Emmy’s chosen imagery—barely resembles the ancient competitions, dropping ethnic ties for displays of virility and vigor. The strongest identity represented is a state of boundless physical energy—yet even EmmY seemed tired of this nonsensical love song.
Armenia’s 2013 Eurovision entry was the only Armenian entry with a non-Armenian artist; the music was written by Toni Iommi of England’s Black Sabbath, whose performance at a benefit concert after the 1988 Spitak earthquake forged a connection (BBC). The unifying theme of the lyrics involves the image of breaking down walls to reach love and light. However, it’s not the walls between identities that crumble in “Lonely Planet”—it’s the flimsy lyrics and mixed metaphors.
The band—Dorians, the “Armenian Bon Jovi”—was outfitted in denim and blue cotton and was lit with cold white and blue light. For such a mournful song, blue seems fitting, but the vitreous monochrome adds not solemnity but fragility, emphasizing the “loneliness” of the lyrics but arguing with the fact that the band’s five members share screen time equally, leaving no one isolated. The only divergence from the blue color scheme appears during the bridge: the performance is backlit by yellow beams reminiscent of the sun rising over a wall or mountain range, accompanied by the lyrics, “Maybe someday we'll break the wall. / Maybe the light will touch us all.” To explain the “wall” that is blocking out “light,” a number of cruelties are evoked in the verses, from “start[ing] a war” to interpersonal manipulation (“the one with clever face…[p]laying games that none can play”) to pride inflated to the point of assuming the role of a deity (“Who can change night and day? / … / Who’s the man and who’s the god?”). The cause and the cure of all these questions, revealed in the final chorus, is the unspecified “we”, on whose shoulders rest the fate of humanity (“Lonely planet! / We have done it! / We can save you? / We can stop it. / … / For the world”). Without a defined identity, Dorians cannot orient themselves within the sea of vague lyrics, losing the message of breaking down the wall between rigid divisions of identity.
In the 2014 Armenian Eurovision entry, “Not Alone,” Aram MP3’s grey monochromatic look emphasizes the small, glittery lapel pin in the colors of the Armenian flag; other than this nod to the performer’s and songwriters’ heritage, nothing about the performance is inherently Armenian. Twin columns of light spread into a ring around Aram Sargsyan, who stands on a serene starry sky decorated with a chevron of white flares. As the music builds to the chorus, a wind machine, subtle background flames, and building violins compound the emotional tension laid by the lyrics: “You’re all alone / … / Though you are scared and you’re hurt / You’re gonna wake up / It’s only a dream /… / You’re not alone”. The emotional wave and the dichotomy of painful solitude vs. unification in reality reach a breaking point during the classic EDM/dubstep “drop”, vibrating graphic “cracks” across the LED backdrop “shatter” into a passionate display of flames and white light. As the “Lonely Planet” follow-up, this wall-breaking imagery is enhanced by the framework laid in Dorians’ “Lonely Planet” for division as pain and unity as a cure-all. The chorus line, “What if it’s all in one kiss / That turns all seeds into trees,” is particularly revealing on the message of the song, using symbolism to imply that unity is the key to people of all heritages flourishing in coexistence. In American media, the kiss is usually confined to romantic and sexual love; however, a wider collection of works use it as a “[s]ymbol of joining together and of mutual adherence” (Chevalier & Gheerbrant). This “one kiss” implies not only the physical connection of two human beings, but that uniting under one idea, even as individuals, can translate into unity and growth of “all seeds”. As in Eva Rivas’s “Apricot Stone,” seed refers to ethnic heritage, and “Not Alone” implies that when unified in coexistence, all peoples will be able to prosper.
At the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest, Armenia presented “Face the Shadow” with Genealogy, “a group of Armenian musicians who are descendants of genocide survivors” (Eurovision Song Contest official website). The fantastical costumes of the six singers are black with silver jewelry, and the light design covers the stage in rotating geometric bands that incorporate clock imagery and deciduous trees (both barren and blossoming). The verses indicate that the muse has experienced tragedies that they attempt to repress (“Feels like so many times life was unfair / Will you run and forget all the despair?”) while the singer insists that the only way to move forward is to accept the past (“When you follow a dream, surrender the sorrow inside”). The pre-chorus (“[t]ime is ticking and you keep thinking that you are tricking your heart”) describes that despite the ever-turning cycle of life, the muse mentally rejects the pain that their history continues to cause their heart. During the instrumental bridge, a wind machine and a shifting, swirling background texture evoke a tornado or whirlwind as the artists hold hands in the “eye of the storm.” When the storm calms and dissolves into a world map and a blossoming tree during the final chorus, the artists disperse themselves according to their nationalities: Tamar Kaprelian from America, Stephanie Topalian from Asia, Vahe Tilbian from Africa, Mary-Jean O’Doherty Vasmatzian from Australia, and Inga Arshakyan—a traditional singer who earned 10th for Armenia in Eurovision 2009—from Armenia (Eurovision Song Contest Youtube Channel). With Inga Arshakyan as Armenia, each surrounding singer represents a community of the Armenian diaspora—the six Armenian singers are “united by the blood in their veins…and by music as the universal language of the world” (Eurovision Song Contest official website). The flourishing apricot tree standing behind the diaspora community and the map of the world provides visual affirmation of the theme of the prosperity in unification across not only those of shared country, but also those of shared heritage, extended to the diaspora and then to the human race as a whole.
Eurovision entries for Armenia from 2010 to 2015 emphasize breaking down divisions within humanity and allowing peoples to grow in coexistence. While “Boom Boom” avoided discussion of identity, “Apricot Stone,” “Not Alone,” and “Face The Shadow,” and even “Lonely Planet” lead into each other to form a cohesive Armenian whole that broadcasts unity across diversity.
Works Cited
“About Geneology.” Eurovision Song Contest official website. 2015. Last accessed 7 Feb. http://www.eurovision.tv/page/history/year/participant-profile/?song=33123
Aram MP3 (Aram Sargsyan). “Not Alone.” Music by Aram Sargsyan; lyrics by Garik Papoyan. Armenia, Eurovision Song Contest 2014 Grand Final. Last accessed 7 February 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj0oOV-2fRQ.
“Armenian apricot stone becomes a tree.” Eurovision Song Contest official website. 2010. Last accessed 7 Feb. 2017. http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?p=2&id=13873
Chevalier, Jean, and Alain Gheerbrant. Dictionary of Symbols. Translated by John Buchanan-Brown. Penguin Reference. 1969. Penguin Books, 1996.
Dorians (Gor Sujyan, Gagik Khodavirdi, Arman Pahlevanyan, Edgar Sahakyan, Arman Jalalyan). “Lonely Planet.” Music by Toni Iommi; lyrics by Vardan Zadoyan. Armenia, Eurovision Song Contest 2013 Grand Final. Last accessed 7 February 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGOSZ7Uufno.
Eva Rivas (Valeriya Reshetnikova-Tsaturyan). “Apricot Stone.” Music by Armen Martirosyan; lyrics by Karen Kavaleryan. Armenia, Eurovision Song Contest 2010 Grand Final. Last accessed 7 February 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A60atIirQAw.
Emmy (Emma Bejanyan). “Boom Boom.” Music by Hayk Harutyunyan, Hayk Hovhannisyan; lyrics by Sosi Khanikyan. Armenia, Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Semifinal. Last accessed 7 February 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsKBnL6dWOk.
“Genealogy (Armenia): 6 artists, 5 continents.” Eurovision Song Contest Youtube Channel, 30 Apr. 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xj-pqYFkO_M. Last accessed 7 Feb. 2017.
Genealogy (Inga Arshakyan, Tamar Kaprelian, Mary-Jean O’Doherty Vasmatzian, Vahe Tilbian, Stephanie Topalian). “Face The Shadow.” Music by Armen Martirosyan; lyrics by Inna Mkrtchyan. Armenia, Eurovision Song Contest 2015 Grand Final. Last accessed 7 February 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6O8pr7HH94.
“Sabbath star Tony Iommi writes Eurovision entry.” BBC. 6 March 2013. Last accessed 7 Feb. 2017. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-21689607
