In “National Identity and the ‘Other’,” Anna Triandafyllidou defines the ‘national significant other’ as any “nation or ethnic group that is territorially close to… the national community and threatens… cultural purity and/or its independence.” For Armenia, this includes former occupying nations Turkey and Russia, and Turkey-allied Azerbaijan. The ‘expanded self’, on the other hand, describes the Armenian diaspora, outside of the country’s boundaries but still considered authentic denizens. Armenia’s expanded self appeared on the global stage at Eurovision between 2010 and 2015, when entries emphasized breaking down divisions within humanity and allowing peoples to grow in coexistence. Armenia’s identity and its presentation at Eurovision align strongly as the external others—Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Russia—are minimized to allow the Armenian national pride and global unity through the diaspora to take the center stage.
Turkey and Azerbaijan, Armenia’s significant others due to culture and ideologies, rarely appear in presentation of the Armenian identity because emphasis falls instead on the Armenian identity and expanded self. Turkey became Armenia’s main significant other when, after two full centuries of occupation with ever-worsening relations, the “view of Turks as a ‘nation of murderers and ruffians’ became definitively sealed in the Armenian national consciousness with the Armenian genocide,” which Turkey continues to deny (Souleimanov). Azerbaijan, which associates with Turkey in this genocide denial as well as many elements of culture, is Armenia’s second significant other. In their unity of culture and ideology, both of which are directly opposite Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan are Armenia’s true significant others.
Despite their fiery relations, these others do not appear in modern day Armenian performances, including Eurovision performances. During Turkish occupation, Armenian musical and literary works featured “the boundless brutality of the Turks” (Souleimanov), but Armenia’s music today centers on Armenian identity as it grows through its diaspora and its rich history. While the lyrics of “Apricot Stone” and “Face the Shadow” contain clear jabs at genocide deniers, none of the Armenian Eurovision entries reference Turkey or Azerbaijan directly. Originally called “Don’t Deny,” “Face the Shadow” premiered before the song contest with a music video that showed an extended family dressed in modern clothing that mimicked early-1900s fashions in the sepia monochrome found in old family photo-portraits. The end of the video shows only the empty chairs, with the family nowhere to be found. Even though this is clearly a portrayal of the Armenian genocide, the focus remains on the Armenian loss and the descendants of the survivors, rather than the attackers. On the worldwide platform of the Eurovision stage, Armenia does not shy from its significant others, but it continues to emphasize what Armenian identity is rather than what it is not.
Armenia’s most diminished and most amicable national other, Russia, appears in Armenian Eurovision entries more than Turkey or Azerbaijan because the Russian-Armenian narrative allows for primary focus on Armenian national identity and the expanded self of the diaspora. Despite—or because of—Armenia’s strong, sour relationship with its Turkish sovereigns, “Russia’s penetration of the Caucasus was welcomed [by Armenia]” (Souleimanov). Though their independence was still out of reach under Russian rule, the comparative freedom allowed after their “rescue” from Turkish occupation substantially lowered the perceived threat posed by Armenia’s new leaders. Because this contrast between treatment of Armenians by Turkey and by Russia was so stark, “the breakup of the Soviet Union was accompanied by almost no anti-Russian sentiment” (Souleimanov). With so little tension between Armenia and Russia, the relationship evolved into a subdued other rather than a significant other. Also unlike Turkey and Azerbaijan, the Russian other is subtly reflected on the Eurovision stage. “Apricot Stone” tells the diaspora story of Russian-Armenian singer Valeriya “Eva Rivas” Reshetnikova-Tsaturyan and lyricist Karen Kavaleryan. Reshetnikova-Tsaturyan sings “about the love of one's motherland, …not only directed to Armenians, but rather to all diasporas in the whole world” (Eva Rivas on Eurovision Song Contest official website). Rather than its contrast, it is Russia’s nearness to Armenia and its relative weakness as a significant other that make room for Russia on the Armenian stage.
Armenia’s most diminished and most amicable national other, Russia, appears in Armenian Eurovision entries more than Turkey or Azerbaijan because the Russian-Armenian narrative allows for primary focus on Armenian national identity and the expanded self of the diaspora. Despite—or because of—Armenia’s strong, sour relationship with its Turkish sovereigns, “Russia’s penetration of the Caucasus was welcomed [by Armenia]” (Souleimanov). Though their independence was still out of reach under Russian rule, the comparative freedom allowed after their “rescue” from Turkish occupation substantially lowered the perceived threat posed by Armenia’s new leaders. Because this contrast between treatment of Armenians by Turkey and by Russia was so stark, “the breakup of the Soviet Union was accompanied by almost no anti-Russian sentiment” (Souleimanov). With so little tension between Armenia and Russia, the relationship evolved into a subdued other rather than a significant other. Also unlike Turkey and Azerbaijan, the Russian other is subtly reflected on the Eurovision stage. “Apricot Stone” tells the diaspora story of Russian-Armenian singer Valeriya “Eva Rivas” Reshetnikova-Tsaturyan and lyricist Karen Kavaleryan. Reshetnikova-Tsaturyan sings “about the love of one's motherland, …not only directed to Armenians, but rather to all diasporas in the whole world” (Eva Rivas on Eurovision Song Contest official website). Rather than its contrast, it is Russia’s nearness to Armenia and its relative weakness as a significant other that make room for Russia on the Armenian stage.
Armenia’s identity—that of national pride and an expanded self—lines up with the identity portrayed in the Eurovision Song Contest because of a lack of shame in the nation’s history and the added strength of the diaspora’s numbers and diversity. Stephen Coleman describes that in most countries participating in Eurovision, viewers need an “ironic distancing” to separate themselves from the embarrassment of watching the entries, and that “[t]he source of the embarrassment is neither the songs nor the singers, but the national identities that are being disingenuously performed” (Coleman). For European countries that have shame attached to national pride, “[c]ontributory factors to this disenchantment [with national identity] were experience of the horrific associations between nationhood and the promiscuous slaughter of warfare… the adoption of nationalist iconography as the symbolism of racism… and the disembedding of social relations by distance-compressing media technologies” (Coleman). Armenia, under Turkish, then Russian control from 1555 to 1991, had an atypical experience of the World Wars, has no major racial supremacist groups, and has only become more connected by “distance-compressing” technologies (which open new channels for the diaspora to remain connected to the homeland). The Armenian genocide provides even more reason for pride, as stimuli connoting death have been linked in multiple studies to “[people groups] clinging to their cultural identities, working hard to live up to their culture's values and going to great lengths to defend those values” (DeAngelis, 2007). Without shame over national identity, and with the genocide’s psychological nudge toward stronger national pride, portrayed Armenian identities are free to revolve around their own culture, rather than getting bogged down by ironic distancing or national embarrassment. Even at Eurovision, Armenia is united by strong, sincere national identity and pride. Armenia’s Eurovision entry participants are almost exclusively Armenian, with Black Sabbath’s Toni Iommi, the writer of “Lonely Planet” in 2013, the only outlier among the singers, songwriters, producers, and dancers for the five entries between 2010 and 2015. Armenian cultural elements, including the duduk instrument, the apricot symbol, and various costume elements, are used only in relevant contexts (that is, to evoke specific historical events or the Armenian collective future). Armenian artists Inga & Anush Arshakyan, who write about Armenia in a traditional Armenian style, have appeared at Eurovision and maintained a large domestic fanbase both before and after the world stage event. The synthesis of the daily Armenian identity into entries in Eurovision is seamless because it requires no repackaging. The genuine Armenian identity and pride, unburdened by a shameful history and even emphasized by tragedies past, is free to outshine any mention of significant others.
The Armenian diaspora may seem closer to a significant other, posing a possible threat to “ethnic purity” (Triandafyllidou), but in reality it provides Armenia with essential diversity and unity that allows the Armenian identity to become a global identity. Triandafyllidou states that “objective criteria like culture and religion are insufficient” to define national identity, and that “the concept of nationality cannot be operationalized in terms of specific characteristics such as geographical location, religious composition or linguistic homogeneity. These are important only to the degree to which they reinforce national identity,” especially in separating the national self from its significant others (Triandafyllidou). Because Armenia’s diaspora population is defined as an ingroup, even the physical boundaries of the nation can and should be disregarded. Elie Kedourie describes the necessity of diversity as “a duty laid upon us to cultivate our own peculiar qualities and not mix or merge them with others” (Kedourie in Triandafyllidou). Diaspora researcher Scout Tufankjian describes how this concept lines up with the Armenian diasporas: “As with any group, there are bits you fit into and bits you don’t… [but] there are communities diverse enough to embrace all those different aspects” (Tufankjian in Gonzalez). The Armenian diaspora is essential to Armenia, providing not only strength in over ten times the numbers within the nation, but also healthy diversity to an otherwise homogenous nation.
The Armenian national identity encompassing the diaspora matches perfectly with the Eurovision portrayal of “a cohesive Armenian whole that broadcasts unity across diversity”. Armenian performance motifs include shattering walls and flowering apricot trees. In the Dictionary of Symbols, Jean Chevalier and Alain Gheerbrant point to deciduous trees (depicted in three of the five Eurovision songs) as the perfect symbol of “the cyclical character of…death and regeneration,” with fruit and the leaves as individuals and seed or roots as their heritage. Both motifs depict an Armenia beyond the confines of the map: shattering walls break down divisions of artificial border lines, and trees show a growing Armenia with many branches reaching to all sides of the globe. Among Armenia’s songs from 2010 to 2015, two included overt references to the diaspora (despite Eurovision’s “nonpolitical” policies). In “Apricot Stone,” Reshetnikova-Tsaturyan and Kavaleryan describe “love of one's motherland” and wanting to “go back to [their] roots”. The song’s name frames the Armenian community (commonly symbolized with apricots) as a seed that will grow into a flourishing tree, a stage effect that “blooms” in the final chorus. Five of Genealogy’s “Face The Shadow” singers have diaspora heritage, “united by the blood in their veins…and by music as the universal language of the world” (Eurovision Song Contest official website). While the artists stand on a world map to display the various countries they call home, an apricot tree blossoms to reinforce the identity of a strong, united Armenian people unconfined by physical country borders. The Armenian diaspora is inseparable from the centralized Armenian people, especially on an international stage like Eurovision, where it enriches the Armenian performance themes of unity and diversity.
With minimized others and maximized unity, the Armenian expanded self, national identity, and pride make a seamless transition to the global stage, broadcasting growth and oneness through diversity.
Citations
“About Geneology.” Eurovision Song Contest official website. 2015. Last accessed 7 Feb. http://www.eurovision.tv/page/history/year/participant-profile/?song=33123
“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.
Coleman, Stephen. “Why Is the Eurovision Song Contest Ridiculous? Exploring a Spectacle of Embarrassment, Irony and Identity.” Popular Communication, vol. 6, 2008, pp. 127–140.
DeAngelis, Tori. “Understanding terrorism.” American Psychological Association, vol. 40, no. 10, 2009, pp. 60. http://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/11/terrorism.aspx
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.
“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.
Gonzalez, David. “Following the Global Armenian Diaspora.” Lens: The New York Times. 24 April 2014. http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/24/following-armenias-global-diaspora/.
“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
Souleimanov, Emil. “Between Turkey, Russia, and Persia: Perceptions of National Identity In Azerbaijan and Armenia at the Turn of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries”. Middle East Review of International Affairs (Online), vol. 16, no. 1., pp.74-85. March 2012. http://search.proquest.com.proxy.seattleu.edu/docview/1189391833?accountid=28598&rfr_id=info%3Axri%2Fsid%3Aprimo.
Triandafyllidou, Anna. “National Identity and the ‘Other’.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 21, no. 4, 1998, pp. 593–612.
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