Accompanied by his spouse Anna Hakobyan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended the “Here is Armenia” concert in Aram Khachaturian concert hall, dedicated to the 80th anniversary of People’s Artist of the Republic of Armenia, composer Robert Amirkhanyan. The concert was attended by the Artsakh State Jazz Orchestra, the Artsakh State Choir, the Armed Forces Choir of Armenia, the soloists of Rainbow children’s choir of Stepanakert’s Sayat-Nova Music School. The concert featured works by Robert Amirkhanyan.

Prime Minister Pashinyan delivered congratulatory remarks, in which he stated:
“Dear cultural community representatives,
Dear guests,

I am honored to speak today on this occasion. In general, there is such an eternal question: what will happen when time passes? No matter how much time passes - 5 years, 10 years, 20 years. In this case, we are talking about 80 years, and today we will try to formulate the answer to this question: what are the results of these 80 years, or rather, what remains as a result of these 80 years? It is clear that these 80 years were not easy, had their own difficulties, bitterness, difficulties, but this full and warm concert hall has remained after all, and the songs that are no longer the author’s property as they belong to our people.

I am convinced that the numerous songs that sounded here took away many of us to the depths of their own life stories. These songs told each of us a unique story about our life, our environment, our family, our children, and what remains is an integral part of our identity. In general, our national identity is probably one of the most important issues today, and by saying “identity” I mean primarily literature, music, visual arts, in particular urban planning, and today we are also talking about our identity.

When the famous Lullaby was being played, I thought about our national identity, because there are and there should be songs that form our identity. What does this have to do with identity? I thought that many generations of Armenians have simultaneously listened to this song in the evenings, and it has bound us all together with invisible wings, creating one identity, one whole, one body, one nation, one people, and it was in this is a matter of our identity.

I cannot say how many children are still listening to this song before going to bed or during sleep, but I can testify that, for example, our Arpi is sleeping to the sounds of this song, and I can say that we will always need such songs.

I remember a recent conversation with the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, when I said that we hold in deep respect the world’s famous works, nevertheless, we have a certain feeling of jealousy, when on New Year’s Eve people come to listen the so-called global songs, while the “We Prepared the New Year’s Morning” is still too relevant today. We even set the goal that such new songs should be created as would continue to unite us like the Lullaby, strengthening our relations, our identity, the identity of each of us, our collective identity. This is also true for birthday parties: we need songs to be played on our birthdays: we should prefer to sing songs born in our hearts, our history, and our reality.

And this question of what will happen when this time passes, receives a different answer. We enjoyed performances by Stepanakert’s Rainbow choir, those rising stars that shone on this stage today. I wish to thank you for this format when we listened to the Rainbow children's choir of the Artsakh State Jazz Orchestra, the Artsakh State Choir, and the Armed Forces Choir of Armenia. It was about what will happen next, and it is very symbolic that we received such an answer to this question.

Dear Mr. Amirkhanyan,

It is a great honor for me to felicitate you on your 80th birthday and extend a vote of thanks on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Armenia, on behalf of the citizens of the Republic of Armenia, on behalf of the Armenian people for the legacy that we have today, considering it our own, everyone’s property, the property of our people, the property of our nation.

Today we are here to honor you and pay tribute to you and express gratitude for the legacy you created that our kids also inherited today in the person of the Rainbow Choir, many other choirs who will sing your songs, and, of course , the anthem of our Armed Forces, the anthem of our souls, the anthem of our dreams, the anthem that we have a homeland that we dreamed about, and we will have a homeland that we continue to dream about.”

With the mediation of RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, People’s Artist of Armenia, composer Robert Amirkhanyan was awarded the First-Degree Medal “For Merit to the Motherland,” for valuable contribution to the development of musical art and for his services to the development of Armenian musical art. The Prime Minister handed in person the state award to Robert Amirkhanyan and once again congratulated him on his 80th birthday.

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The gala concert dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the People’s Artist of the Republic of Armenia, holder of the Order of Mesrop Mashtots, composer Robert Amirkhanyan was organized with the support of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Armenia and at the initiative of the National Center for Chamber Music.

The famous composer was born in 1939. He graduated from the Yerevan State Conservatory after Komitas, class of Eduard Mirzoyan. He is a professor at the Yerevan State Conservatory after Komitas. In 1991-2013, he was the President of the Union of Composers of Armenia. He has authored several hundred songs, operettas, the first Armenian musical, entitled “The Oriental Dentist.” He wrote music for 16 feature films and about 30 animated films. He is also the author of many popular and favorite musical works. In 2012, he was awarded the State Prize of the Republic of Armenia for his Yerevan Rhapsody.