Polonia Global Fund

Chookasian: Armenia’s National Gold Medal Award Recipients

A program of traditional songs and dances of Eastern & Western Armenia performed on native folk instruments of Armenia

Saturday, September 29 ~ 8pm at The Egg / Sawyer Theater, 1 Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY

Master of Ceremonies: Mayor Harry J. Tutunjian, City of Troy

Tickets are $22 each and can be obtained by contacting the Box Office at (518) 473-1845.

The Mayor of the City of Troy, Harry J. Tutunjian, will host the Chookasian Armenian Concert Ensemble program at “The Egg” in Albany, NY.

Mayor Tutunjian is lending his full support to assist in spreading the news about traditional Armenian music and culture by accepting to be the “Master of Ceremonies” at the famous Egg Center for the Performing Arts in Albany for this auspicious Armenian cultural concert event.

The international award-winning Chookasian Armenian Concert Ensemble will be making several rare and highly anticipated appearances on the East Coast from in September and October. These unique and cultural concerts are a “must-see” for all music lovers.

This acclaimed group is comprised of the finest conservatory musicians from Armenia and the United States. A number of select East Coast cities, including Albany, will have the rare opportunity of hearing these modern day minstrels perform on ancient traditional instruments that have been used for centuries in Armenian music.

Over the past thirteen years, the Chookasian Armenian Concert Ensemble has received numerous honors and awards including the prestigious national “Gold Medal Award” of Armenia from Armenian President, Mr. Robert Kocharian, after the completion of a one month concert tour of the Armenian cities in Yerevan’s Philharmonic Hall to an audience of 3,000+ people.

Their latest CD “Passage to Armenia” won first place as the “Best Traditional World Music Album” in the “Independent Music Awards” of 2006, from thousands of submissions from around the world. Also, their “Passage to Armenia” CD album, its photo of the album, and IMA Award was placed in the centerfold of The Musicians Atlas of 2006.

At Californian State University, PBS station, KVPT Fresno Channel 18, came and filmed the traditional Armenian concert program for over two hours. Each time PBS broadcasted the concert, over two million people had access to view it.

The Ensemble’s roster of musicians and instrumentation features: Fresnan, John Chookasian, Director and premier clarinetist; Barbara Chookasian, principal vocalist; Vergine Alimian, ‘Kanun’ (72 stringed lap harp); Valod Grigorian, ‘Kemenche’ (4 stringed folk violin); Andranik Mouradian, ‘Keyboards’; Garen Sarkissian, ‘Shvi’ (high pitched, piccolo-like flute); John Tarpinian, ‘Oud’ (11 stringed fretless lute); Albert Vardanian, ‘Duduk’ & ‘Zurna’ (Armenian folk flutes); and Jirair Vaganian, ‘D’hol’ & ‘Dumbeg’ (hand drums).

If you love world music and are interested in ancient musical treasures, rare ethnic songs, and the instruments of the ‘Silk Road,’ don’t miss this experience!! The general public is cordially invited to hear this extraordinary musical event.

Friend and occasional correspondent, Dr. Felipe Korzenny announces: Multicultural Marketing Survey Released

The latest report by the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication, developed by the eminent authoring team of Doctors Felipe and Betty Ann Korzenny, has just been published.

If you are marketing your products or services to Hispanic markets, I strongly urge you to follow the link above to see how the latest media usage trends among various Hispanic niches will impact your marketing planning and effectiveness.

From friend Martha E. Galindo of Galindo Publicidad (whose translation services are excellent).

Immigrant communities in the United States have made choices that native communities do not have to make. Making these choices – to leave one’s native country and begin anew in a new land is wrenching and difficult. The immigrant uproots him or herself with difficulty but with hope that the new circumstances will outweigh the losses of the old. He or she knows very well the many benefits the United States, unique in its values and aspirations, offers to the newcomer who, in many ways, appreciates those qualities and opportunities more than the native-born.

At the same time the immigrant clings emotionally to many characteristics of his or her native land – language, foods, scents, landscape, entertainments, and holidays – things that traditionally were sources of satisfaction, community, pride, solace or joy. Melding the old with the new does not discard one for the other but blends both into something entirely new. It is a cumulative process.

The United States from its very beginning has been a nation of immigrants. The most fundamental values cherished by its earliest immigrants are embedded in the Constitution and The Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal …” – all the same before the law. (By the way – immediate translation of the Declaration was seen as a must for the benefit of the German community in Philadelphia.)

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are aspirations of every human being. All of us, some earlier, some later, are immigrants to the United States. We bring character, passions, skills and strengths with us and, too often, ignorant and despicable customs as well. Slavery made all the protestations of universal brotherhood seem nothing more than hypocritical mockery of those self-evident truths so beautifully proclaimed. But, over time, the ideals asserted themselves and the dream prevailed over savage reality.

From September 15 to October 15 we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, a time to remember and honor the valuable and joyous customs and traditions that characterize the Hispanic contribution to the United States. The job of extending and defending life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is one that Hispanic immigrants, old and new, take up with the same valor and enthusiasm of all our fellow immigrants. Democracy is also a job like housework – one that is never finished.

Invite Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest into Your High School’s English and Theater Classrooms!

Sign-Up Deadline: October 31, 2007

Register your school to participate in Poetry Out Loud! Administered by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and the New York State Alliance for Arts Education (NYSAAE) and sponsored by Time Warner Cable, Poetry Out Loud provides a new and exciting channel for learning in high school English and Theater classrooms by inviting the dynamic aspects of classic world literature and charismatic public speaking into English and theater classes. Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest was created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation to encourage high school students to read a wide range of literature, building an understanding of texts and the world around them. Poetry Out Loud also helps students to master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage. Moreover, Poetry Out Loud satisfies NCTE English Language Arts Standards.

Upon registration, teachers will receive dynamic teaching tools that will invoke students’ excitement about literature and poetry recitation, including sample lesson plans, audio CDs of poets reciting their own famous works, publicity materials for school competitions, and a DVD of winning student performances from the 2007 Poetry Out Loud National Finals.

Poetry Out Loud uses a pyramid structure that begins in the classroom. Through January 16th, classroom- and school-level competitions will take place across the state. The winners from school-level competitions will advance to regional competitions. From there, winners will go on to compete at the New York State finals, to be held in Albany, NY on March 13th (snow date March 14th).

The state-level winner will receive $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip with a chaperone to Washington, DC to participate in the National Finals in late April 2008. The winner will also receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books for his or her school library. A runner-up will receive $100, with $200 for his or her school library.

If you would like to bring Poetry Out Loud to your high school, please sign up by October 31, 2007 at the NYSAAE website.

Native Polish artist Margaret Chwialkowska is set to be featured at Agora Gallery with the opening of Beyond Borders: an Exhibition of Fine Art from Canada.

Margaret Chwialkowska’s paintings are drenched with color. Inspired by Canada’s boreal landscape, her work captures the drama of nature. She paints in the Alla Prima style using a palette knife, creating lusty sculpted scenes infused with light. Chwialkowska has a talent for nuance and balance; a thousand flecks of yellow climb the trunk of a spruce tree winding its way toward the top of the canvas, the sun casts long wavering fingers across a lake at dusk.

We would be delighted if you would join us for the opening reception, Thursday night October 4, 2007.

Exhibition Dates: September 28 – October 18, 2007
Reception: Thursday October 04, 2007 6-8pm
Gallery Hours: Tues-Sat 11-6
Gallery Location: Agora Gallery, 530 West 25th Street, Chelsea, New York 10001