Your Namak for Friday, January 14
Three Armenian soldiers killed in border attack, Azerbaijani military opens fire on Nagorno-Karabakh villages and Armenian POWs detail torture on religious grounds.
Hi there, here’s your weekly briefing of Armenian news in English, curated, reported and fact-checked by journalists Astrig Agopian and Maral Tavitian.
Three Armenian Servicemen Killed in Gegharkunik
On December 11, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces opened fire on military positions in Armenia’s eastern Gegharkunik region, killing three Armenian servicemen and wounding two others. The attack occurred within the immediate vicinity of four villages, and by the late evening the situation at the border had stabilized.
Armenian POWs Share Accounts of Torture on Religious Grounds
The Human Rights Defender of Armenia detailed new revelations of religiously motivated torture directed at Armenian prisoners of war in Azerbaijani captivity. In a statement, Arman Tatoyan shared firsthand accounts of Armenian POWs subjected to inhumane treatment on the basis of their faith. In one case, Azerbaijani servicemen demanded that an Armenian soldier renounce Christianity and convert to Islam. When the Armenian soldier refused to comply, his captors burned his leg and severely beat and ridiculed him. In other instances, Azerbaijani servicemen confiscated and destroyed crosses belonging to Armenian POWs. “These cases are a direct consequence of the policy of Armenophobia and enmity of the Azerbaijani authorities towards the Armenians,” Tatoyan said.
Armenian Civilian Kidnapped in Syunik
On the afternoon of January 13, Azerbaijani servicemen abducted an Armenian shepherd in Armenia’s southernmost Syunik region and stole around 400 of his sheep. The civilian was later returned to the Armenian side through the mediation of the Russian peacekeeping forces. The Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan said the incident proved that Azerbaijani military posts should not be located near civilian villages.
Azerbaijani Military Opens Fire on Nagorno-Karabakh Villages
On January 10, Azerbaijani servicemen opened fire on three communities in the Martuni and Askeran regions of Nagorno-Karabakh. According to a statement published on Twitter by Gegham Stepanyan, the Human Rights Ombudsman of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), the shootings occurred within close range of a kindergarten from which children were evacuated. A civilian vehicle was also set on fire and a cow was injured in the incident. “These incidents and numerous similar cases registered last year clearly show that under the veil of false peace-loving, Azerbaijan continues to advance the plans of eviction of Armenians from Artsakh, keeping in constant fear the civilian population of Artsakh,” Stepanyan said.
Krista Marina Apardian: Meet an Armenian-American singer who fuses R&B, pop and Middle Eastern soul
“Part of being Armenian is you have an extra dose of existentialism. There’s this search. Listening to Armenian music growing up felt like the search had ended.”
In an industry that forces artists to pick a niche, Krista Marina Apardian’s music defies neat categorization. That is intentional. The sounds in Krista’s songs are as varied and eclectic as the artist herself, who grew up surrounded by diverse and sometimes competing cultural influences.
The 25-year-old was raised in the surf town of Huntington Beach, California, where she learned to straddle different worlds and subcultures. The process of cultivating her Armenian identity in a community where few others shared her lived experience translated into her work.
“Being an Armenian in Orange County felt like a double life in many ways,” Krista says. “I felt like I was one way at school and another way at home, which at the time was very confusing but now I’m very thankful for it.”
From a young age, Krista gravitated to music as an outlet for self-expression. She wrote her first song when she was just seven years old, and started piano lessons around the same time. In high school, she enrolled in a performing arts program and began honing her skills before an audience.
“It was essentially like ‘School of Rock’ in real life,” Krista says, drawing a comparison to the legendary film about a substitute teacher who turns his music class into a rock band.
Krista and her peers learned how to compose original pieces and organize main stage concerts, exposing her for the first time to the mechanics of music production. This hands-on training culminated in the release of her first EP at 18 years old.
After graduating from high school, Krista spent two years at Orange Coast College, where she discovered a new talent for public speaking. She says speech and debate competitions helped refine her ability to own a stage, a craft that would later benefit her as a musician.
Krista continued her education at UCLA, studying communication and music business. Music remained a constant as she entered new chapters of life, even as she faced questions about her identity as an artist.
“Before college, I was told by a lot of people in the music industry that I looked up to, that I had to find my lane,” Krista says. “I soon realized that finding my lane doesn’t mean picking one thing. It means picking what makes you, ‘you’ and amplifying that in everything.”
For Krista, conveying her true self through her music meant highlighting her Armenian roots.
“Part of being Armenian is you have an extra dose of existentialism. There’s this search. Listening to Armenian music growing up felt like the search had ended,” she says. “It makes you feel understood and heard and felt in a way that is hard to experience, especially being diasporan in a place where there weren’t many Armenians.”
Although she says that Armenian music “will always sound like home,” Krista has put a unique twist on the nostalgic sounds that defined her upbringing. Her song “Call” combines soulful jazz with Armenian drumbeats, while “Clinckin” mixes groovy guitar and deep saxophone. Krista has created her own renditions of classics like “Ov Tu Keghetsig” and “Der Voghormya,” which she sampled with a clip of her grandmother singing the famous hymn.
“I describe what I make as R&B pop with occasional sprinkles of the Middle Eastern soul that I grew up with,” Krista says.
In 2021, the young artist challenged herself to release one new song per month. During a time still largely dictated by the pandemic and social isolation, the process brought her closer to her audience. In August, her community gathered in Los Angeles for her first concert in more than a year.
Krista’s long-term goal is to build a team around her to take her passion to the next level. But for now, she finds satisfaction in sharing herself with others through music.
“I think I have found what makes me, ‘me’ no matter what,” she says.
To read: The dream school and its first SMART Citizen, a blog post about 19-year-old Rudik Gharibyan, the first student to graduate from the Children of Armenia Fund SMART Center in Lori, who died this week while completing his military service.
To listen: Yesimur, a song by Armenia-based contemporary musician and composer Hayk Karoyi.
To admire: Live Wild, a collective of artists who embrace diverse cultural influences and media to create work around the themes of memory and identity.
That’s it for today, see you next week!
Questions? Story ideas? An urge to say barev/parev? You can send us a secure email at namaknews@protonmail.com.