Motherթ§Չ-Չ§s Treasured Song & Fatherթ§Չ-Չ§s Beloved Mansion
By Professor Khatchatur I. Pilikian
THE DREAM
I would like to share with you this magnificent Armenian song, (live performance recording here below) titled: YERAZ (Dream) թ§Չ-Չ a most treasured song of the Armenian students in foreign lands, during the second half of the 19th century, dreaming of home, mother and motherland.
I first heard this song as a child from my mother,Tefarik, born in Khaskal-Izmit (Nicomedia), who had survived the genocide and lived as a child with her mother. Her father Hagop was dragged to serve the Ottoman army as hard labourer (amele tabourou) in Jerusalem. Knitting to survive with her mother in Thessalonica, my mother was թ§Չ-խfoundթ§Չ-Չ§ by my father when she was in her twenties. My father, Vahan/Israel, born also in Khaskal, survived the Der el Zor hell on earth in the Syrian desert. Orphanaged in Baghdad, he decided to find his childhood beloved come rain or sunshine. He did. They stayed together for over 65 years -now buried together in London (father 95, mother 87). Both parents had very beautiful voices թ§Չ-Չ I have learned many songs first from them. I remember vividly my fatherթ§Չ-Չ§s singing to raise funds for the families of the Armenian soldiers fighting against the Nazisթ§Չ-Թ»
Here is the poem in English. THE DREAM
Poem by Smpad Shahaziz (1840-1897) Translated by Zabelle Boyajian (1872-1957
Soft and low a voice breathed oթ§Չ-Չ§er me,
Near me did my mother seem;
Flashed a ray of joy before me,
But, alas, it was a dream!
There the murmuring streamlet flowing
Scattered radiant pearls around,
Pure and clear, like crystal glowingթ§Չ-Չ
But it was a dream, unsound.
To her heart she pressed me yearning,
Wiped my eyes which wet did seem;
And her tears fell on me burningթ§Չ-Չ
Why should it have been a dream?
թ§Չ-Չթ§Չ-Չթ§Չ-Չթ§Չ-Չթ§Չ-Չթ§Չ-Չթ§Չ-Չթ§Չ-Չթ§Չ-Չթ§Չ-Չթ§Չ-Չթ§Չ-Չթ§Չ-Չթ§Չ-Չթ§Չ-Չթ§Չ-Չթ§Չ-Չթ§Չ-Չթ§Չ-Չթ§Չ-Չթ§Չ-Չթ§Չ-Չթ§Չ-Չ
Yeraz (Dream): performed by Khatchatur I. Pilikian (tenor) and Sona Kupelian (piano).
Recorded in February 1985, Beirut, in Pilikianթ§Չ-Չ§s vocal recital of Fifteen Centuries of Armenian Song.
Click on the this link to listen to the song
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THE MANSION ON THE HILL
թԹ  |
As a child of ten, my father Israel-Vahan Pilikian had թ§Չ-ժhelpedթ§Չ-Թ his own father Hovhanness, a master builder, to build the new family house his father designed and planned, in their home village, Khaskal, during 1912-1913. The village, mostly inhabited by Armenians numbering ca. a thousand, was not far away from the celebrated Armenian Monastery of Armash, in Izmit (ancient Nicomedia). After the large and extended Pilikian family was driven away from the new paternal home, the enormous three story wooden building was confiscated by an officer of the Central Powers and used as army barracks. Surviving the bombardments of the Allied Powers, the Pilikian mansion was subsequently occupied by the Kemalist forces of nationalist uprising |
After the Great War, having survived the Genocide of the Armenians (1914-1918), Israel-Vahan, a teenager in a Baghdad orphanage in 1919, decides to go back and find his paternal home in Khaskal. Accompanied by his eldest, surviving sister Srbuhi and her husband, they start their odyssey travelling through deserts, hills and valleys, pastures and sea (reversing their march of death), finally reaching their destination.
They reclaim their paternal home, albeit derelict and completely depleted of household furniture and all. After a few months of sustained and determined efforts of survival, their mansion too breathes new life. But the atmosphere of fear, rekindled by ultra nationalism, poisons the life of those groups who dared outlive the Genocide. To continue surviving, my father and his sisterթ§Չ-Չ§s family had to leave their paternal home yet again. But not before procuring a photo-memento (taken by a soldier of the retreating Greek armies), of their beloved mansionթ§Չ-Չa թ§Չ-ժmiraculousթ§Չ-Թ feat, indeed.
During the summer of 1963, Israel-Vahan Pilikian, then 60 and a father of a large family with five children residing in Beirut, Lebanon, revisited his birthplace in Khaskal. No traces of the house were found. There the locals told him, that թ§Չ-խthat impressive mansion on the hillթ§Չ-Չ§ was finally burned down during the nationalist upheavalsթ§Չ-Թ»
Based on that թ§Չ-ժmiraculousթ§Չ-Թ photograph of 1920, I sketched with pastel-crayons, on January 13th, 1957, an enlarged (cm. 61.5 x 46.5) picture of our ancestral թ§Չ-խmansion on the hillթ§Չ-Չ§ in Khaskal.
Khaskal, meaning թ§Չ-ժgood-fieldsթ§Չ-Թ, was the name of the original ancient village in Agn, in Historical Armenia (Egin, now Kemaliye, in Turkey). The Armenian inhabitants of the region were mostly descendants of Ani, the ancient capital of Armenia captured by the Mongol invaders in 1236. The Aniites having become Agnites for three centuries, were uprooted anew, this time by the Ottoman Turks, during the 16th century, hence the name, Khaskal, given by the Armenian immigrants from Agn to their new settlement in Nicomedia-Izmit. The new Khaskal proved worthy of its name. It was the թ§Չ-խParadiseթ§Չ-Չ§ of the region, especially for the pilgrims of the Monastery of Armash. (S. M. Dzotsikian, Arevmdahay Ashkharh [Western-Armenian World], New York: Dzotsikian Jubilee Committee, 1947, p.484.). Centuries passed, then most of the Khaskalites were uprooted yet again, this time to become victims of the թ§Չ-խfirst final solutionթ§Չ-Չ§ of the 20th centuryթ§Չ-ՉThe Genocide of the Armenians.
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