Anna Khachatryan: Why can we sing about Mush and Sasun but not about Shushi?
ABC Interview’s guest was singer Anna Khachatryan. We talked with Anna about the current situation in the music industry and the path Anna has treaded.
– Do you have a character trait that disturbs you?
– Yes, I have a character trait that has always disturbed me; it’s my being straightforward… I say what I think. Many people don’t like me because of that.
– Do you have a song that was written based on your life story?
– All the songs I have written have been based on my feelings. Let’s say, at a certain period, I felt sad or abandoned for some reason—not necessarily by someone—and I wrote such a song. All kinds of works must have an emotional background; if a composer just sits down and writes something, no one will be moved.
– Anna, do you think the peak of your career is already in the past, or will you scale new heights in the future?
– One of my career peaks is already in the past. There have been peaks of different types and quality. I cannot predict whether I will have new ones or not, but I can say that the path of singers is unpredictable.
– You have the song “Shushi”, which proved pretty popular with the public. What emotions do you experience now when you sing that song?
– I don’t sing that song now. I have never performed it live. Even the recording process was incredibly difficult… In general, I enter the studio, and leave it after one or two takes. In the case of the song “Shushi” it was a long story, because my voice was stuck in my throat, and I couldn’t sing…
The song met with a barrage of criticism after its release. People said, “Why did you take that difficult topic?” All our lives, we have sung “Mush and Sasun, the pride of Armenians”. Why can we sing about Mush and Sasun but not about Shushi? Is it because we didn’t lose Mush and Sasun in our times, but we lost Shushi in the time of our existence? Does it mean that that loss does not hurt you, but this one hurts you?. I cannot understand that logic.
– Is it easy to be born in a family of a doctor and become a singer?
– It is my father’s fault that I didn’t become a doctor, because he said, “If you have decided to sing, you don’t have to memorize anatomy atlases.” Now I regret that I did not become a doctor as I used to study chemistry and biology.
– We can also say that if your father is a doctor of the body, you are a doctor of the soul.
– Yes, maybe I can console myself that way (laughs).
– Anna, have you ever thought about what your future family will be like? Will it be like your current family?
– My thoughts now are whether I will have that family. I have become a bit more demanding in this matter. I cannot reconcile myself to many things; even little things have started to get on my nerves. I am now happy alone and focus upon my work. I’m experiencing such a period in my life that I don’t want anyone to be next to me, but I think that a man should first be a man in the broadest sense of the word. I should feel like a woman next to that man. I am ready to bear hardships, but I should feel that it is he who is the man between us.
Interview by Lena Gevorgyan
