Dikran Chukhajian’s “Garine” Opera buff presented at AGBU Cairo

01 October, 2011

AGBU Cairo presented and screened the DVD of Jirair Papasian’s “Opera Buff” version of Dikran Chukhajian’s “Gariné” at its Chaker Cultural Centre last Saturday 1st October 2011, with the presence of around 40 people who had come to appreciate Chukhajian’s Masterpiece and also to appreciate Papasian’s hard work in bringing to light this long lost “Magnum Opus” of Armenian classics.

The evening started with a presentation; by Jirair Papasian, the artistic director of the Dikran Tchouhadjian Research Center of Paris, about the making of the Operette and the hard road of finding the notes and finalizing this version of this great work of art.

Chukhajian’s “Gariné” operetta, originally called “Leblebiji Horhor Agha,” was written in 1875 in Turkish, and quickly became a hit. Chukhajian used the urban and folk melodies of his time in the framework of a comic operetta. The setting was in the harem of Prince Khurshid Bey, in the 18th century. The prince fell in love with young Fatime, whose father, Horhor Agha, was a poor chickpea seller. He wanted to save his daughter from what he thought was a kidnapping, but his daughter was actually in love with Khurshid.

The operetta was translated into Armenian while Chukhajian was still alive, and in the 20th century it was translated into Greek and German. In the 1940s, it was performed in Soviet Armenia under the new title “Gariné.”. In 1967 the Armenian version was made into a film. It was still set in Istanbul, but the harem story was changed.

While Chukhajian’s original score has been lost, Papazian discovered scores in Paris in French translation that were intended for a French production that never occurred. After this discovery, and through lots of detective work, Papazian was able to use the various versions to make his own revisions for a new Western Armenian script. He changed the figure of the father from a poor vendor into a rich man, changing also the development of the love story to allow for a livelier plot. Gariné gradually falls in love with Armen, a young intellectual who returns from his studies in Venice and establishes the theatre company in which Gariné performs.

After creating a new Western Armenian version, with a revised script, Papazian translated the operetta into French and English. The French version was staged in Paris and Marseille earlier this year by a company of 40 actors (including Jirair Papazian as the father, Horhor Agha), singers, dancers and musicians to critical acclaim.

The version which was projected by AGBU Cairo was the French two-hour version with Armenian subtitles. A light cocktail was served at the intermission.

Source: Website of AGBU Egypt

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