Demirchyan Arena or simply HAMALIR

     On 3 December 2011, the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2011 will be held in the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex , also known as Demirchyan Arena, Sports & Music Complex, SCC or simply Hamalir.

          The SCC was put in commission in 1983. Later it was named after Karen Demirchyan. The projecting of the building was made by the «Armstateproject» and by the USSR National architect Korjun Akopyan, the ASSR National architect Arthur Tarhanyan, the ASSR Honoured architects Hrachya Pogosyan, Spartak Khachikyan, Gurgen Mushegyan, engineers Igor Tsaturyan, Grigor Azizyan, Mikael Aharonyan, sculptor Ferdinant Arakelyan in particular. In 1987 this group has been awarded the higher prize of the country – the State award of USSR for the original architecture and planning solutions.

       The complex has a unique design, an outside view of the whole construction reminds the shape a big bird opening its wings. Its architectural concepts include a turning tribune seating 1200, which can rapidly connect the two big halls to reveal additional seating. The sports-concert complex is a wonderful architectural construction which is in the centre of park Tsitsernakaberd. SCC is an embodiment of human dream and imagination. Complex possibilities are diverse, and the quantity of given services grows every day. 

         According to the decision of the Armenian government the sport concert complex was sold to Russian company«BAMO». The company has invested more than 40 milion for the reconstruction, repair and equipment of the complex. Thanks to the repair works and reconstruction the complex was equipped and supplied with modern security, heating, ventilation, communication, audio and video systems. Today the SCC, reconstructed, completely repaired and equipped wth modern techniques offers various kinds of entertainment: concerts, shows, sport championships, scientific meetings, exhibitions, conferences and meetings. 

           Famous artists such as Michel Legrand, Demis Rusos, the «La Scala» theatre symphonic orchestra, Tomas Anders, Bonnie M and Jean Gillan have performed on the stage of SCC. Here were held the international Olympic Chess Games, the European championship of ushu, the Armenian basketball games, the international sports struggle, boxing, weightlifting, art gymnastics and acrobatics tournaments and championships. 

P.S. thanks K. Khontyan for pictures

Our team

I think it's time to introduce our Volunteering team! 

Ani Shahoyan-Announcer

Andranik Shirinyan-Announcer

Karen Khontyan-Cameraman+ Photographer

Tatev Gyulmisaryan-Cameraman’s assistant

Marine Aghasian-volunteer

Saten Hakobyan-volunteer

Tolik Chernyaev-volunteer

Nina Seyranyan-volunteer

Lusine Shahoyan-volunteer

Vardges Shahmenendyan-volunteer

Arevik Mirzabekyan-blogger

The place of JESC 2011

            This year JESC will be held in Yerevan, Armenia. But what you know about this country? So I'll  introduce you my country step by step. And the first step will be the History.

            Armenian history is very long and full of events.Besides, it is interesting and emotionally rich.. Because of all these  let's study the history of Armenia by periods since ancient times.

Ancient Armenia (3500 BC - 520 BC)

 

Armenia is one of the oldest countries in the world with a recorded history of about 3500 years. The oldest known ancestors of modern Armenians, the Hayasa-Azzi tribes, also known as Proto-Armenians, were indigenous to the Armenian Highland in Eastern Anatolia. These tribes formed the Nairi tribal union, which existed until late 13th century BC. The legendary forefather of Armenians, Hayk, famous for his battles with Babylonian ruler Bel, most likely was one of the Hayasa tribal leaders. The words 'Nairi' and 'Nairian' are still used by Armenians as poetic synonyms of the words 'Armenia' and 'Armenian'.

At the end of the second millennium BC, another Indo-European ethnic group, closely related to Thracians and Phrygians and referred to by the Greeks as Armens, migrated to the Armenian Highland from Northern Balkans. According to a Greek myth, which actually reflects this tribal migration, the forefather of Armenians - Armenios - was one of the Argonauts, accompanying Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece. In the year 1115 BC, king Tiglath Pileser I of Assyria reports a battle with a force of 20,000 Armens in the Gadmokh province of Assyria.

The mixture of Armens with the indigenous Hayasa eventually produced the Armenian people as it is known today. The existence of two major segments in the Armenian people is best of all illustrated by the fact that Armenians call themselves "Hay" and their country "Hayastan" after Hayasa, while other peoples call them Armenians and their country Armenia after the Armens. The Armenian language is basically the language of Armens, which is the only survivor of the now extinct Thraco-Phrygian group. It incorporated a large number of Hayasa words and grammatical features, as well as a significant number of non-Indo-European words from minor ethnic groups, which also took part in the ethnogenesis of Armenians.

The first significant state of the Armenian Highland was the highly advanced Kingdom of Ararat (with the capital in Tushpa, today's Van), better known under its Assyrian name Urartu (Ararat). This state was formed in the XI century BC and existed until VII century BC. Although populated mostly by Armenians, Urartu was ruled (at least during the first centuries) by a non-Armenian and non-Indo-European dynasty. In 782 BC the Urartian king Argishti I founded the fortified city of Erebuni, which is today's Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. Another major city in the Valley of Ararat was Argishti-khinili, also founded by Argishti I in the year 775 BC.

In the late VII century BC Urartu, weakened by Scythian invasions, fell, but after several decades was revived under the Armenian Yervanduni (the Orontides) dynasty with the capital in Armavir, former Argishti-khinili. The revived kingdom was already called Armenia by its neighbours, but in some languages the older name, Urartu, was still in use. In the famous tri-lingual Behistun inscription of Persian king Darius the Great (522-486) the same country is referred to as 'Armenia' in the Persian and Elamite versions, and 'Urartu' in the Akkadian version.

Artashisian dynasty, First Armenian Kingdom

 

Armenia under the Yervanduni dynasty soon became a satrapy of the mighty Achemenide Persia, and later part of the Seleucid Empire. It restored its full independence in 190 BC under the king Artashes I, founder of the Artashesian dynasty (the Artaxiads).

The kingdom started to expand and reached its peak during the reign of Tigran II, also called Tigran the Great (95-55 BC). Under Tigran, Armenia ascended to a pinnacle of power unique in its history and became the strongest state in Asia Minor. Extensive territories were taken from Parthia, which was compelled to sign a treaty of alliance. Iberia (Georgia), Caucasian Albania, and Atropatene had already accepted Tigran' suzerainty when the Syrians offered him their crown (83 BC). Tigran penetrated as far south as Ptolemais (modern Akko in Israel). As a result, the empire of Tigran II stretched from the Caspian Sea in the East to the Mediterranean Sea in West, and from Mesopotamia in the South to the river Kura in North. Political strengthening and territorial expansion of Armenia was accompanied also by unprecedented cultural development, with rich cultural heritage of Urartu intermixing with Hellenistic features. As a result Armenia during the Artashesian period became one of the most Hellenized and culturally advanced countries of Asia Minor.

After the death of Tigran II, Armenia was reduced back to its ethnic Armenian territory and found itself in the middle of a long war campaign between Rome and Persia, with each superpower trying to have Armenia as its ally, as the military assistance with Armenia was crucial for gaining political superiority in Asia Minor. 

Arshakunian dynasty, Second Armenian Kingdom

 

In the middle of the I century AD a new royal dynasty - the Arshakuni (the Arsacids) - was established in Armenia. This dynasty was related to the royal family of Persia, which bared the same family name. At this period Armenia and Persia enjoyed a long period of peace and cooperation, until in 251 AD the Sassanid dynasty came to power in Persia. Regarding Armenia as the ally of the overthrown dynasty, the Sassanids adopted anti-Armenian policy, trying to eliminate the Armenian state and to assimilate the Armenian nation. Since the Armenian religion of that period bared similarities to both Zoroastrianism and Greco-Roman polytheism, in the realization of their anti-Armenian policy the Sassanids were trying to capitalize on the religious closeness. In order to deprive the Persians of this advantage, the Armenian king Trdat III in 301 AD declared Christianity the state religion of Armenia, thus making Armenia the first Christian state in the world, with Gregory the Illuminator as the first head (Catholicos) of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Christianity was officially legalized in the Roman Empire 12 years after Armenia became officially Christian.

               

Bagratunian dynasty, Third Armenian Kingdom

 

After more than two centuries of struggle with the Arab Caliphate, Armenia regained its independence in 886, and both the Caliphate and Constantinople recognized prince Ashot Bagratuni as the king of Armenia. During the rule of the Bagratuni dynasty Armenia reached its peak in political, social and cultural development. The capital of Armenia of that period, Ani, was a magnificent city, known as "a city of one thousand and one churches". The Armenian architecture of the Bagratuni period, especially the dome laying techniques, for which Armenian architects were notorious, significantly influenced the Byzantine and European architectural styles.

At the end of the 10th century the Byzantine Empire, although ruled by an imperial dynasty of Armenian origin, adopted a near-sighted policy of weakening Armenia and eventually annexed it in 1045, thus depriving itself of an effective shield against disastrous invasion of Turkic nomads from Central Asia. 

Rubinian dynasty, Fourth Armenian Kingdom

 

Before the fall of the Bagratuni kingdom a number of Armenian princes managed to escape from Armenia and found refuge in Cilicia, a region at the north-eastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea, where Armenians were the majority of population. In 1080 their leader, prince Ruben, founded in Cilicia a new kingdom, which became known as Cilician Armenia, or Armenia Minor (Little Armenia). The new Armenian state established very close relations with European countries and played a very important role during the Crusades, providing the Christian armies a safe heaven and provision on their way towards Jerusalem. Intermarriage with European crusading families was common, and European religious, political, and cultural influence was strong. The royal court of Cilicia and the kingdom itself were reformed on Western models, and many French terms entered the Armenian language. Cilician Armenia also played an important role in the trade of the Venetians and Genoese with the East.

Enduring constant attacks by the Turks, Mongols, Egyptians and Byzantines, Cilician Armenia survived for three centuries and fell to Egyptian Mameluks in 1375. The last Armenian king of Cilicia, Levon VI Lousinian, emigrated to France, where his grave still can be seen in the St. Denis Cathedral of Paris. The title "King of Armenia" passed to the kings of Cyprus, thence to the Venetians, and was later claimed by the house of Savoy.

Restoration of Independent Armenia

 

Armenia restored its full independence on September 21, 1991, and became a member of the United Nations on March 2, 1992. On January 25, 2001, Armenia also became a member of the Council of Europe.

The Winner of JESC 2010

              Vladimir Arzumanyan was born on May 26, 1998 in Stepanakert (Nagorno Karabakh) in a family of musical teachers. He studies currently at school and attends the Lyceum of Arts or the musical studies. Vladimir also possesses the brown belt in karate and plays football.

             He sings from the age of 6, the time when his mother noticed his musical talent. The variety of songs that he performs allowed him to take part in the musical festivals and competitions both at homeland and abroad.
            The summer of 2010 was marked with the 3rd place in New Wave Junior competition and brought lots of popularity among the youngsters in Armenia. Vladimir performs songs in Armenian, Russian, English and Italian and dreams about singing a duet with his favourite singer ever Stevie Wonder. 

          Vladimir dreams about becoming a singing President of a Football Club and believes he lives in the age of "time machine" invention!

 Vladimir Arzumanyan- Mama (video)

The Winner of JESC 2009

              

               Ralf Mackenbach (born 4 October 1995 in Best, The Netherlands) is a Dutch singer, dancer and musical artist who won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Kiev, Ukraine on 21 November 2009 with 121 points with the song Click Clack which he wrote himself.

          Mackenbach has been attending Amsterdam's dancing academy Lucia Marthas since 2009. He played the little Tarzan in the musical Tarzan and Jakopje in the musical Beauty and the Beast. The official video for Click clack, shows he is left-handed. He's also born in Best, and still lives there. He's getting acting lessons at CKE (centrum voor de kunsten eindhoven) in eindhoven.

Ralf Mackenbach - Click Clack (video)

The Winner of JESC 2008

         

            Bzikebi is a musical group from Georgia consisting of a boy called Giorgi Shiolashvili and two girls named Mariam Kikuashvili and Mariam Tatulashvili, all ten years old during the contest.Giorgi likes to play the piano. He became famous after a song contest called "ANA-BANA" where from 1300 participants he was the second. Mariam started singing at the age of 5. Mariam and Giorgi became friends during "ANA-BANA" song contest. The other Mariam likes cartoons. She dreams to be famous and sing with one of Georgian famous singers!

          They won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Lemesos, Cyprus on November 22, 2008 with their song "Bzz...".During their performance they were dressed in outfits with black and yellow stripes resembling bees and they sang in a made-up language.They won the competition with a total of 154 points.

Bzikebi - Bzz... (video)

The Winner of JESC 2007

           Aliaksei was born in Minsk on the 18th April 1996. He lives in Minsk. He began to sing at the age of 5 and at 6, he entered a musical school in Minsk where he has been practicing piano. Some famous Belarusian singers were his singing instructors. At 10 Alexei began to take part in some performances of National Musical Theatre. Also Aliaksei participates in children vocal group Veryasyata.

              Since he was 9, Alexei has written songs. He is a prize-winner of several international musical contests in Belarus, Italy and Bulgaria. Aliaksei considers the Junior Eurovision Song Contest one of the most popular contests where one can prove himself and make his country proud! He participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007 and won with one point more than the Armenian runner up. He sang the song S druz'yami ("With Friends"). It was a song with a fast tempo and energetic dancing. He wrote this song himself. He was the second winner of this contest from Belarus, after Ksenia Sitnik (2005).

 Alexey Zhigalkovich - S druz'yami (video)

The Winner of JESC 2006

              Masha and Nastya Tolmachevy were born on January 14th 1997.  From the age of 6 the girls have been studying in the pop music studio "sverchok". At home, the twins started to sing at the age of 4. The musical tastes of the twins differ from each other. Masha prefers "Larisa Dolina" and "Alla Pugachova" whilst Nastya prefers "Whitney Houston" and "Sarah Connor".

             At the age of nine, they won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Bucharest, Romania, with their song Vesenniy jazz. Their song was selected from amongst the 200 singers and bands around Russia that participated in the national selection competition. They received 154 points, beating Belarus that got 129 points.

             Not long after the contest in 2007, the sisters appeared in a musical called "The kingdom of crooked mirrors".  The twins appeared in the opening act of the first semifinal of the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 on 12 May.

            The twins released an album called Polovinki in 2007, and have appeared in a made-for-TV movie in Russia.

          Sisters Tolmachevy- Vesenniy Jazz (video)

The Winner of JESC 2005

             Ksenia Sitnik was born on 15 May 1995 in the city of Mazyr, Belarus. Ksenia  has an older sister named Nastya who herself has participated in children's song competitions. Ksenia currently lives with her family in the city of Minsk, Belarus.

            She started her singing career at a very early age. She has participated in many vocal contests such as the festival Falling Stars in Nowa Ruda, Poland and The Golden Bee festival in Klimovichy, Belarus, both at the age of nine in the year 2004. Ksenia won first prize at the international children's contest at the Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk, Belarus in July 2005 and the same year also competed in The Star Light festival in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

            Ksenia Sitnik won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2005, where she represented her home country, Belarus, with the song My Vmeste. Despite the song not being particularly popular in pre-contest polls: for example, in the Europrediction poll, Ksenia came last with no points.Ksenia won, albeit narrowly - she had only three points more than the runner-up, Antonio José from Spain.

            In November, 2006 Ksenia released a CD with accompanying music book called My Vmeste ("We Are Together"). She has released three music videos: Malenkiy Korablik ("Little Ship") in 2006, Prostaya Pesenka ("Simple Song") in 2007 and, most recently, Non-stop in 2009 .

 Ksenia Sitnik - My Vmeste (video)

The Winner of JESC 2004

          Spanish child pop star Maria Isabel was born Maria Isabel López Rodriguez in Andalusia, Spain, in 1995, and took an immediate interest in both singing and dancing.

            In 2004, Maria Isabel won the 2004 Junior Eurovision Song Contest (after having won the Spanish one) with “Antes Muerta Que Sentilla,” a track that was also included in her 2005 debut album, No Me Toques las Palmas Que Me Conozco. The album did well enough in Spain to be released in Latin America, where it also found a fair amount of success. Maria Isabel began her first tour of Latin America and the United States after the album's release. Her song has become a charttopper in Argentina, Colombia, Puerto Rico and other places. In April 2005, she was interviewed on American national television for the first time, when she attended Univision's "El Gordo y La Flaca and spoke with Lily Estefan and Raul De Molina.

          Her second album is called Número 2 and includes the hit Pues Va A Ser Que No and En Mi Jardin from the Barbie movie in Spanish Barbie Y La Magia De Pegaso. Her third album Capricornio was released on November 21, 2006 and has so far been a huge success, it is a double CD which also includes a DVD with all of her videoclips and extras. Her fourth studio album, a collection of the songs used in her first movie, Ángeles SA. and the release date for one of the songs, "Cuándo No Estás", is to be confirmed. Due to management and release problems, Ángeles SA entered the Spanish charts at number 35, however in the week commencing 20/12, it has since peaked at number 11, certifying it gold.

Maria Isabel- Antes Muerta Que Sencilla (video)

The Winner of JESC 2003

                  The  winner of JESC 2003 was Dino Jelusić. who is a young Croatian singer, musician and songwriter. He was the winner of the first Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2003 (JESC), which took place in Copenhagen on November 15, 2003. Dino was born in  Požega (Slavonia), on June 4th 1992 and now lives in Zagreb with his parents, his younger sister Lorena and the toddler Bruno.

               At the JESC he sang "Ti si moja prva ljubav" ("You are my first love") and obtained 134 points. The English version of the song is titled "You Are My One and Only". The performance included playing the piano and dancing as well as singing. 

               Dino is also famous for his popular album release, mainly successful in home country, Croatia. The album, known as No.1 is popular amongst the younger people in Europe, but his success has made it even more popular. Dino is currently planning the release of his 2nd Album (August 2006)which looks to be delayed. Dino has performed since he was very young, appearing in a lot of stages and festivals from 1998. His breakthrough however, was his appearance on Croatian television's Turbo Limach show for children ("Lima,," is Zagreb youth slang for Mali - "little one"), when he was only about 7 years old. Besides his native Croatia, he has performed in cities like Cairo (Egypt), Figueira da Foz (Portugal), Alicante (Spain), Bucharest (Romania), Rimini (Italy) or Kaunas (Lithuania) before going to Copenhagen. Dino also appears frequently on Croatian radio and TV as a special guest for popular stations. 

                He has already had his first full length concert held in the Zagreb ,,alata stadium in September 2004, gathering 6000 fans. In the same year and in the beginning of 2005 he went on a multi-city tour in Australia, entertaining Croatian communities in Adelaide, Canberra, Sydney, and Brisbane. In June 2005, Dino performed as a guest star at the Langeland Music Festival in Denmark — the same country in which he had won the JESC two years earlier. 

Dino Jelusić -Ti Si Moja Prva Ljubav (video)

The LOGOs of JESC

2003

2004

2005

 

2006

 

 

2007

2008

2009

2010

The History of Junior Eurovision Song Contest

        The Junior Eurovision Song Contest is a contest held annually for children aged between 10 and 15 (8 and 15 between 2003 and 2006). But how did the JESC start??

         The origins of the contest date back to 2000 when DR(first name-Danmarks Radio) held a song contest for Danish children that year and the following year. The idea was extended to a Scandinavian song festival in 2002, with Denmark, Norway and Sweden as participants. The EBU picked up the idea for a song contest featuring children and opened the competition to all EBU member broadcasters making it a pan-European event. The working title of the programme was "Eurovision Song Contest for Children",branded with the name of the EBU's already popular song competition, the Eurovision Song Contest. Denmark was asked to host the first programme after their experience with their own contests.

      After a successful first contest, the second faced several location problems. The event originally should have been organised by British broadcaster ITV in Manchester. ITV then announced that due to financial and scheduling reasons, the contest would not take place in the United Kingdom after all. stepped in to host the contest in The EBU approached Croatian broadcaster HRT, who had won the previous contest, to stage the event in Zagreb;though it later emerged that HRT had 'forgotten' to book the venue in which the contest would have taken place.It was at this point, with five months remaining until the event would be held, that Norwegian broadcaster NRK Lillehammer.