Civilnet
System of a Down's Wake Up the Souls concert in Yerevan.
On April 23, the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the rock band System of a Down performed in Armenia for the first time.
The band embarked on their “Wake Up the Souls” tour earlier this month to coincide with the centennial commemorations of the Armenian Genocide. The band’s Armenian-American members chose to conclude the tour in their homeland, where they performed in Yerevan’s Republic Square.
Thousands of fans gathered under the rain on Thursday night for the nearly two-and-a-half hour concert where the band performed 37 songs and played a mini-documentary in three parts throughout the concert that aimed to raise awareness about the Genocide and call on world leaders to recognize this crime against humanity.
The concert was live-streamed by Rolling Stone to a worldwide audience.
The band’s frontman Serj Tankian spoke about his grandparents, survivors of the Armenian genocide.
“The fact that the US government picks the wrong word to recognize what we know is genocide is not only appalling to us, its appalling to Americans,” he said.
Tankian went on to say that Armenia, as a nation of survivors, should never be a client state to Russia or any other country. “We’ve come a long way, but we still have a lot of work to do,” he added. “It is the responsibility of the Government of the Republic of Armenia to bring in the principles of egalitarian civic society, get rid of the institutional injustice abound, and stop the depopulation that is occurring.”
The band said it was its responsibility to say these things and “rock you at the same time.”
Earlier that day, Tankian gave an exclusive interview to CivilNet’s Maria Titizian.
“The Armenian Genocide and the successive U.S. administrations position on not using the word genocide made me an activist on many fronts,” he said. “Armenian Genocide awareness, recognition, the attainment of justice, and the ability to move people so that they realize that this is not a century old crime, it is happening today, is very important for me and the band.”
The four-member rock band is composed of Serj Tankian, lead singer and keyboardist, Daron Malakian, guitarist and vocalist, Shavo Odadjian, bass and backing vocalist, and John Dolmayan, drums.
The band says the “Wake Up the Souls” tour’s main objective is to create awareness and recognition of the Armenian genocide to the entire world, particularly in Turkey, where the government still does not recognize the genocide.
The band’s announcement on their website called for “the good people of conscience in Turkey to take a stand for truth and justice, and ask their President and Parliament to accept the Republic of Turkey’s moral and material responsibility for the Armenian Genocide.”
The band is set to continue touring in June, when they will play in Detroit, Toronto, Montebello (California), Rio de Janeiro, Bogota and Mexico City.
Պատմություններ
