She’s Armenian adapted from She’s a maniac by Michael Sembello

Just a Christian girl living in Istanbul,

Leaving behind her entire life.

In the real time world no one sees her at all,

They all think she’s fakin’.

Takin’ the silver and leavin’ the rest,

Set to flee into the night.

She has danced into the danger zone,

Where minority’s never right.

She can picture the future,

When Armenians take the stage,

Like Agassi, Aznavour, and Cher.

She’s Armenian, Armenian on the run,

And she’s fleeing but the flight has just begun.

She’s Armenian, Armenian on the run,

And she’ll fight ‘til the Hayastantsi are one.

Because the minority is something 

Too many choose not to see.

It’s a hard won place of tragedy, 

Touch it, but can’t hold it.

You run all your life from that moment in time,

It could come or pass you by.

Against the push of the Turks

There is always a chance,

If the diaspora thrives.

No retreat from recognition, 

Without conceding defeat.

She’s still a ‘hay, whether Parska- or Libana-.

She’s Armenian, Armenian on the run,

And she’s fleeing but the flight has just begun.

She’s Armenian, Armenian on the run,

And she’s fleeing but Karabagh will be won.

instrumental break

She can picture the future,

When Armenians take the stage,

With Gurdjieff, Komitas, and Atom Egoyan.

She’s Armenian, Armenian on the run,

And she’s fleeing but the fight has just begun.

She’s Armenian, Armenian on the run,

And she’ll fight until recognition is won.
 

Let’s call the whole thing off adapted from the Gershwin original

Things have come to a pretty pass,

This Cold War romance has grown old.

For you like this and the other,

While I go for these and those.

Goodness knows what the end will be.

I don’t know which side I’m on,

It looks as if we two will never be one.

Something must be done:

You say either and I say either,
You say neither and I say neither.

Either, either, Neither, neither,
Let’s call the whole thing off.

You like Nagorno and I like Karabagh,
You like Konigsberg and I like Kaliningrad.

Nagorno, Karabagh, Konigsberg, Kaliningrad,          
Let’s call the whole thing off.

But oh, if we call the whole thing off then we must part.

And oh, if we ever part, then that might break my heart.

So if you like Abkhasia and I like Georgia,
I’ll summer in Abkhazia and sell the place in Georgia.

For we know we need each other so we,
Better call the whole off off,

Let’s call the whole thing off.

You say Golestan and I say Kurdistan,
You text Aqmola and I write Astana.

Aqmola, Astana, Golestan, Kurdistan
Let’s call the whole thing off.

You skype Kosovo and I skype Kosova, then there’s the question of old Metohija.

Kosovo, Kosova, then old Metohija,
Let’s call the whole thing off.

But oh if we call the whole thing of then we must part.

And oh, if we ever part, then that might break my heart.

So if your mom’s from Macedonia and mine the Former Republic,

I’ll go home to Macedonia, forget that pesky republic.

For we know we need each other so we,
Better call the calling off off,

Let’s call the whole thing off.
 

Hymns of No Resistance: Stuck in Ossetia with you

Gold foil on canvas, hand-painted paper, mimeograph print, 31 x 43 cm, 2010

Hymns of No Resistance (Part I)


4 x 6.40 m canvas on Via Galilei, Bolzano. Parallel Events Manifesta 7, Lungomare. 2008.
Appropriating the lyrics of the classic Gershwin song, ‘Let’s call the whole thing off,’ Slavs and Tatars proposes a re-reading of the comic track, sung by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Shall We Dance?. Here, the contention focuses not on  seemingly innocent words such as ‘tomato’ or ‘banana’, but rather on terminology that touches the very issues preoccupying Europeans today: immigration, identity, self-determination. In an area that has its share of experience dealing with such polemics, South Tyrol is an ideal setting for a public celebration of contention, as opposed to the often consensual approach advocated by those in power.