CULTURE AND ARTS

MUSIC ‘I am returning to where my story began, I am returning home’

The Syrian singer Lena Chamamyan is one of the most popular names in music in the Middle East today. Chamamyan brought her first album out in 2006, and she mostly sings in Arabic and Armenian, blending traditional folk music with jazz. Beside pain and death, her voice and lyrics convey life and hope.
LITERATURE Time for Saroyan Library in Bitlis

A new library in Bitlis will be named after William Saroyan. Journalist Ahmet Tulgar, who came up with the idea, reports that he met with Bitlis Co-Mayor Hüseyin Olan and discussed the idea for a library.
SERGİ Diaspora Artists at Venice Biennale Armenia Pavilion

Artists elected to the National Pavilion of the Republic of Armenia at the 2015 Venice Biennale have been announced. On the occasion of the 100th commemoration of the Genocide, the Ministry of Culture of Armenia has dedicated its pavilion to the artists of the Armenian Diaspora. Sarkis, from France and Turkey, and Hera Büyüktaşçıyan, from Turkey, are among the artists elected.
ARCHITECTURE Municipality disrespects memory of ‘competent master’

The lost gravestone of Garabet Balyan, the architect of the Dolmabahçe Palace, and a member of the Balyan family praised by President Erdoğan as ‘competent masters’ of their art, was discovered at a Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality construction site in Kartal.
CULTURE AND ARTS This game says ‘not everyone in war is a soldier’

Produced by 11 bit studios and released in November 2014, This War of Mine sent shockwaves through the games market. Inspired by the 1992-96 Siege of Sarajevo, the player in This War of Mine controls a group of civilians rather than a soldier in combat, and the goal is surviving the war.