Sasha Oganezashvili’s memory was honored at "Hayartun" Center of Armenian Diocese in Georgia

On December 1, 2024, at the "Hayartun" Center of the Armenian Diocese in Georgia, at the initiative of the Union of Armenian Intellectuals of Georgia (chairman: historian Yenok Tadevosyan), the "Our Great Figures" series of events was launched, the first of which was dedicated to the memory of the famous Armenian musician, kamancha player, and poet Sasha Oganezashvili (Alexander Ohanyan), who is buried in Pantheon of the Armenian Writers and Public Figures "Khojivank" in Tbilisi.

A memorial service was held at the gravesite of Sasha Oganezashvili, under the leadership of His Grace Bishop Kirakos Davtyan, Primate of the Armenian Diocese in Georgia. Those present laid flowers on the tombstone of the distinguished Armenian.

The event continued at the “Hayartun” Center with the screening of a film dedicated to Sasha Oganezashvili, one of the 20 documentary films provided to the Diocese by the "Grand Candy" company, with the support and intervention of the Primate of the Armenian Diocese in Georgia. The film was attended by His Grace Bishop Kirakos Davtyan, Primate of the Armenian Diocese in Georgia, RA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Georgia Ashot Smbatyan, and the granddaughter of Sasha Oganezashvili's aunt, Karmen Bagdasarova.

The film was deeply compelling and moving. Sasha, who lost his mother at a young age, became a self-taught musician, bound to the kamancha by the endless strings of his soul, expressing his emotions through the strings of this powerful instrument. Through continuous experimentation, the talented kamancha player enhances the instrument, conveying it from a three-stringed instrument to a unique four-stringed one. Later, Sasha Oganezashvili opened the Faculty of Oriental Music at the Yerevan State Conservatory and became the founder and first director of the conservatory in Baku.

The emotional melodies of the kamancha were performed live by Milena Movsisyan and Sargis Serobyan, third-year students of the kamancha class of the Yerevan Romanos Melikyan Music College, who arrived at the special invitation of the Diocese. Performances were accompanied by Arman Papikyan, a dhol player from the "Hayartun" Center.

In his speech of appreciation and blessing, His Grace Bishop Kirakos Davtyan, Primate of the Armenian Diocese in Georgia highly appreciated the efforts of Yenok Tadevosyan and all the organizers, highlighted the importance of informing the younger generation about the honorable sons of the nation through the "Our Great Figures" series and of preserving the memory of the Armenians with reverence and passing it on to future generations. The Diocesan Primate extended his blessing to the student kamancha players who have arrived from Yerevan.

RA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Georgia Ashot Smbatyan also delivered a speech of appreciation.

Indeed, the event became a beautiful chapter in the history of the "Hayartun" Center of the Armenian Diocese in Georgia (director: Eugenia Markosyan).