The Silicon Valley, the Armenian Pop Star and her US Tour
By Paul Chaderjian
August 25, 2002
(Irvine) - Onnig Zerounian dreams big. Call him a visionary, an entrepreneur, a dreamer. Zerounian thinks big, and he has a keen sense of success. These days, aside from planning when he'll see Armenia's most successful pop star perform in the US, he is thinking about the possibility of a "Silicon Valley East" in Armenia.
As much as Zerounian likes the idea of Nune -- a 21st century Armenian minstrel, who travels the globe and sings her people's music the masses -- he is equally enamored with the idea of a bustling, 21st century industrial region near Yerevan. Silicon Valley East would eventually be home to a dynamic cluster of internationally competitive businesses, manufacturing electronic boards, computers, conductors, hardware and software.
When Zerounian was invited by the Armenian government to bring his ideas and proven business practices to the homeland, he accepted. As owner of the respected and well-known Southern California-based Irvine Electronics company, Zerounian was eager to discuss the idea of creating an industrial park in Yerevan, a place where hundreds of natives would find employment and opportunity.
Once they arrived in Yerevan, Zerounian and his wife Jane heard the buzz on the street and news in the media about Nune's concerts dedicated to the US. Zerounian had seen Nune in perform two years ago in the US, and he wanted to see her again in Armenia.
"We heard it was going to be a spectacular concert," says Zerounian. "Five hundred people involved. A spectacular musical production, and we wanted to see it. We wanted to see her in her own environment in Armenia."
But the task of finding tickets to one of the two concerts on May 24 and May 25th turned out to be more impossible than possible. Short of paying scalpers and black marketers hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars, Zerounian realized as soon as he started looking for tickets, that those who had tickets were not so willing to give them up.
"I contacted friends and relatives," says Zerounian, "and all of them said the tickets were sold out. What made missing the concerts more regretful for Zerounian and others was seeing reports of the musical production on the CNN World Report and reading the raving reviews in print media.
"Armenia had never seen a musical production or a concert like," says publicist Houri Vartanian. "All standards set previously by concerts and musicals in Yerevan were shattered. No one had seen anything this big, and it's doubtful anyone other than Nune could have pulled it off."
The concerts at the Hamaleer combined songs from Nune's six albums to tell the story of a people whose daily lives are shattered by an attack from the enemy. Through theatrical, lighting, sound techniques used on Broadway and choreography and musical numbers resembling shows in Vegas, concert goers experienced village life, saw heroism and courage and watched the story of Armenia unfold on stage at the Hamaleer Stadium.
"Nune's performance, the way she sings the national songs are just marvelous," said Svetlana Mikaelova. "Her songs make my hair tingle. I am so excited," she said with tears in her eyes. "It is not Nune but her soul that sings."
"It was a very beautiful concert, I was astounded by Nune's performance", said Edele Hovnanian from New York. Many in the audience were so moved by the Hamalir musical concert that they stood up to applaud Nune after the 90 minute show.
News of Nune's North American tour have made Zerounian a happy man. While he dreams of the possible and probably Silicon Valley East, he is determined not to miss Nune in the US.
"I wouldn't miss it," says Zerounian. "Last time at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, we were overwhelmed. We felt it right on our skin, right in the heart. She raised our spirits."
Nune will appear at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on September 22, in Chicago on September 28th, Detroit on September 29th, Washington DC on October 5th, Boston on October 6th, and in Montreal and Toronto on October 12th and 13th.
