VALLEY ROUNDUP : Northridge : Independence of Armenia Celebrated

The sounds of traditional Armenian music wafted over the Cal State Northridge campus Tuesday afternoon as students celebrated Armenian culture and independence.

Despite light rain, about 100 students and faculty members enjoyed performances of Armenian folk dancing and ate traditional foods. The event was organized by the Armenian Students Assn. at CSUN, which has an enrollment of about 1,500 students of Armenian descent.

“A lot of people don’t really know who Armenians are, what their food is, what their music is,” said Shake Hovsepian, 20, of Burbank. “We need events like these to remind them who we are.”

On Sept. 21, 1991, Armenia declared its independence after the Soviet Union collapsed, said Hermine Mahseredjian, a professor in CSUN’s Armenian Studies program. Armenia had been part of the USSR since 1920, she said.

After a long history of hardships, foreign conquests and genocide, Mahseredjian said, independence is very important for the Valley’s 50,000 Armenians.

In what is considered by many historians the first genocide of the 20th century, the Turkish government caused the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians in 1915. Yet during an informal poll of 100 non-Armenian CSUN students, only two knew of the genocide, said Armenian Students Assn. member Ovanes Manucharyan, 23, of Glendale.

But Tuesday’s festivities were about celebrating the joyful parts of Armenian culture. A three-piece band performed traditional music, with one man playing a duduk, a woodwind instrument made of apricot wood that looks like an oboe. People also enjoyed such typical Armenian dishes as luleh kabob, which is a combination of ground beef and lamb, and lavash bread.

“We are part of the diaspora of Armenians, but we are very active and aware of what’s going on in Armenia,” Manucharyan said. “We want to preserve and promote our culture.”