About Me
Arthur Meschian, one of the greatest Armenian musicians, artists and poets. Most of us still hold the memories of those sporadic live records of Meschian and "Apostles" in 60's and 70's with lots of background echoes. Starting off as three students at Yerevan Politechnic Institute, "Apostles" quickly raised to become the voice of the generation with their unprecedented amalgamation of Armenian folk classics and modern. Those were the 60's, time of stagnation and Soviet censure. The voice of "Apostles" like many around was heavily muffled and even banned. By the end of 80's "the iron curtain" fell and the underground movement came out of the basements. "Apostles" did not play together anymore, but Meschian was still performing in the US where he moved with his family. Next was a letter from my family in 1995, who managed to establish a good friendship with Meschian in Yerevan during one of his visits. "We've met Arthur only a week ago, but seems like we've known him for ages. He definitely is out of this world", the letter said. I guess there are people, who can not only live happily, but spread happiness all around. This is also some kind of an art to me, no less important than song-writing. This is dedicated to Meschian the artist,the poet, and most importantly, Meschian the person.
Arthur (Artashes) Meschian (Armenian: ?????? ???????, born March 3, 1949, Yerevan) is an Armenian rock musician, singer, composer, artist and architect. He is also known as one of the founders of Armenian rock[1]. He is the co-author of different architectural projects included Zvartnots Airport and the new building of Matenadaran in Armenia.Meschian was the leader of the "Apostles" (Arakyalner), an Armenian underground rock-band in the 1960-70's that become the "voice of the generation" during the period of stagnation and Soviet censure[2]. Three students of the Yerevan State Politechnic Institute were singing about pain and sorrow (they used the lyrics written by Moushegh Ishkhan and Meschian). General themes in the songs included the philosophy of life's meaning, pain and mercy or joy and pride.In 1976 "Apostles" were banned by Soviet censorship, by the end of the 80's, the "iron curtain" fell and Meschian moved to the USA with his family. He formed the "Arakyalner-90" band and recorded four studio albums featuring both old works from "Apostles" and new songs."Catharsis" was very popular with some of the best-known old songs such as "Song of conscience", "Steps", "I used to know", "With the pain of the world" and "Where were you, God?" . In 1997 he returned to Armenia and become the Chief architect of Yerevan, then he came back to Boston, and started working as an architect there.Since 2006 he lives in Armenia and is a concerting musician now. "If we lose the light of art, the darkness will drive us crazy...", says Arthur Meschian.
