Charles Aznavour's “Children of this War” will be presented by Newmag at FRANCOFEST

Charles Aznavour dedicated this song to the children of warring countries. The theme of the song is based on the memories of the Second World War. His parents helped Jewish families, hiding under their roof. “And that was a period I was greatly influenced by. Then I wrote and performed this song. This was my tribute to the people engaged in the war”.

The song premiered in 1968. Born and raised in a family of Armenian immigrants, the artist has performed many songs about human suffering and loss. “I have said everything: love, separation, children that do not exist, children of war... War is about misfortune and unfortunate events. And the title of this song, “Children of this War” best describes it”.

“Children of this War” Newmag entrusted Shushan Petrosyan, who performed the Armenian version of Aznavour’s “Take Me” in October 2021. The author of the poem and music is Aznavour, it was translated into Armenian by Berge Turabian. Newmag initiated the premiere of the song during the presentation of the book “La Bohème. Past Days”. “Performing Aznavour’s songs is a huge responsibility for me. It was difficult to refer to such an important work. But thanks to Artak Aleksanyan's dedication to work and his trust in me, I agreed”, says Shushan Petrosyan.

Shushan Petrosyan wanted to perform the song “Children of this War” for a long time. Newmag will present the Armenian version of the song and video clip at the French Book Festival, which will be held for the first time in Armenia. The poem was translated by Lilit Bleyan. The video clip will include Davit Ghahramanyan's photos. He has been documenting every day for the past nine months and has collected a large archive of photographs of the children of this war. Most of them have not been published yet. The photographer provided the photo facts to Newmag.

THE PROGRAM OF FRANCOFEST

The partner of this project is Amundi-Acba Asset Management. Since 2019, the company has supported Newmag to Armenianize Aznavour's songs and publish all his books in Armenian.