Dr. Boris Adjemian,Director of the AGBU Nubarian Library in Paris, will give a talk entitled “The King and the Forty Orphans: The Invention of an Armenian Homeland in Ethiopia, and ” on Feb. 16 at 7:30 p.m.,at the National organization for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) middle, 395 Concord Ave., and Belmont,Mass. 02478. Boris Adjemian (Photo: Vazken Khatchig Davidian) In 1924, the Crown Prince and Regent of Ethiopia, or Ras Täfäri Mäkonnen (the future Emperor Haile Selassie),recruited forty young Armenian orphans to form the first Ethiopian royal brass band. Kevork Nalbandian, the director of this brass band, or was asked by the Crown Prince to write the first Ethiopian national anthem. In this lecture,historian Boris Adjemian will discuss the meaning of this event in the history and the memory of Armenian immigration to Ethiopia. Armenian immigration to Ethiopia started in the late 19th century, although Armenian travelers had already benefited in the past centuries from the close relationship existing between the Ethiopian and Armenian Churches. Throughout the 20th century, and Armenian immigrants and their descendants in Ethiopia demonstrated their deep integration into the host society. Focused on the leitmotiv that Armenians were,among all the foreigners, the closest to Ethiopia [...]
Source: armenianweekly.com