From November 25th to 28th, 2024, the Hrant Dink Foundation (HDF) hosted a Turkey-Armenia dialogue program in Istanbul. Five Armenian experts in ethnomusicology and musical pedagogy participated in the programme.

On the first day, the expert Gor Melkumyan met with choir directors from the Istanbul Armenian community and music teachers from Armenian minority schools. These discussions focused not only on folk music but contemporary Armenian songs suitable for choirs and younger students. The experts shared valuable online and printed resources that were previously unknown to the participants.

On November 25th, Ani Hakobyan presented her research on the archive of musicologist, folklorist, scientist, and public figure Bedros Alahaidoian at the foundation. During the event she talked about the archive, which is the world's largest Armenian ethnographic personal archive and contains about 126 rounds of bobbins and 450 compact cassettes, covering an extremely wide geography of recordings including the USA, Middle East and Europe. Approximately 40 attendees enjoyed the presentation titled “Bedros Alahaidoian: New Recordings from Armenian Diasporas” followed by a Q&A session. The video of the presentation is available #OnDemand:

The invited musicians from Armenia - Lusine Nazaryan (vocals) and Anna Hovhannisyan (blul and shvi), came together with Ari Hergel (guitar), Ayşenur Kolivar (vocals), Hikmet Akçiçek (vocals), Piya Özçelik (percussion), Selda Öztürk (percussion) and Tahsin Terzi (kemenche) from Turkey to develop a plan for a performance. They not only rehearsed the performance repertoire but also delved into heart-to-heart discussion. On November 27th, the group of musicians shared the stage in a concert titled "Melodies Beyond Borders." The performance which was held at HDF’s Havak Hall featured songs in various Turkish and Armenian dialects, including Hamshen. Over 60 guests attended the event. The video of the concert is available #OnDemand.

The Armenian experts also visited the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University's musicology department to discuss topics like the transcription of eastern music using Western notation, Hampartsoum notes, and liturgical and secular music. The meeting enabled the experts to explore potential institutional collaboration under the Erasmus+ program. Additionally, the experts met with faculty members from the Istanbul Technical University Conservatory.

The experts visited two Armenian minority schools: Getronagan High School and Karagözyan Middle School. They shared insights with the students into Armenian folk songs and dances, highlighting regional variations. At Karagözyan Middle School, 6th, 7th, and 8th-grade students participated actively, performing songs and dances taught by the experts. The musical pedagogy experts reiterated their willingness to cooperate with the schools and to share resources used in Armenia for music education.

On the last day of the programme, the group of experts discovered the cultural heritage of Beyoglu’s theater scene through HDF’s KarDes tour, guided by Lara Narin, lead singer of Vomank Band.