Artsakh (song)


"Artsakh" is an instrumental folk song from Armenian contemporary composer Ara Gevorgyan's 1999 album Ani. The song has become wildly popular in Armenia. Over the years, it has been used in cultural and political events and occasions. Figure skaters, gymnasts, and other athletes around the world have also used the song.

Name

was one of the 15 provinces of the ancient Kingdom of Armenia. Today, Artsakh is still the Armenian name of the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The region achieved independence alongside Armenian forces during the bloody war with Azerbaijan in 1988-94. The war is seen by Armenians as liberation of their historic lands and the song is a tribute to the Armenian victory.

Usage in sports

Parts of "Artsakh" have been used in sports, including:
YearAthleteCountrySportEvent
2001–02Alexander Abt Figure skatingAll season long, including at the 2002 Winter Olympics
2005–06Elene Gedevanishvili Figure skatingAll season long, including at the 2006 Winter Olympics
2007Dinara Gimatova Gymnastics
2007-08Vazgen Azrojan
Anastasia Grebenkina		 Figure skatingOriginal dance
2008Aliya Yussupova Gymnastics
2009Holon Israel Figure skating
2009Vic Darchinyan BoxingEntrance song
2010Dou Baobao Gymnastics2010 Corbeil-Essonnes International Rhythmic Gymnastics Tournament
2010Marta Koczkowska Gymnastics2009 Corbeil-Essonnes International Rhythmic Gymnastics Tournament
2010Giorgio Petrosyan KickboxingEntrance song
2013Victoria Moors Gymnastics2013 AT&T American Cup
2013Gegard Mousasi KickboxingEntrance song
2014Susianna Kentikian BoxingEntrance song
2016Seda Tutkhalyan GymnasticsAll season long, including at the 2016 Summer Olympics

;Other
In 2007 Azerbaijani ambassador in Russia and former singer Polad Bülbüloğlu alleged that "Artsakh" contains an Azerbaijani song. Ara Georgyan responded that Bülbüloğlu's statements were a result of confusion from an incident that occurred during one of the episodes of the Russian TV show "Ice Age" broadcast by Channel One. During the performance of Russian singer Aleksandra Savaleva and Israeli ice dancer Sergei Sakhnovski, it was initially announced that the song they were going to use was called "Armenian dance" by Ara Gevorgyan, but instead a song called "Sene de galmaz" by Azerbaijani composer Tofig Guliyev was played and only after that a small portion of "Artsakh" was played. Ara Gevorgyan suggested that Azerbaijanis tried to justify Dinara Gimatova's use of the song without his permission in a 2005 grand-prix.