John Bilezikjian & Starbucks by the Sea

I love my cousins. I only wish I could see them more often. We are many and far between; the time and the money it would take to see all of them on a regular basis --  even the ones close by -- is prohibitive. But that makes the love even sweeter.  It's always easier when you share the same last name, or in our case, almost the same last name (a subject for another blogpost)!  And so it was that while visiting Los Angeles, I had the good fortune of staying with a cousin that I love dearly and see rarely.  She and I always laugh together, well into the night, and that's probably the secret of our friendship.  While we were visiting, I was looking for Armenian music on the internet, and came upon the song Jemilleh sung by John Bilezikjian.  Another cousin!  And one I would see soon. On the shores of the Pacific, no less -- a long way from Marash and the Ottoman Empire!

Kissing Cousins

Photo Credit for  photo above & below: Richard Yee

We met here -- at Starbuck's by the sea, and talked non-stop for almost 3 hours -- about our shared history, about our parents, our grandparents and our great-grandparents, those that survived the genocide and those that did not.  There wasn't enough time, but it was a start. We always knew we had a famous cousin but I  had never met him until I was well into my adulthood.  And it was fun.  And sweet. 

I know you've heard of John Bilezikjian.  He's often listed in the credits of Hollywood films, for having composed or performed the music for the film. I told him how much I loved the song Jemilleh that I had found on the internet that very week, and he told me that it was his song, that he had adapted the music and written the lyrics, and, of course, played and sung it.  Here's a link to John singing Jemilleh along with the words and the music in both Armenian (English letters) and English and here's a link to his website:  Dantz Records. (There are music clips from many of his recordings available on this web site as well.)  Even a friend in Germany knew your music way before we knew each other! We're all so proud of you, John!

N.B. For more on John Bilezikjian, go to http://marashgirl.blogspot.com/2011/09/listening-to-songs-of-john-bilezikjian.html