MONTREAL — On November 13, at the conclusion of the 32nd Convention of Tekeyan Cultural Association, the 35th anniversary of the first Armenian weekly of Canada, Abaka, was celebrated with a banquet featuring performances by several classical musicians at the Tekeyan Center here. (The tri- lingual Abaka is the sister publication of the Armenian Mirror-Spectator.)
More then 200 guests were gathered to celebrate this milestone. Master of ceremonies Dr. Haroutiun Arzoumanian conducted the program ably, giving ample time to the four opera singers who presented a program of Italian and Armenian classical music and opera lyrics. They were tenor Elie Berbarian, soprano Rafael Patek, baritone Garo Nishanian and pianist Krikor Shahverdian.
The longtime editor of Abaka, Arsen Nubar Mamourian, was awarded for his service of 28 years; the outgoing secretary of the Tekeyan Cultural Association Nvart Paraghamian was presented with a plaque; the Godfathers of the event, Hovig and Dzovag Gebenlian, were presented with an award of thanks and the TCA New York/ New Jersey Chapter was given the Dickran Semsarian Award for most active chapter.
