Armenians in Lebanon

==Culture==
===Music===
{{main|Armenian music}}
Anatolian and kef music were a source of controversy due to the shared [[Ottoman music|Ottoman]] past they represented in the post-genocide era. A combination of factors in Lebanon, including political independence and the strength of various Armenian institutions, created conditions that were permissive of the rise of an [[Armenian nationalism]] that was similar to the [[Turkish nationalism]] that emerged in the Ottoman Empire in the years leading up to the 1915 genocide. Music in the Lebanese diaspora became another means to separate "us" and "them", but also provided a space where Lebanese Armenians could connect with a concept of "home" in place of the Ottoman past and [[Soviet Armenia|Soviet]] present.<ref name=beirut />

Community choirs that formed in Lebanon during the 1930s, led by former students of [[Komitas]], utilized the imagery of Komitas as the [[saint]] and [[martyr]] of [[Armenian music]]. These choirs proved to be critical in the development of [[collective identity]] amongst Lebanese Armenians. According to Sylvia Angelique Alajaji, a professor of music who has studied music in the Armenian diaspora, "in a literal and symbolic sense, the songs sung by the choirs articulated home and articulated belonging."<ref name=beirut />

[[Armenian pop music]] thrived in 1970s Lebanon, until the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War. Many artists fled Lebanon during those years including pop singer [[Adiss Harmandian]] and classical [[soprano]] singer [[Arpine Pehlivanian]]. Songs were released about the war including one by Manuel Menengichian with the lyrics "Brothers turned into lions against each other/ Tearing up your heart, Lebanon".<ref name=migliorino>{{Cite book| publisher = Berghahn Books| isbn = 978-1-84545-352-7| last = Migliorino| first = Nicola| title = (Re)constructing Armenia in Lebanon and Syria: Ethno-cultural Diversity and the State in the Aftermath of a Refugee Crisis| date = 2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rP4kg8cew2QC&pg=PA125|pages=125–167}}</ref>

===Theater===
{{main|Armenian theater}}
Like other cultural institutions of the Lebanese Armenian community, [[Armenian theater]] suffered during the years of the Lebanese Civil War. Many prominent figures decided to leave Lebanon; Berge Fazlian, founder of the [[Vahram Papazian]] group, was among those who fled during the wartime violence. Though theater experience a decline during the war years, it does not disappear entirely; the groups that remained in Lebanon were able to put on productions that filled the two theraters of Bourj Hammoud.<ref name=migliorino />

Fazlian is considered one of the most important figures in Lebanese theater; his theater projects were covered in Armenian, Arabic and French-language newspapers of the period. Fazlian was born in [[Istanbul]] in 1926; after obtaining his education in [[Turkey]] and directing several plays, a friendly colleague advised him to seek his fortune outside Turkey, imploring Fazlian to "never leave the theater", but also reminding him that an [[Armenians in Turkey|Armenian]] was not likely to land a leading role in Turkey. Fazlian left Istanbul in 1951 and settled in Beirut where he founded the ''Nor Pem'' (“New Stage”) theater group in 1956, Vahram Papazian in 1959, and ''Azad Pem'' (“Free Stage”) in 1971.<ref name=mirror />

Lebanon had only one theater group in Beirut prior to Fazlian's creation of the Vahram Papazian group and that was [[Hamazkayin]]'s [[Kasbar Ipegian]] theater company. Ipegian, who had settled in Beirut in 1930, was one of Hamazkayin's founders. Hamazkayin was the cultural arm of the [[Armenian Revolutionary Federation]] (ARF) or ''Dashnak'' party. The Hamazkayin Theater Association, which Ipegian founded in 1941, performed plays created by [[List of Armenian writers|Armenian writers]] like [[Levon Shant]] and [[Papken Papazian]]. Their self-stated mission was to "reestablish and spread the art of theater in the diaspora". This included enhancing "Armenian theater’s educational role in the preservation of national identity".<ref>{{Cite web| title = Kasbar Ipegian Theater Company| work = Hamazkayin| access-date = 2018-11-21| date = 2013-12-03| url = https://www.hamazkayin.com/en/about-us/kasbar-ipegian-theater-company/}}</ref><ref name=mirror>{{Cite web| title = Tribute: Actor and Director Fazlian Played Important Role in Armenian and Lebanese Theater| work = The Armenian Mirror-Spectator| access-date = 2018-11-21| date = 2016-02-25| url = https://mirrorspectator.com/2016/02/25/tribute-actor-and-director-fazlian-played-important-role-in-armenian-and-lebanese-theater/}}</ref>

Fazlian himself was a [[leftist]] and his group was associated the [[Armenian General Benevolent Union]] (AGBU), while Ipegian's group was associated with Hamazkayin and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF). There was a rivalry between the two groups.<ref name=migliorino /> Before Fazlian's group the only plays available were partisan plays presented by members of the ARF and their sympathesizers, who would perform in the Hamazkayin plays. On the other hand, Fazlian's Vahram Papazian group performed a variety of plays that included [[Western Armenian]], [[Eastern Armenian]] and even non-Armenian plays.<ref name=mirror />