The name of Charles Aznavour stands for 180 million sold albums in the world. This name is related to the names of Edith Piaf, Liza Minnelli and such a big number of Gold CDs that is merely impossible to remember, the columnist Martina Meister writes in the authoritative German newspaper Die Welt, referring to the new 51st album of the world-famous singer Charles Azanvour entitled “Encores.”  

Charles Aznavour’s parents, who escaped the Genocide, were waiting to obtain visa to the United States, when on May 22, 1924 their son, Shahnour Varinag Aznavourian, was born. They didn’t manage to get the visa, and then the war started, during which Varinag and his sister began to earn their family’s keep. He began to work at the age of 9 and has never stopped since then.

Referring to his new CD, Aznavour says he’s not going to make a pause in his artistic career. “Pause? Why? If I don’t go on stage any more, I’ll die at once, And I don’t have such plans for a long time,” Aznavour says. He is not going to celebrate his 91st anniversary. Aznavour didn’t celebrate his 90th anniversary either. “Last year he spent this jubilee evening on the stage, while the audience got ready to listen to the living legend,” the newspaper writes.   

Martina Meister asks Aznavour the following interesting question: “You’re considered the most famous Armenian in the world. However, on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide you were engaged in a competition with such a star as Kim Kardashian. Do you compete with her?” “Me to compete? As to Armenia, I’m beyond competition,” says Azanvour, who together with his homeland is struggling for the acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide and who supported his homeland during the earthquake in 1988, the newspaper writes. “Only in grief can a man find himself,” Aznavour says, referring to the support provided by him in the years of the earthquake.

The songwriter told how he manages to impact people’s emotions. “I’m a thief. But I steal neither objects nor stories, but human feelings,” Aznavour says. He is referring to his songs, by which he catches people’s hearts, the newspaper writes. There are no taboos for him. In the early 70s he wrote a song about homosexuality. “Scandal is senseless. I’ve got no problems at all. The society always needs to be knocked out a bit,” Aznavour says.

His new album is referred to as melancholic. It includes songs about childhood, nostalgias and Edith Piaf. However, Aznavour doesn’t think his album is melancholic.  “Melancholic? Not at all. Nostalgic? Yes! I associate melancholy with a bored sad man sitting in an armchair. While nostalgia is a journey to the past,” the songwriter says.