Peter Gabriel's 70th birthday and the historic concert in Tromso
by Ara Tadevosyan
Peter Gabriel in 2010. Photo: REUTERS
Famous musician Peter Gabriel turned 70 years old on February 13, 2020. He has been a member of the Board of STARMUS Festival, co-founded by Armenian astrophysicist Garik Israelian, for over 10 years. At our request, Garik Israelian has shared his thoughts on the renowned musician.
"It's hard to describe Peter in a few sentences, because he is someone whose work has always been full of revolutionary ideas," said Israelian.
He met Peter Gabriel in June 2005 in Tromso, Norway, at the 46664 concert organized by Nelson Mandela Foundation.
46664 concert in Tromso. Photo: REUTERS
"At my initiative, Jivan Gasparyan and Brian May performed together at that concert. Peter Gabriel was there too. I asked him to go on the stage and join Gasparyan and May on the keyboards.
He told me it was very difficult to just play an unfamiliar composition on the stage, but I kept asking, and Peter finally agreed. After the concert, Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant told me the performance was fantastic," recalled Garik Israelian.
Peter Gabriel, Jivan Gasparyan and Brian May
A few years later, he invited Peter Gabriel to Armenia.
The musician laid down flowers at the Tsitsernakaberd complex and said he considered it shameful that his country (the United Kingdom), the United States and Turkey did not recognize the Armenian Genocide, said Garik Israelian.
Peter Gabriel, Garik Israelian and Brian May. Photo: Starmus/Max Alexander
Touching on their work in STARMUS, Israelian noted that Peter Gabriel had appreciation for science and the understanding that humankind could not solve its issue without science.
Peter Gabriel at STARMUS
"We often meet and talk about these universal issues, the evolution of science and music, and the two or three hours of our conversation fly by. When you talk with Peter, you see that there is no need to move with the speed of light to understand the theory of relativity: you can just be around people like Peter, with powerful gravity field, and time will move differently," added Garik Israelian.
