"Elites" That Failed Their Mission Won’t Be Allowed To Fly

“ELITES” THAT FAILED THEIR MISSION WON’T BE ALLOWED TO FLY

Vardanik’s flight and system’s landing

The police made a statement running that no criminal proceedings were
launched against former mayor of Gyumri Vardan Ghukasyan but files
are prepared based on the statement of crime submitted by the advocate.

Earlier the Armenian press had reported about launch of criminal
proceedings into the beating of a person in the courtroom by Ghukasyan
and his 30 people.

Formally, the police statement is understood. If no criminal
proceedings are launched, it is not fair that the society thinks they
are. However, the police should not have worried. The society does
not care if criminal proceedings have been launched or not.

The point is that the society is more than sure that Vardan Ghukasyan
is untouchable, and there is no difference whether criminal proceedings
will or will not be launched against him. If proceedings are launched,
Ghukasyan will be found to have acted in self-defense, like Suren
Khachatryan. Or that he tried to stop those who were fighting. One
should not doubt the fantasy of the Armenian ruling system.

If someone were able to punish Vardan Ghukasyan, he would have already
been punished, and if Vardan Ghukasyan knew he could be punished,
he would be more reserved. But he orders the reporters to leave the
courtroom, and the judge follows his orders.

After Yerevan mayoral elections, Serzh Sargsyan stated that it was
the best time to act because there are no hindrances. Indeed, there
is nothing to hinder Vardan Ghukasyan, Liska and other outstanding
representatives of the criminal-oligarchic system. Serzh Sargsyan is
unable to hinder them. There are a lot of factors, including lack of
wish and ability. No one of the ruling system, not even Serzh Sargsyan
is stronger than the system altogether.

Serzh Sargsyan’s strength is his weakness. The system has him in
the office of the president for his weakness because in such a
confused internal and external period this situation ensures that
“everyone handles their own destiny”. In other words, there is a lot of
uncertainty and anarchy and subjects do not depend on the decision of
one person but everything depends on each one’s talent and abilities.

This is an interesting situation. On the one hand, no one wants
to assume responsibility for the government because it means to be
constringed to answer serious questions of foreign partners. On the
other hand, no one wants anyone else to assume such responsibility
because in this case they could be the victim of someone’s decisions
and power.

It is not accidental that during the first few years of Serzh
Sargsyan’s term even his close oligarchs used to complain of
uncertainty and lack of rules, while now no one complains because
this situation is safer for the system than vertical power.

Moreover, this situation allows the subjects of government to be
maximum free and not bound to the civil sector, dividing it into fields
and quotas, like material and political resources, hence exercising
full control over this sector.

This situation has its advantages and dangers, just like any other
situation, perhaps. The advantage is that the ruling system is decaying
from inside. But the dangerous thing is that in the meantime the
system is deteriorating, so will the society and the state because
their immune system is weaker than the ruling system’s. So, the
criminal oligarchy can resist longer than the society and the state.

At least if the fight is exceptionally within internal resources.

Fortunately, this fight has an extended involvement and for
now, Armenia and the Armenian society are still demanded in the
international agenda. The balance is kept under the condition of
existence of external demand. But this cannot be a determining factor
because any society either manages to ensure the internal balance
of the state with the help of its own resources using also external
favorable conditions or it becomes a factor hindering international
balance. In this case, the content of the international demand changes,
and the demand to refuse the society as an entity arises.

Those, who are playing on this irregularity also need to think about
this. I mean the governmental system. If the content of demand toward
Armenia is changed, not all the members of the “elite” will be given
the opportunity to fly in both direct and figurative meanings of the
word. “Elite” that failed their state mission will never be allowed
to fly, it will be amputated. It is up to one’s luck not to be the
amputated part.

HAKOB BADALYAN 16:10 18/07/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:

http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/comments/view/30496

Armenian Government Offers Tax Exemptions To The Company Injecting A

ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT OFFERS TAX EXEMPTIONS TO THE COMPANY INJECTING AMD 1.25BLN INTO GREENHOUSE CONSTRUCTION

YEREVAN, July 18./ARKA/. Government of Armenia decided Thursday to
offer tax exemptions to Kaga Group company that invests in building
greenhouses in Kotayk region of Armenia. The greenhouses take 3
hectares and the total investments stand at 1.25 billion drams.

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan noted some investors are starting
to inject funds into greenhouse construction in Armenia more and
more often.

It is the fifth time over the last month the government has offered
exemptions for the companies investing in greenhouses.

“This is a profitable business that opens new job places, work all
year round and has high export potential,” Sargsyan underscored.

According to the revised law “On value added tax” in April 2009, VAT
payment for the companies importing to Armenia goods, new technologies
or equipment in the amount of over 300 million drams or investment
package of which exceeds the mentioned amount, are delayed for three
years. ($1 – 410.30 drams).-0-

– See more at:

http://arka.am/en/news/economy/armenian_government_offers_tax_exemptions_to_the_company_injecting_amd_1_25bln_into_greenhouse_const/#sthash.01kvvdSc.dpuf

Suite A La Mise En Garde A Vue De Gareguin Choukasezian

SUITE A LA MISE EN GARDE A VUE DE GAREGUIN CHOUKASEZIAN

COMMUNIQUE DE RENAISSANCE ARMENIENNE

Suite a la mise en garde a vue de Gareguin Choukasezian Le Mouvement
Renaissance Armenienne(M.R.A) et toutes ses branches actives dans la
Diaspora* condamnent unanimement la mise en garde a vue abusive de M.

Gareguin Chougasezian, coordinateur du Pre-parlement, ainsi que
l’obstruction d’une marche pacifique et l’encerclement de ses
participants(environ 500 personnes) par la police d’Erevan le 12
juillet dernier a la suite d’un meeting organise par le Pre parlement
qui n’ayant nullement confiance dans le système actuel des elections
preconise des elections alternatives, organisees directement par des
instances emanant du peuple lui-meme.

Le M.R.A tient a rappeler que par le passe l’appareil policier a deja
viole a maintes reprises les lois constitutionnelles dans le seul
but de defendre les interets d’un pouvoir oligarchique, en visant
les militants qui mènent a son encontre une lutte legitime. Le M.R.A
met en garde les autorites contre ces exactions qui constituent de
graves violations aux droits de l’homme et affirme qu’il continuera
a condamner fermement de telles interventions.

Le M.R.A exhorte aussi le système policier a eviter tout acte de
repression envers ces militants non-violents, etant donne que son
unique devoir est avant tout d’assurer la securite du peuple et non
celle d’un groupe d’usurpateurs maintenus au pouvoir par la voie
d’elections truquees.

Mouvement Renaissance Armenienne

*Toronto, Moscou, Moyen Orient, Italie, Paris, Prague, Los Angeles,
Belgique, Allemagne.

jeudi 18 juillet 2013, Ara ©armenews.com

http://www.armenews.com/article.php3?id_article=91400

La Suisse Alloue 31 Millions De Dollars A L’Armenie

LA SUISSE ALLOUE 31 MILLIONS DE DOLLARS A L’ARMENIE

ARMENIE

La Suisse va allouer a l’Armenie plus de 31,5 millions de dollars dans
le cadre de son programme de cooperation Sud-Caucase entre 2013-2016
selon Rudolf Schoch, directeur regional du Bureau de la cooperation
suisse pour le Caucase du Sud.

Le budget global pour la region est de 120 millions de dollars.

L’Azerbaïdjan recevra 30 millions de dollars et la Georgie 40 millions
de dollars. Les fonds restants seront utilises pour des projets
regionaux communs, a declare Rudolf Schoch a des journalistes lors
de la presentation du programme.

Il a dit que les fonds seront utilises pour stimuler le developpement
economique dans les trois pays, le developpement des institutions
autonomes locales, ainsi que la protection des droits de l’homme et
la resolution des conflits.

Selon le directeur de l’Institut du caucase Alexander Iskandaryan,
la somme liberee pour l’Armenie est très importante compte tenu de
la taille de sa population, par opposition aux deux autres pays.

Il a dit des programmes suisses similaires ont toujours beneficie a
l’Armenie, en particulier a son developpement agricole.

À son avis, ces programmes ne peuvent pas changer radicalement la
situation dans la region, mais en meme temps ils sont utiles et
importants pour l’Armenie et la region dans son ensemble.

jeudi 18 juillet 2013, Stephane ©armenews.com

La Route Entre Noyemperian Et Baghanis Coupee Quelques Heures Suite

LA ROUTE ENTRE NOYEMPERIAN ET BAGHANIS COUPEE QUELQUES HEURES SUITE A DES TIRS AZERIS

ARMENIE

La nuit du 16 au 17 juillet la circulation fut arretee sur la route
reliant Noyemperian a Baghanis dans region de Tavouche (Nord-Est de
l’Armenie), suite a des tirs provenant depuis les positions azeries
proches. La route etant a quelques pas de la frontière armeno-azerie.

Nareg Sahakian le maire de Baghanis a affirme que les tirs etaient
en direction cette route, mais que sa commune n’a pas essuye de
tirs. Par securite la route fut fermee entre Noyemperian et Baghanis
durant plusieurs heures, route qui est sur le trace de la route
Erevan-Tbilissi. Un itineraire bis fut mis en place. Mais le matin du
17 juillet, la route principale reliant Noyemperian a Baghanis etait
rouverte. ” Tout est maintenant en ordre ” dit le maire de Baghanis.

Krikor Amirzayan

jeudi 18 juillet 2013, Krikor Amirzayan ©armenews.com

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry: "To Drive The Peace Process From The D

AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTRY: “TO DRIVE THE PEACE PROCESS FROM THE DEADLOCK ARMENIA SHOULD WITHDRAW ITS TROOPS FROM THE OCCUPIED AZERBAIJANI TERRITORIES”

MilAz.info, Azerbaijan
July 17 2013

16:38 15-07-2013

“Azerbaijan has always voiced its principled position.

This position is that to drive the peace process from the deadlock
Armenia should at least start withdrawing its troops from the occupied
Azerbaijani territories,” spokesman for Azerbaijan”s Foreign Ministry
Elman Abdullayev told APA. Commenting on statements made by Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian at today”s press conference
with OSCE Chairman-in-Office Leonid Kozhara, Elman Abdullayev noted
that start of the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied
territories of Azerbaijan may serve as a basis for the continuation
of the peace process.

Edward Nalbandian said that at the meeting in Vienna on July
12 the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers didn”t touch
on the possibility to continue the process of settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict only after liberation of the occupied
territories.

Elman Abdullayev said the presence of Armenian Armed Forces in the
occupied Azerbaijani territories do not allow to improve the peace
process.

“The Armenian side that is attempting to confuse the international
community tries to justify is aggressive policy protracting the process
of settlement. The world community has already expressed its position
on this issue. Armenia is recognized as an aggressor state in all
the documents adopted by the international organizations. The world
community should properly exert pressure on Yerevan. The lack of the
political will and non-constructive position of Armenia impedes the
improvement of the peace process,” he said.

ANKARA: Turkish Minister Rejects Armenian Prosecutor’s Remarks On Bo

TURKISH MINISTER REJECTS ARMENIAN PROSECUTOR’S REMARKS ON BORDER

Anadolu Agency, Turkey
July 18 2013

Baku (AA) -Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu rebuffed today
Armenia’s demand of territory from Turkey, describing the attempt as
“an act of impertinence”.

Paying an official visit to Azerbaijan, Davutoglu commented on the
Armenian Chief prosecutor’s remarks on Turkish-Armenian border.

Stressing that they called those daring to take “even a small
pebblestone from Turkish soil to know their place,” Davutoglu said
“Let alone making such a proposal, nobody can even consider it.”

Turkish FM described the demands as “just a delirium”, calling everyone
to know their place and limits and respect the borders.

“Demanding territory from Turkey is a presumption. I call everyone to
commonsense. The territorial integrity of both Turkey and Azerbaijan
is basic for us,” he added.

Armenian Chief Prosecutor Aghvan Hovsepyan said during the Pan-Armenian
Lawyers Congress on July 5 and 6 that the Turkish-Armenian border
was not determined legally and what he described as “former Armenian
territories” must be returned to Armenia.

Turkish Foreign Ministry earlier criticized the remarks of Armenian
Chief Prosecutor as reflecting the problematic mentality prevailing
in Armenia on Turkish-Armenian relations and its neighbour Turkey’s
territorial integrity, urging that “It must be known that nobody can
dare to claim territory from Turkey.”

Experts Comment On Protests At Russian Embassy In Yerevan

EXPERTS COMMENT ON PROTESTS AT RUSSIAN EMBASSY IN YEREVAN

Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
July 17 2013

17 July 2013 – 10:31am Residents of Yerevan held protests near the
Russian Embassy in Yerevan to express outrage over the conditions of
detention of Gracha Arutyunyan, a driver suspected of killing 18 people
at Podolsk (Russia). The suspect entered the court hall wearing a
woman’s bathrobe. The protesters in Yerevan offered Russian Ambassador
Ivan Volynsky to put on a similar bathrobe and leave the country.

Andrey Areshev, a scientist of the Institute for Political and Social
Research of the Black Sea and Caspian Sea Region, emphasized that any
event related to Russia was a matter of negative public attention. The
car accident caused by Arutyunyan demonstrates that any information
can be given in a negative tone. Protests at the Russian embassy
cannot leave people without surprise, Areshev goes on.

The expert believes that authorities should calm the people down,
although someone needs the situation to escalate. Both sides need to
overcome the negative trend. Areshev notes that people in Armenia who
assume that a quarrel with Russia and a rapprochement with Georgia
would benefit Armenia are wrong.

Armenia is aware that such meetings are attended by the very same
people. Indifference of Armenian authorities to the problem seems
strange, the scientist says.

Tigran Minasyan, a post-graduate of the History Faculty of Neighbouring
States of the MSU named after M.V. Lomonosov, emphasized that Armenian
ombudsmen were outraged by treatment of the driver suspected of
the accident.

Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry Honors Dr. Stuart Siegel, MD, An

ARMENIAN BONE MARROW DONOR REGISTRY HONORS DR. STUART SIEGEL, MD, AND CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL LOS ANGELES

Wall Street Journal, NY
July 16 2013

Award honors the hospital’s commitment to saving Armenian children
LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–July 16, 2013–

On July 14, the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry (ABMDR) presented
Stuart Siegel, MD, of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, with the
“Establishment of the Year” award at their annual gala at the Hilton
Glendale. Siegel and his colleague, Neena Kapoor, MD, director of
the Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Program, were instrumental
in helping to establish the first autologous transplant program in
Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.

Stuart Siegel, MD, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (Photo: Business
Wire)

“I am honored to accept this award on behalf of Children’s Hospital Los
Angeles. We have been pleased and grateful to share in this amazing
work that has come so far in meeting the needs of Armenian children
who need hematopoietic stem cell transplants,” said Siegel, founding
director of the Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases.

Children receiving intensive chemotherapy as well as children with
certain immunological or blood disorders, may require a stem cell
transplant. During the transplant, immature blood-forming cells,
called hematopoietic stem cells, are given to the child in order to
“rebuild” his or her immune system. The harvested cells travel into
the bone marrow, where they will mature and develop into healthy red
blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.

Since transplants ideally require that both the donor and recipient
carry the same inherited tissue type, it can be difficult to identify
a donor outside a patient’s immediate family. The most successful
alternative is to search for patient-donor compatibility in an
ethnically-similar population which shares these inherited tissue
types. With the goal of easing the emotional and physical burden placed
on critically-ill patients, Frieda Jordan, PhD, together with Sevak
Avagyan, MD, started the ABMDR in 1999 to identify genetic matches
for Armenians.

Siegel, Kapoor and the hematopoietic stem cell transplant team at
Children’s Hospital began working with ABMDR in 2001 as they developed
the registry. In 2012, the ABMDR sought the help of Siegel and his
colleagues to equip the capital city of Yerevan with the technological
and educational means needed to perform autologous transplantation
procedures in Armenia. This type of transplant harvests the patient’s
own healthy hematopoietic cells before cancer treatments, and later
returns them to the patient in order to replace the bone marrow cells
damaged by chemotherapy and radiation.

With the assistance of Siegel, visiting physicians Andranik Mshetsyan,
MD, and Armond Mehdikhanian, MD, were taught necessary procedures that
would bring this essential treatment option to Armenia. Mshetsyan
received guidance from Robert Seeger, MD, director of the Cancer
Program at The Saban Research Institute, and trained in Kapoor’s lab,
where he perfected the techniques of cell harvesting, processing
and freezing. At the conclusion of his stay at Children’s Hospital,
Mshetsyan performed Armenia’s first autologous stem cell transplant.

“Dr. Siegel was truly a mentor to us, providing a vision for this
most important work. We are also grateful to Dr. Neena Kapoor and her
team at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles for helping us to implement
an autologous transplant program in Armenia,” said Frieda Jordan,
PhD, President, Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry.

For more information about the event and Armenian Bone Marrow Donor
Registry, visit

About Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has been named the best children’s
hospital in California and among the top five in the nation for
clinical excellence with its selection to the prestigious US News &
World Report Honor Roll. Children’s Hospital is home to The Saban
Research Institute, one of the largest and most productive pediatric
research facilities in the United States, is one of America’s premier
teaching hospitals and has been affiliated with the Keck School of
Medicine of the University of Southern California since 1932.

For more information, visit Follow us on
Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn, or visit our blog:

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available:

CONTACT: Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Ellin Kavanagh, 323-361-8505

[email protected]

SOURCE: Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20130716006236/en/
http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130716-908543.html
www.abmdr.am.
www.CHLA.org.
www.WeAreChildrens.org.

Reinventing The Tar: Miqayel Voskanyan’s Folk Music Quest

REINVENTING THE TAR: MIQAYEL VOSKANYAN’S FOLK MUSIC QUEST

ianyan Magazine
July 17 2013

Posted by Christian Garbis

He’s having an off night.

One of the 11 metal strings on Miqayel Voskanyan’s tar has snapped
just before the start of his second set at Yerevan’s Wild West club
and he is struggling with pulling the replacement tight. The band has
taken stage and is rolling along without him, but not for very long.

He’s a master tar player after all, and nothing will get in the way
of his music, especially a pesky string.

The music that his band Miqayel & Friends performs is indescribable in
one or even a few words. It is not straight ahead jazz or rock, rather
sort of an ambiguous melding of the two genres, and he admits that it
is hard to classify. It’s his very intention to present the music in
such a way that anyone can find their own preferred style in his own.

Voskanyan’s harmonies are intricate and interwoven, performed with
a constant, rapid plucking, as if he is passionately making love to
his instrument. There is an intense, undeniable passion coming forth
during his performances.

The tar is played in Iran and in the Caucasus, namely Armenia and
Azerbaijan. The Persian tar differs from the Caucasian type in its
shape and number of strings. Both are made from mulberry wood, and
between 400,000 and 500,000 strikes are needed to shape a tar the
traditional way. New instruments can still be found.

Although the instrument’s exact origins are still unknown, there are
references to the tar in Armenian historical records dating to the
9th century. The strings are made of metal, and the membrane that
stretches across the figure eight-shaped body of the Armenian tar
is actually the sac that surrounds the heart of a cow. Centuries ago
melodies played from the tar were known to have been used for treating
depression and other ailments.

Voskanyan’s instrument is 100 years old. He explained that the more
often it is played the better it sounds. The membrane has to be
replaced usually every year. He takes his instrument to a tar maker,
who are becoming increasingly hard to find. He says it’s hard to both
play and work on the tar since the jobs are so specialized-a person
can do only one or the other. But he has hopes that the younger
generation will learn to become expert tar makers.

Voskanyan’s musical career began at the age of six, when he learned
to sing various folk songs. He’s been playing the tar for 18 years,
always with the desire to play folk music.

“I picked the tar over the kamancha since it interested me more,”
he said. “I felt closest to the tar.”

He says that of all the folk instruments used in Armenian music the
tar is considered more professional, while others, like the kamancha-a
stringed instrument played with a bow sporting a gourd-like body
supported on the knee-are more romantic.

Tar playing runs in the family blood. His maternal great grandfather
named Sarkis, from Armenia’s northern Tavush region, played in the
1920s and 1930s and had quite a reputation. For that reason they were
known as the Tarchunts clan. He found out about his great grandfather
only after he chose the instrument.

Voskanyan attended music school for seven years, graduating in 2003.

In the following year, he began his studies at Yerevan State
University, majoring in art history. He subsequently joined the State
Ensemble of the Folk Musical Instruments of Armenia as first tarist.

During his tenure with them he matured as a composer.

He also was featured in a band called Colors of Music, consisting of
12 members, all students from the music conservatory. But the group
faced various financial and technical issues commonly related to
large ensembles and it folded.

He has performed in such countries as Egypt, Sweden, Georgia, Russia
and Finland, where his acoustic project called Voices For Peace played
a concert.

Miqayel can also play the oud, but not like a professional. He has
also experimented the saz and guitar.

When he plays the tar very fast, which is a commonly accepted
practice, the performance sounds reminiscent of a taksim, the
fast improvisational playing adopted by oud masters, but it is not
intentional, he says.

He has another undertaking he calls a “mixed art project,” combining
tar with acoustic guitar and cello, playing infrequently. They perform
his own compositions as well as national folk songs along with music
attributed to Komitas, with new arrangements.

He describes his music as “ethnic jazz” or “folk fusion,” two monikers
being used today to classify the commingling of folk and jazz. Then
he started to study classical music and jazz, from mainstream to
free-John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Michel Petrucciani, Weather Report,
Miles Davis and Mike Stern he sites as influences. He is also crazy
about Beethoven, especially the symphonies, and appreciates Mozart,
Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky.

He believes it is very important for a musician to listen to melodies
from other nations and to discover how and why music evolved the way
it did.

“All kinds of music styles can be found in classic jazz due to
improvisation-while you’re playing you’re inventing things off the top
of your head and thus composing, and that helps you create,” he said.

For him improvisation in music is a natural process, and he has been
improvising for five to six years. He has participated in jazz jam
sessions-at first he was timid but he worked hard to make it sound
proper. He once had the pleasure of playing with Vahakn Hayrapetyan
and Arto Tuncboyacıyan.

Voskanyan cites music of other cultures, such as Indian and Persian,
as having an impact on his own, and he also acknowledges a Latin
influence. Arabic taksims and music from African nations have made
a lasting impression on him.

Miqayel & Friends at a jazz festival in Gyumri July 2013/ Courtesy
Miqayel Voskanyan Miqayel & Friends at a jazz festival in Gyumri July
2013/ Courtesy Miqayel Voskanyan

Miqayel & Friends took shape in 2010 when they gave occasional
concerts. He was once asked to play one of his own compositions and
he invited some friends to accompany him. That venture evolved into
a band, and they played their first concert on March 16, 2012 under
the current name that stuck. The band members include David Melkonyan,
alto saxophone; Arman Peshtmaljian, keyboards; Gurgen Ebejyan, bass;
Movses Ebejyan, drums; and Eduard Harutyunyan, percussion.

One of Voskayan’s main goals in performing the tar is to promote it,
both internationally and especially in Armenia where many, especially
the youth, can’t tell it apart from a kamancha. He wants to make
Armenian folk instruments accessible to the youth by playing the
tar in such a way that will gain rightful appreciation. Armenian
folk music has not really evolved in the last 50 years or so, and
as a result the genre has earned a predictable, retro flair. And not
everyone wants to hear that.

“Armenian classical music has nowhere to transform,” Voskayan said.

“You need to play in a style that always promotes room for development,
that will never grow old. New national compositions are necessary to
help make that happen.

“Everything has to have its time. The melodies have to remain, they’re
important, but the way in which they are presented and performed has
to change.”

Voskanyan wants to start recording an album but needs financial
backing and a producer to make that happen. In the mean time he is
trying to raise the funds on his own to begin. Many fans ask for a
compact disc at the end of a show.

“The time has come for us to have a recording,” he said.

There perhaps isn’t a club in Yerevan in which the band hasn’t
performed. They are limited to playing the same venues repeatedly due
to limited scope and appeal. Voskanyan wants the band to participate
in international festivals. Most recently they entered the Made in
New York Jazz Competition, which allows people to vote for their
favorite act online. The winner will be announced in September and
perform in the New York City Jazz Festival.

In the meantime, the band will keep performing every chance it gets.

The next gig will be at Yerevan’s Cascade on July 20.

“If you’re a musician, you must play for an audience,” he believes.

“You can’t stay away from performing. You also have to play a kind
of music that will cater to the aesthetic tastes of the listener.”

Watch Miqayel Voskanyan perform “Lusine” on the tar below:

http://www.ianyanmag.com/2013/07/17/reinventing-the-tar-miqayel-voskanyans-folk-music-quest/