“ARMENIAN NAVY BAND” AWARDED BBC MUSIC PRIZE

Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 12 2006

YEREVAN, APRIL 12, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The “Armenian Navy
Band” headed by Arto Tunboyaciyan fixed an excellent victory in the
sphere of music, being announced on April 7, as the main prize-winner
of the BBC world authoritative music awarding. By a votion implemented
in the Internet by music lovers, the band entered the final stage
with the Brazilian “Seu Jorge”, Iraqian “Ilham al Madfai” and Italian
“Enzo Avitabile and Botari” groups. The jury members who were music
critics recognized the “Armenian Navy Band” as the winner among those
four groups. According to the “Azg” daily, the awarding ceremony took
place on April 7, at the “Brickstone” Academy hall. Arto Tuncboyaciyan
was invited to the awarding. He had a 5-minutes solo performance after
getting the prize. The “Armenian Navy Band” was sympathized by music
lovers for vanguard-folk interpretations of traditional Armenian
melodies. Arto Tuncboyaciyan left London for New Jersey on April
10, where he lives with his wife and two children. John Grigorian,
the Armenian manager of the group mentioned that the band’s “Voice
of our Soul” disk supported this victory. This disk was recognized
the 14th among the 950 disks released all over the world in 2004.

According to him, this prize will give the band, first of all, fame,
then, self-affirmation. “People chose us who gave us power and move
our ship forward,” he said. In all probability, the band will have a
concert in Yerevan on April 24, the memory day of the Armenian Genocide
victims. Foreign singers as well as Arto’s son will participate in
the concert.