MUSIC AWARDS SET FOR TONIGHT
By Alex Dobuzinskis, Staff Writer
Los Angeles Daily News
May 25 2006
Peter Bahlawanian has produced a variety of different live shows in
his career. The Armenian Music Awards is always the one that gets
him in the most trouble.
With five nominees per award and only one winner, artists are bound
to get upset – even if Bahlawanian is not doing the judging.
“In the Armenian community, everybody knows everybody,” Bahlawanian,
35, said. “So it’s like I have all these people that love me, but
then there’s all these people that don’t win and they hate me that
year. So it’s personal.”
As personal as the show is for Bahlawanian, the show’s creator, it
also has an audience all over the world. This year, the show will take
place at the Hollywood Palladium and it will be beamed via satellite
TV to Armenian audiences worldwide.
The show’s performers and presenters are a mix of local artists
Bahlawanian sees in the community and international stars who fly in.
The result is an event that showcases the wide variety of musical
talent among Armenians. This year’s show will feature everything from
a four-person group called Winds of Passion playing duduks, ancient
woodwind instruments made of apricot wood, to the Armenian-American
rock band Slow Motion Reign.
“Before this show started in 1998, the biggest way of finding out
who was a popular singer was how many weddings they would perform,”
Bahlawanian said.
“The awards became a tool of promoting for all these artists” not
doing pop music, he said. “And at the same time, we still have the
popular categories … We’re bringing everybody together.”
This year, celebrity attorney Mark Geragos will host the show, along
with Canadian beauty queen Alice Panikian, a contestant in the Miss
Universe 2006 pageant.
“I just got back from Armenia and I can’t tell you how many people
in Armenia have either watched this live or on one of the DVDs,”
said Geragos, an
Armenian-American who promoted bands such as the Ramones and the
Go-Go’s before he became an attorney.
The Armenian Music Awards started at Glendale’s Alex Theatre and has
grown and changed over time. From 2001 to 2003, it was shown live
overseas and in the United States.
But organizers found the production costs were too high to justify a
live show, Bahlawanian said, so now they broadcast it on a tape-delay.
Organizers expect anywhere from 800 to 1,500 to attend tonight’s show.
In a dress rehearsal Wednesday, a performer from the United Kingdom
tickled the piano keys onstage as dancers chatted and Bahlawanian’s
aunt and his fiance spread white tablecloths on guest tables.
Bahlawanian, a Los Feliz resident originally from Montreal, pledged
this year’s show, titled “From Roots to Youths,” would have something
for everyone.
“Not everybody loves every part of the show, but they love some part
of the show,” he said.
Bahlawanian can only hope that the award show’s losers walk away as
happy as the audience.
IF YOU GO
The eighth annual Armenian Music Awards will be held at 8 tonight
at the Hollywood Palladium, 6215 Sunset Blvd. Tickets are $150 for
orchestra seats and $65 for the balcony. For more information, call
(323) 469-7356.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
