Night Ark
| Night Ark | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Fusion , world music |
| founding | 1986 |
| resolution | 2000 |
| Founding members | |
| Ara Dinkjian | |
Piano, vocals
|
Shamira Shahinian (until 1987) |
| Ed Schuller (until 1990) | |
| Arto Tunçboyacıyan | |
| former members | |
Keyboards, synthesizers |
Armen Donelian (since 1987) |
double bass |
Marc Johnson (since 1990) |
Night Ark was an ethnic jazz band that was founded by Ara Dinkjian in 1986 as a quartet in New York City and existed until 2000.
history
The formation was created at the suggestion of Steve Backer (music producer at the RCA label) after he had heard a demo tape with compositions by Dinkjian. In addition to Dinkjian and Arto Tunçboyacıyan , Ed Schuller and Shamira Shahinian belonged to the band; Until then, the latter had mainly performed as a belly dancer . She was also involved in the band's first album.
The name of the group is reminiscent of Noah's Ark , which, according to the Bible, landed on the (Armenian) Mount Ararat ; the fact that she became a night ark was because the quartet mainly played at night. The group, which consisted mainly of musicians of Armenian origin, interpreted some popular folk song-like standards, especially compositions by Dinkjian, which fuse Armenian melodies with jazz . The quartet has been internationally active since the 1990s and has performed in Armenia and Israel as well as at the Istanbul International Jazz Festival . The ensemble played a crucial role in introducing both jazz musicians to the possibilities of Armenian music and Armenians to jazz. The group, which presented Armenian and oriental musical instruments in a jazz context, found its final composition in 1990 and recorded a total of five albums. The best-known piece of the group is Homecoming , which Eleftheria Arvanitaki interpreted in a Greek version ( Dynata ) at the end of the 2004 Summer Olympics .
In 2010 Night Ark performed with a different line-up at the Jerusalem Oud Festival .
Discography
- 1986 - Picture , RCA / Novus
- 1988 - Moments , RCA / Novus
- 1998 - In Wonderland , Polygram
- 2000 - Petals on Your Path , EmArcy
- 2000 - Treasures , Traditional Crossroads
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Armen Donelian n. W. Royal Stokes Growing up with Jazz: Twenty Four Musicians Talk About Their Lives and Careers New York 2005, p. 196f.
- ↑ This is ignored by Allmusic and also by Anahid Kassabian ( Ubiquitous Listening: Affect, Attention, and Distributed Subjectivity Berkeley, Los Angeles, London 2013, p. 76); it claims that Donelian and Johnson were part of the group from the start.
- ↑ Anahid Kassabian Ubiquitous Listening: Affect, Attention, and Distributed Subjectivity , p. 77
- ^ Simon Broughton, Mark Ellingham, Richard Trillo World Music: Africa, Europe and the Middle East London: Rough Guide, p. 335
- ^ Three Ouds: Turk, Arab, Greek and Armenian . Alwan for the Arts. November 21, 2007. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
- ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukcJB3-kQYc