Armenian rock
| Armenian Rock | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | Hard rock, Heavy metal, Folk rock, rock and roll, British Invasion, Progressive rock |
| Cultural origins | Mid 1960s, Soviet Armenia |
| Typical instruments | Electric guitar – bass guitar – vocals – drums – keyboards - folk instruments |
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(complete list) |
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| Other topics | |
| Armenian Jazz – Armenian music – Soviet music – Russian rock | |
Armenian rock describes a wide variety of forms of rock music made in Armenia or by artists of Armenian descent.
Among the most recognized groups of Soviet era were Arthur Meschian's "Arakyalner", "1+2", "Kaleidoscope", and "Bliki". Following the loosening of state control in the early 1980s, a number of Armenian rock bands gained followers in Western Europe, such as "Asparez" and Ayas. Asparez was the only Armenian rock act to release an LP on the iconic Soviet label Melodiya. The bands Tarerk, Tessilk, 36.6 and Maximum had strong followings at home.
Rock was greatly restricted for most of the period Armenia was under Soviet rule, being viewed by the CPSU as a Western anti-socialist influence. Yet, by the early 1970s, there were a range of popular bands in the capital city of Yerevan strong enough to compete with their Soviet counterparts - Arthur Meschian's "Arakyalner", "1+2", "Kaleidoscope" and "Bliki".
By the eighties, combining Armenian folk music with rock, the Armenian folk-rock groups were founded with notable, and popular even in 2000’s, representatives - Bambir, founded 1978 in Leninakan and Vostan Hayots, founded in 1986 in Yerevan. In 1982 Bambir won the "Folk Music Award" at the International Festival in Lida, Belarus.
As the Soviet rock scene grew larger in the late 1980s, bands like Asparez and Ayas attracted international audiences due to the new popularity of oriental rock these two bands were among original contributors, that was described first time in magazine. Ayas was formed in 1986 by a conservatory graduate Artur Mitinyan, and a year later won Best Song of the Year award at Yerevan's "Rock, Rock, Rock Festival". Later they won the "Sisian Rock Festival" award as well. Elips was another important band of the era formed in 1986. In summer 1986 “Elips” went on tour to Latvia, where they played together with a Riga-based group “Pilligrim”. Simultaneously with the fame, the group gained the hatred of the Soviet Communist party nomenclature and was prohibited as an anti-Soviet group. Their most popular song - "Patkeratsrek" (Imagine) remains as one of the hymns of Armenian rock.
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Wikipedia