Bambir

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Bambir Midnight Bash, The Club, Yerevan.

Bambir-1 is an Armenian folk-rock band, formed in 1978 in Gyumri, who have gained acknowledgement in Armenia and abroad. They have performed in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Russia and the United States. Their repertoire also includes traditional Armenian songs, modern arrangements of Komitas and medieval Armenian music. In 1982 Bambir won the Folk Music Award at the International Festival in Lida, Belarus. They celebrated their 20th anniversary in Moscow in 1998. In 1999, the band released their first album, called Bambirquake, in memory of the victims of the disastrous Spitak earthquake, which caused severe damage to the musicians' native city. In 2003, they released their second album, J & G (Jesus and Gregory), to celebrate the 1700th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity as Armenia's state religion.

Bambir-2 comes from Gyumri. Mostly in folk-rock, the group also performs songs by their favorite bands: The Beatles, Jethro Tull, Bambir-1 and others. Bambir-2 has taken part in different concerts and has won many special prizes (NPAK-Grand prize, Summer hall of the cinema Moskva, Stanislavski Theatre, Krunk-2000). They had appearances on various radio and TV shows. From November 1999 to February 2000, the group gave concerts in Los Angeles, Pasadena, New Jersey and New York. Some songs from the concert in New York as well as an interview with the young musicians were broadcasted by the Voice of America. In Glendale the group recorded its first album "The Second Beginning", but the production of the compact disc hasn't been realized because of financial problems. Narek and Arman are studying at the Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinematography, and Arik attends the musical department of the Pedagogical University. The group moved to Yerevan. Ashot (drums) has joined the group since 2000. The renovated group continues to take an active part in all the musical events in Armenia. At present the group is keeping up with a tense schedule working on two new albums. The first album will include songs by Jag, (Bambir 1's leader), and the second album will contain songs by Bambir 2.