smartirosyan@media.ucla.edu
When incredibly talented Armenians get together and put on a show, magic happens.
And that is exactly what happened on June 15, when six of the most talented Armenians from around the world performed at Alex theatre as the top finalists from the ‘Hamazgayin Astgh’ program, filmed last year in Armenia.
The program that is also know as the ‘Pan-Armenian Star’, can be compared to American Idol, as it held auditions for Armenians from all over the world competing for the title of the new Armenian star.
"Tata Production" made this program possible because according to Tata Simonyan himself, he wanted to introduce fresh faces into the Armenian music scene.
The biggest discoveries by Simonyan included Arthur Best from Moscow, Apeh Jan and Ace Chilla from Los Angeles, Gyumri’s Anna Azatyan and Johnny Karapetyan from Aparan who outshined the competition and were awarded the gold award.
The geographic diversity of the winners also demonstrated the many genres of music embraced by the competitors.
The event began with the show’s theme song, after which the host of the program took the stage to introduce the first performer of the night, Ruzanna. Her soulful performance was followed by the touching songs of Armen Sargsyan.
Alex theatre went wild when the hometown performers Apeh Jan and Ace Chilla took the stage to perform probably the only songs that the youth in the audience was able to sing along to. The duo presented their newly released "Suzanna" and "Freak on the Dance Floor".
Back in Armenia, Apeh and Chilla have stolen the hearts of the youth as well. They have single-handedly made hip-hop music a household sound since the program ‘Hamazgayin Astgh’ was on Armenia TV – the most watched channel in Armenia.
On the other end of the musical spectrum is Anna Azatyan, who has had a different musical schooling. While filming the program in Armenia, she managed to graduate from Komitas Conservatory, which is one of the most rigorous music schools in the country.
She told the Chronicles that she believes every artist must study the classics to be able to perform any style of music skillfully and perfectly.
Azatyan was very glad about the way the concert turned out though she was very worried about her performance at Alex as the jetlag from her flight made her physically weak. But Azatyan had nothing to worry about as her performance left the audience at Alex breathless, with each individual applauding throughout her performance.
Arthur Best dazzled the audience as well by performing Russian remixes of familiar Arabic tunes. Best received the top Gold award on the ‘Hamazgayin Astgh’ show. When asked if he expected to win the top spot, he jokingly replied, "Of course, my father is the producer of the show, we just did the whole program to crown me as the winner."
Johnny entertained with a number of songs in a style that can be compared to Tata’s music, inviting fervent clapping in the theatre. At one point dancers entered the stage, two of them holding barbeque skewers with meat on them, dancing along with the others.
The program ended the way it began, with the theme song that got everything started.
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