Ara Dinkjian

Ara Dinkjian (* 1958 in New Jersey ) is an American oud player and composer of Armenian origin, has emerged primarily for his contributions to World Jazz.

Life and work

Dinkjian already appeared in public on the age of five. He first accompanied his father, the singer Onnik Dinkjian, and John Berberian and George Mgrdichian as a percussionist. He learned other instruments such as piano, guitar and darbuka and studied at the Hartt School in Hartford (Connecticut), where he graduated in 1980; In the same year he joined at the Montreux Jazz Festival. In 1986 he founded with arms Donelian and Arto Tuncboyaciyan the band Night Ark, which merged oriental music and jazz, was very successful internationally and performed in many countries. He also put albums under his own name before and took with musicians such as Ben Allison, Thomas Chapin, Nana Simopoulos, Omar Faruk Tekbilek and Richard Hagopian.

His song Dinata was performed in Athens at the closing ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games. He continued to write songs for Eleftheria Arvanitaki and Sezen Aksu ( Vazgeçtim, Sarisin, Yine Mi Cicek, HOS Geldin and others).

In 2002 he represented Armenia at the First International Meeting of the oud in Thessaloniki.

Disco Graphical Notes

  • An Armenian in America ( 2005)
  • Pearce on Earth ( 2008)
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