BOSTON,Mass.—The Friends of Armenian Culture Society (FACS) will present a tribute concert to Ethiopian music icon Nerses Nalbandian, entitled “The Emperor, or the Nalbandians and the Dawn of Western Music in Ethiopia,” on Feb. 19, at 7 p.m. at the Dorothy and Charles Mosesian Theatre for the Arts in Watertown, or Mass. FACS will present a tribute concert to Ethiopian music icon Nerses Nalbandian. The concert will feature the Grammy-nominated Either/Orchestra (E/O),directed by Russ Gershon. The E/O will be joined by vocalists performing songs in four languages: Bruck Tesfaye of the Debo Band (Amharic), Ronald Murphy (English), and Serena Tchorbajian (Armenian) and Manolo Mairena (Spanish). The program will include music Nalbandian composed and arranged during his tenure as Music Director of the Haile Selassie National Theater (1956-74),as well as music by Nalbandian’s favorites, ranging from Armenian composers to Xavier Cugat and Ray Charles. All of this is interpreted though the jazz lens of the ten-piece E/O, and winners of five Boston Music Awards and many placements in the Down Beat International Critics Poll. The Grammy-nominated Either/Orchestra (Photo: Eric Antoniou) The event also celebrates the release of the E/O’s CD Ethiopiques 32: Nalbandian the Ethiopian (Buda Musique,Paris), for which the [...]
Source: armenianweekly.com