06 02 06 -NOTIZIEnotizieNOTIZIE

ANB sails into BBC finals
{ai134301.jpg|left}Arto Tunchboyajian’s Armenian Navy Band – by vote of fans – is among finalists for the BBC World Music Awards. ANB, along with Enzo Avitabile e Bottari, Ilham Al Madfai and Seu Jorge was favored among some 30 groups. On February 17 a jury will select the winner

Winter Olympics
Skiers Hovhannes Sargsian and Edmond Khachatrian will be the first Armenian athletes to appear in competitions of the 2006 Winter Olympics that start in the Italian city of Turin on February 10. On February 14, they will participate in sprint, on February 17 in classical skiing and on February 22 in individual sprint.
Armenia’s ice-dancing pair Anastasia Grebenkina-Vazgen Azroyan will perform on February 17 with compulsory dance, and then on February 19 and 20 they will appear with their short and free dances respectively. Alpine skier Abraham Sarkakhyan will have his performance on February 25 in slalom and in giant slalom.
During the opening ceremony next Friday Armenia’s flag will be carried by figure-skater Vazgen Azroyan. Together with the Armenian delegation in Turin will be Armenia’s National Olympic Committee (ANOC) President Gagik Tsarukyan. According to him, participation is important for Armenian athletes at these Games, and he will be pleased to see Armenian athletes finishing in the top 30 in their respective sports. “The team is ready to participate in the Games, and our aim is participation rather than victory,” the ANOC president said, adding that he pins particularly great hopes on ice-dancing. (Armenpress, Regnum)



EuroChance: Singer Andre will represent Armenia in prestigious European competition
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
This year on May 18th for the first time Armenia will participate in the Eurovision International Song Festival in Greece side by side with 38 other countries. And for the first time viewers will have the opportunity to vote for Armenian participant. The honor to represent Armenia belongs to 26-year-old singer Andre, a native of Karabakh.
{ai132901.jpg|right}“I was so excited at first when I learned the news of my participation. Then I realized what a tremendous responsibility it is, after all I am going to represent not Andre’s personality but the country, and that is very serious,” says Andre.
Armenia got the right to participate in the competition in July 2005 after getting membership in the Organization of European Broadcasters.
“After long efforts we received the right for participation. We are the first in the South Caucasus with the right to represent ourselves; Georgia and Azerbaijan are still negotiating,” says general producer of the Public TV Hrach Keshishyan.
Armen Martirosyan’s “Stay With Me” was chosen from 20 submitted songs as the one Andre will perform.
The singer’s candidacy was chosen by the H1 Arts Council. Keshishyan says the Council has taken into account the fact that Andre has been named the best singer for two years and that he stayed on the first place at the Hot Ten program for 18 weeks.
Public TV will see to the participation expenses, although Keshishyan still doesn’t imagine the amount.
The semi-final is planned for May 18th and the final run will be on the 20th. The voting in the semi-final will be through SMS, while the final tour provides for phone voting. But according to the requirements of the competition no phone calls will be accepted from Armenia.
“I have great expectation on the side of the Armenian community living in Greece and the citizens of Armenia there, although I hope also there will be foreigners who will vote for me,” says Andre.
According to composer, director of the State Song Theater Arthur Grigoryan at the moment Andre is the best candidate who could represent Armenian pop music in a proper way.
“This is a competition where purely voice capabilities are not enough; only dancing, moving freely on the stage, scene manners, costumes –all these together only can become decisive in the victory, and Andre is among those unique singers with us who has not only high level performance but also artistic characteristics,” says Grigoryan.
Though Eurovision is a first for Armenia, competition is not new to Andre. He has represented Armenia in Moscow, Almaty (Kazakhstan), in Shanghai. In the “World Art Championship” in Hollywood, he was named World Champion.

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