Bambir, Stop Club
Last night’s gig by Bambir at the Stop Club was awesome. Although it started late because of a faulty amplifier, the concert went on well past midnight and was as lively as it always is. Interesting to see young Iranians studying in Yerevan come along, but disappointing that very few Diaspora Armenians see this dynamic young band play live.
Foreigners and the locals love Bambir and I don’t see why young Diasporan Armenians wouldn’t either. Can’t figure out why they’re not coming, though. Anyway, Bambir will be one of a few bands playing next Sunday at Stop to celebrate John Lennon’s birthday. The Stop Club has also posted October’s schedule on their web site.
I think there are a few explainations as to the lower Diasporan turnout, etc. From my own experience promoting Armenian rock in the Diaspora just as recently as Saturday night with Gor here in Boston with only about 60 people showing up, people just aren’t ready to accept new forms of music in our community just yet. They are still stuck in the trap of Nune/Rabiz/Traditional genres for the most part. Yes, there are those that are more open minded about music in our community, but, for the most part that is a rare exception to the rule. We had 800 people to watch Nune and Ara Gevorkian respsectively, and we get about 100 people if lucky to see Gor. It’s just the way it goes. So, my conclusion is that people have to be educated and force fed new music, told it’s OK to like different music, and then encouraged to give new Armenian music a chance. The other reason for a low turnout is always marketing and advertisement. All the blame cannot be placed on the audience as new bands have to continually seek more clever methods of attracting new listeners.
For Bambir 2, I would recommend the following. 1. Tour outide of Armenia by hooking up with a manager like Arman Padarian. Get gigs in major Diaspora outlets. 2. Within Armenia, keep playing about once a week so as to not oversaturate their exposure. 3. Assemble a street team in Yerevan targeted toward hotels and businesses to offer incentives to attend concerts. 4. Start writing more Armenian music as North American Diasporans (part of your target market) do not buy into cover songs given their preference to hear Armenian music from Armenian musicians. After all, we have plenty of good cover and original bands here. 5. Lastly, do not give up and keep building an audience. It will take time and patience, but the payoff is nice.
Good luck to Bambir 2.
Comment by Raffi Meneshian — October 3, 2005 @ 2:34 pm
Carnival of Revolutions Home Base.
In this time, in our time, we’re witnessing history unfolding every day, a spontaneous explosion of political activity breaking out around the world. We’ve seen it in Ukraine. We’ve seen it in Lebanon. But it’s happening in countless other…
Trackback by WILLisms.com — October 3, 2005 @ 4:48 pm
Armenia: Dispatch from the Music Scene
Oneworld Multimedia reports that Bambir’s latest concert in Yerevan was excellent, and that despite their popularity with locals and foreigners alike, the band has yet to become popular with Diasporan Armenians.
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Trackback by Global Voices Online — October 4, 2005 @ 12:23 am
Actually, the night I went to see Bambir 2 in Yerevan, most of the crowd were Diasporans from Iran with a few North American Diasporans thrown in there for good measure. Very few locals, to be quite honest.
Comment by Raffi Meneshian — October 4, 2005 @ 11:12 am
well that’s nice to hear. As I recall, I got there as the show was coming to a close so didn’t see the audience that particular night. However, on every other night, it’s mainly locals. Glad one night was a little different.
Comment by Administrator — October 4, 2005 @ 1:37 pm