Thursday, February 23 at 8 pm in Royce Hall
UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA) presents Armenia’s leading folk jazz and ethno-fusion ensemble MVF Band on Thursday, February 23 at 8 pm in Royce Hall.
Composed of tar and vocals player Miqayel Voskanyan, saxophonists Davit Melkonyan and Arman Peshtmaljyan, bassist Gurgen Ghazaryan and drummer Movses Ghazaryan, the quintet will be performing songs from their highly acclaimed album Nightology along with other repertory.
Carved from a single block of mulberry wood, the long-necked tar has been the faithful string instrument companion of generations of Armenian bards. It’s found a new life as a front-and-center jazz voice, thanks to the innovators of MVF Band (short for Miqayel Voskanyan and Friends). Sometimes as sharp and percussive as a banjo, sometimes subtle and soft-spoken, in the capable hands of band leader and singer Voskanyan, the tar speaks powerfully of contemporary life’s struggles and joys.
Centering the eleven-string tar, Miqayel Voskanyan’s quintet draws on polyphonic roots, global rhythms, funk and jazz’s tight grooves and improvisational play. MVF Band has spent the last decade exploring new directions in Armenian music and perfecting their on-stage connection. Moving across genres, they have played major jazz festivals around eastern Europe and central Asia, represented Armenia at music industry events like MIDEM in France, and performed at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and the Ford Theatre in Los Angeles, CA. Known for intertwining ancient folk idioms with progressive arrangements and original compositions, MVF Band challenges conventional thinking about the cross pollination of eastern and western sounds and genres.
MVF Band is part of Center Stage, a public diplomacy initiative of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs with funding provided by the US government, administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts in cooperation with the US Regional Arts Organizations. General management is provided by Lisa Booth Management Inc.
The CAP UCLA 2023 spring programs continue on March 3-4 with Shamel Pitts’ Touch of RED.
Tickets are $38 and are available now at cap.ucla.edu, 310-825-2101 and the UCLA Central Ticket Office.
