Inga and Anush Arshakyan

Inga and Anush Arshakyan (Armenian: Ինգա և Անուշ Արշակյաններ), or, the Arshakyan Sisters (Armenian: Արշակյան քույրեր), are an Armenian folk singing duo. The sisters represented Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, eventually finishing in 10th place in the final.

Inga & Anush
Background information
Birth nameInga Arshakyan
Anush Arshakyan
Born (1982-03-18) 18 March 1982 (Inga)
(1980-12-24) 24 December 1980 (Anush)
Yerevan, Armenian SSR, USSR
OriginYerevan, Armenia
Genres
Years active2000–present
LabelsSHARM Holding LLC
Associated actsGenealogy

Early life

Anush was born on 24 December 1980 in Yerevan. She graduated from S. Aslamazyan music school, in piano. In 1994, she came first and was awarded the audience prize in the "Sonorous Voices" competition that took place in Omsk. In that period, she started promoting herself as a writer/composer. As soon as she graduated in 2001, she entered and graduated from A. Babajanyan music college, in piano. In 1999, she made her debut as a soloist together with Armenia State Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus. From 2001 to 2005, she studied at Yerevan State Conservatory, and graduated in jazz-vocal.

Her sister Inga was born on 18 March 1982, in Yerevan. She also graduated from S. Aslamazyan music school and A. Babajanyan music college, as a violinist in 1997. Parallel with her studies she was working in the G. Achemyan violin ensemble. She toured with the ensemble to Armenian provinces. In 1998, Inga joined her sister and together they promoted their activities. Not only duets, but also arias, where the violin plays a great role, are present in the repertoire. In 2002 graduating in strings, she followed her sister into the Yerevan State Conservatory, jazz vocal class, graduating in 2005.

Career

In 2000, Inga and Anush entered the State Song Theater of Armenia. Both of them performed national, ethnic songs and songs written by A. Grigoryan and Anush. They sang in many cities of Armenia as soloists.

In September 2002, they left for the United States for a concert tour with song theatre soloists. After the concerts at "Alex" Theatre in Los Angeles, the sisters immediately got an offer to appear on the same stage with solo concerts. The song theater left for Tehran with the same program.

In 2002, the Armenian variety song festival Golden Lyre 2002 congratulated Anush and Inga on the "Sympathy of Audience" nomination. In February 2003, the Seasons of Life concert program was prepared, the producer was A. Grigoryan. Ethnic, national as well as modern songs were included in the musical performance, as well as songs to the accompaniment of violin, guitar and piano.

In March 2003, solo concerts of Inga and Anush took place in the "Alex" Theater. At the same time their first album We and our Mountains was released. This was followed by invitations to appear on stage with the same program in New York City, Toronto, Argentina and Paris. Eventually in November, they left the theatre staff and started working on their own.

In 2004, their rendition of the folk song "Tamzara" was announced as the winner of the Golden Lyre 2004 festival. Additionally the song won the Tigran Naghdalyan award in the National Music Awards in December 2005. A video for the song was released the same year, and it was later included on their second album Tamzara, which was released in 2006.

Following the album release, they gave performances on tours in the USA, Tehran, London, Paris, Russia and Germany. From 2008, Inga and Anush Arshakayan have cooperated with SHARM Holding LLC.

Inga and Anush's third studio album Heartbeat of my Land was released in November 2009. The album's single Menq Enq Mer Sarerệ, was selected as the 2009 song for the annual Armenian Telethon, under the name "Our Shushi", with the duet also performing at the televised show on 26 November 2009. On 21 May, Inga & Anush started a tour to promote their album Heartbeat of my Land. Their first show was in Yerevan, having several other appearances in Syria, Beirut and Russia.[1][2][3]

Eurovision Song Contest 2009

The Arshakyan Sisters were chosen by the Armenian public on 14 February 2009, to represent the country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 to be held in Moscow, Russia, with the song "Jan Jan".[4][5][6]

"Our song for Eurovision is written in the genre of folk, with elements of contemporary music trends" - said Anush Arshakyan at the press conference before the trip to Moscow. The song's music was composed by Mane Akopyan, and lyrics by Avet Barseghyan (the Armenian part) and Vardan Zadoyan (the English part) arrangement has been prepared by Ara (Murzo) Torosyan. In her words, their goal is to represent Armenian folk music in a new way. "Small countries like Armenia should always take part in contests such as Eurovision, to present their culture to the world," - said the singer. "Contest success depends not only on the artists, but from our side we will try to do everything to achieve victory in Moscow," said Anush Arshakyan, adding that they would start preparations immediately.[7]

The song won a place in the Eurovision final on 16 May, winning one of ten spots from the first semi final on 12 May. They eventually finished in 10th place with 92 points. Although it was Armenia's less successful performance in the Eurovision so far (until 2011), it gave the country a fourth successive top ten placing.

"Jan Jan" was also the first Armenian song that entered the Pmachinery Top 30. The song entered the chart on 13 June 2009 at number 26. Its highest chart position was number 3[8] (1 August 2009) and it remained in the chart for 16 weeks.

Eurovision Song Contest 2015

Inga represented Armenia again in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 as a member of the group Genealogy.

Discography

Albums

Singles
  • 2006: "Թամզարա" (Tamzara)
  • 2006: "Խլպանե" (Khlpane)
  • 2007: "Հարսանեկան" (Marry song)
  • 2009: "Jan Jan"
  • 2009: "Գութան" (Gutan)
  • 2009: "Ճանապարհ" (The road)
  • 2009: "You Will Not Be Alone"
  • 2009: "Դոն հայ" (Don Hay)
  • 2009: "Մենք ենք մեր սարերը" (We are our mountains)
  • 2011: "Սեր Երևան" (Love Yerevan)
  • 2011: "Իմ անունը Հայաստան է" (My name is Armenia)
  • 2012: "Հայ հայ" (Hay Hay [Hye hye])

Videography
  • 2006: Inga & Anush.Live concert
  • 2011: The road

Awards
Year Award Category City Result
2015 Armenian Pulse Music Awards Best Video Yerevan Won

See also

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 28 June 2018. Retrieved 12 November 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 October 2018. Retrieved 12 November 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 October 2018. Retrieved 12 November 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. Klier, Marcus (14 February 2009). "Armenia: Eurovision entrant chosen". ESCToday. Retrieved 14 February 2009.
  5. Brey, Marco (14 February 2009). "Armenia decided - Inga & Anush to Moscow". EBU. Retrieved 14 February 2009.
  6. Wells, Simon (14 February 2009). "Arshakyan sisters to represent Armenia". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 18 February 2009. Retrieved 14 February 2009.
  7. "Armenia at Eurovision Song Contest 2009 - Армения на конкурсе песни Евровидение 2009". Esckaz.com. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  8. "Pmachinery Top 30, 1 August 2009 - Pmachinery Charts - News". Pmachinery.com. Archived from the original on 25 June 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2013.

Media related to Inga and Anush Arshakyans at Wikimedia Commons

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Sirusho
with Qélé, Qélé		 Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest
2009		 Succeeded by
Eva Rivas
with Apricot Stone
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