DOGMA

Ethnic Prog Rock

dogma.am

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/ethnic-methnic/id388845833

From the band's website dogma.am:

"Dogma’s music is an extremely unique and a compound fusion of Armenian ethnic melody and progressive metal elements, which can transfer the listener from a powerful mountainous landscape to a serene apricot garden in the blazing sun. The Classic Rock Presents Prog Magazine describes it as: “Aggressive riffs, ethnic vibes and psychedelic soundscapes all wrapped up with stunning delicate female vocals”.
The band was created in 2008 in Yerevan....It was found by two Armenian very famous musicians – bassist Vardan Grigoryan and guitarist Heno Grigoryan, who both played in the legendary in Transcaucasia MDP band from 1994 to 2007.
In December 2007 a young and charming vocalist Zara, who was totally unknown to the music sphere, joined Vardan and Heno. Soon after that, on January 3, 2008, Derik Vardumyan, who is a famous musician and drummer in the metal sphere of Armenia, teamed up with them.

The first private concert of the band took place on January 5, 2008, in the small hall of the Yerevan State Puppet Theatre in front of an audience of just friends, musicians and journalists. It turned out to be something impressive indeed, something rather unexpected. And this was Dogma's triumphal start.
After two sold-out concerts, private concerts in their studio and 7 well-received festival appearances (also as organizators) and active public engagement during a year, in the beginning of 2009 the band celebrated its 1st anniversary and started the studio work on the debut album, which was unleashed in December 2009 with the unordinary title "Ethnic-Methnic" to more closely depict what is inside.
In the beginning of 2010 Zara was invited by Ian Anderson, from the legendary British band “Jethro Tull”, to do the guest act for his show in Yerevan on September 24. During this fantastic concert Zara performed together with Ian, presenting two songs of Jethro Tull and two Dogma songs. In Ian's words, Dogma is...."The best musical metal band this side of Mars. Amazing bass player. Brilliant vocals. Searing guitar. Thundering neutron drums. This band feature instruments which are weapons of mass destruction.... Oh, to be so young."
In May 2012 Dogma was invited by the German well-known «Wave Gotik Treffen» Festival and played a concert at the Leipzig Central Theatre on May 28.
On February 25, 2012, Dogma made part of the musical project “A to A: The World in Harmony”. The project was a synergy between the Luys Foundation, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the United States Embassy in Armenia, the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra and Dogma band. Dogma presented four musical pieces composed with “Hyperscore” by the children from the United States and Armenia, led by renowned Composer and Inventor Tod Machover.
It was October, if I'm not mistaken, I was in the studio working on one of the «masterpieces» of the Armenian rock, when a charming, original, a bit strange and tiny girl appeared on the threshold. She wanted to present her pieces and get recorded... She sang a song... read her lyrics... and everything was clear to me... I found what I'd been searching for many years... beautiul voice, pure Armenian way of thinking, healthy logic... in a word – she was our type... Zara became the treasure of our band...
During the same period one of the best metal bands in Armenia breaks down. I knew their drummer Derik for a long time, and liked him both as a musician and as a human, who has an immense sense of humor, and, something more improtant for us, has a good command of Armenian spiritual and folk music. As a matter of fact, I offered Derik to join our newly created band. The offer was accepted.
Heno... A guitarist who doesn’t resemble anyone... we’ve been playing, thinking, creating together for over 15 years... I guess it says everything...
Vardan Grigoryan
We consider Dogma's birth rather fatalistic, or God's Will in favor of music, which is the most important and unexplainable thing ever been created and being created by the humanity.
Music is ahead of everything – DOGMA"