YEREVAN, JULY 2, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian young musicians will participate in the annual “Folklife” festival organized by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. During the festival, participants of various states present their ethnic culture and art.

Within the cooperation framework of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Smithsonian Institution, and with the support of “My Armenia” project, one of the TUMO musical projects, the youth folk band “TmbaTa” members will depart for Washington.

During some of the performances of the festival, TUMO members led by Arik Grigoryan, a member of “Bambir” folk rock ban, will join the “Armenian Public Radio” group comprised of Armenians of California.

“They perform original music combining rock and experimental music which is based on the Armenian folk music”, Head of the Communications Department of TUMO Center for Creative Technologies Zara Budaghyan said in an interview with “Armenpress”. “This is the regular work together with the Smithsonian Institution. We have also organized lectures for TUMO students during “My Armenia” project”.

During these lectures, the students presented photos, videos and articles representing the Armenian culture, as well as traditions and the Armenian cuisine. The group members are 30 teenagers who learn all phases of the music development. In their performances, the teenagers are trying to present the Armenian ethnic melodies in modern ways. The group’s name has also been originally selected “TmbaTa” which has similarities with the sounds of the Armenian music.  

Smithsonian "Folklife" festival is a great cultural event which has thousands of visitors. It is organized every year since 1967 and always lasts 2 weeks in late June and the first weeks of July.

The Armenian culture is presented by this movie in combination with TUMO music in the official website of the Smithsonian festival.