Arto Tunçboyacıyan

b. 1957, Galataria, Turkey. Tunçboyaciyan is a well known session musician in his home country as well as being renowned for his percussion work for artists such as Joe Zawinul, Chet Baker and Oregon, and has appeared on over 2, 000 recordings. He released his solo debut, Virgin Land, in 1989 but his first widely available album, Every Day Is A New Life, was not issued until 2000.


Tunçboyaciyan is the youngest child of an Armenian family and was inspired to create music by his brother Onno, a composer and bass player. By the age of 11, Arto was a percussionist in a band alongside his brother. When his brother subsequently formed his own band, Arto joined playing trombone and percussion. He moved to the USA in 1981 where he carved out a respectable session career collaborating with jazz and world musicians, while also releasing the occasional solo album and recording with the instrumental jazz quartet Night Ark. The death of his brother in a 1996 plane accident appears (understandably) to have been a major influence on Tunçboyaciyan’s output. The event was the emotional catalyst for, Tears Of Dignity (1996) and Onno (1998), with Armenian ud player and Night Ark member Ara Dinkjian. The latter album included tracks entitled ‘My Royal Brother’, ‘I Know You Hear Me’, and ‘Rolling In My Sleep’. The theme was revisited on 2000’s US debut Every Day Is A New Life with the tracks ‘I Miss You Every Moment My Brother’ and ‘Dear My Friend Onno’. On this album, Tunçboyaciyan accompanied himself on the sazabo (a traditional six-stringed lute), soloed on the traditional double-reed duduk, and played percussion.


In 1998, Tunçboyaciyan founded the Armenian Navy Band (Armenia is landlocked), a small orchestra rooted in Armenian and Anatolian traditional music. The band was formed with the explicit intention of creating a group to represent the sound of contemporary Armenia, and has recorded several albums including Bzdik Zinvor (1999) and New Apricot (2001). Tunçboyaciyan has also recorded with US alt-metal band System Of A Down (whose members are of Armenian heritage), appearing on Toxicity (2001) and Steal This Album! (2002), playing everything from an empty Coke bottle to his bare chest to a bucket filled with water. In 2003, Tunçboyaciyan collaborated on an album with System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian as Serart. At the start of 2005 he released two simultaneous albums, a duo project with Armenian Navy Band pianist Vahagn Hayrapetyan and the solo Artostan.