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The Gillan/Iommi awards
The music school in Armenia that Ian Gillan and Tony Iommi helped to reopen after the devastating 1988 earthquake now has a couple of awards named after them.
The initiative aims to recognize the school’s best vocalists and qanun players each year. Ian Gillan and Tony Iommi warmly welcomed the idea, while IDBank undertook the funding of the awards.
Based on video recordings submitted by the school featuring several vocal and qanun performances, Ian Gillan and Tony Iommi personally selected the first award recipients: sixth-grade student Narek Zakaryan in the vocal category and fourth-grade student Monika Nersisyan in the qanun category.
Thanks to PanArmenian.net for the info.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Good to see, a nice positive initiative this has always been. Thanks for posting. Cheers.
June 2nd, 2026 at 01:47More songs from that Who Cares sessions would be an absolute dream, or new recordings in that vain. No need to wait for another earthquake…
June 2nd, 2026 at 10:09Yes, it’s hope-instilling that this project has survived all these years. Even without earthquakes, Armenia hasn’t had it easy more recently with belligerent neighbors, watchful superpowers and all.
June 2nd, 2026 at 12:52