Melodic basis

Traditional Armenian folk music as well as Armenian church music is not based on the European tonal system but on a system of Tetrachords.[1] The last note of one tetrachord also serves as the first note of the next tetrachord - which makes a lot of Armenian folk music more or less based on a theoretically endless scale.

Earlier in Armenian history, instruments like the kamancha were played by popular, travelling musicians called ashoughs. Sayat Nova, an 18th-century Ashough, is revered in Armenia. Performers such as Armenak Shahmuradian, Vagharshak Sahakian, Norayr Mnatsakanyan, Hovhannes Badalyan, Hayrik Muradyan, Raffi Hovhannisyan, Papin Poghosian, and Hamlet Gevorgyan have been famous in Armenia and are still acclaimed. The most notable female vocalists in the Armenian folk genre have been Araksia Gyulzadyan, Ophelia Hambardzumyan,Varduhi Khachatrian, Valya Samvelyan, Rima Saribekyan, Susanna Safarian, Manik Grigoryan, and Flora Martirosian.

Other Armenian musicians include Ara Topouzian who performs on the kanun and VANArmenya,[3] who sings both folk, children's and patriotic songs, performs on keyboards, and promotes the music of "the other Gomidas," Grikor Mirzaian.[4]

There are several folk ensembles from Armenia, the Shoghaken Folk Ensemble, founded in 1995 in Yerevan,[5] has worldwide popularity,[6] and others such as the Arev Armenian Folk Ensemble.

Arto Tunçboyac?yan is a well known Turkish musician of Armenian descent, who is famous in Turkey and worldwide, and currently has his own jazz club in Yerevan, Armenia. He was the founder of the Armenian Navy Band.

Ruben Hakobyan (Ruben Sasuntsi) is a well recognized Armenian ethnographic and patriotic folk singer who has achieved widespread national recognition