Biography
Born in 1957 in Galataria, Turkey, Tunçboyaciyan built a strong reputation as a session player within his native country while earning wider notice for his percussion contributions alongside Joe Zawinul, Chet Baker and Oregon, ultimately appearing on more than 2,000 recordings. His first solo effort, Virgin Land, came out in 1989, yet widespread availability arrived only with the 2000 release Every Day Is A New Life.
The youngest member of an Armenian family, he drew his initial creative spark from older brother Onno, a composer and bass player. At eleven he was already performing as a percussionist in a group that included Onno; when his sibling later started a separate ensemble, Tunçboyaciyan joined on trombone and percussion. Relocating to the United States in 1981, he established a solid session presence among jazz and world-music artists, issued sporadic solo projects, and recorded with the instrumental quartet Night Ark.
The 1996 plane crash that claimed his brother’s life left a deep imprint on his work, serving as the emotional core of Tears Of Dignity in 1996 and Onno in 1998, the latter recorded with Armenian ud player and Night Ark member Ara Dinkjian and featuring the tracks “My Royal Brother,” “I Know You Hear Me” and “Rolling In My Sleep.” That same theme resurfaced on the U.S. debut Every Day Is A New Life through the pieces “I Miss You Every Moment My Brother” and “Dear My Friend Onno,” where Tunçboyaciyan played sazabo, a traditional six-stringed lute, soloed on the double-reed duduk and handled percussion.
In 1998 he assembled the Armenian Navy Band, a compact ensemble grounded in Armenian and Anatolian traditions and conceived expressly to embody the sound of present-day Armenia; the group has issued several recordings, among them Bzdik Zinvor in 1999 and New Apricot in 2001. He also contributed to System Of A Down’s Toxicity in 2001 and Steal This Album! in 2002, using an empty Coke bottle, his bare chest and a water-filled bucket among other unconventional sound sources. A 2003 collaboration with the band’s frontman Serj Tankian appeared under the name Serart. At the beginning of 2005 two albums surfaced simultaneously: a duo project with Armenian Navy Band pianist Vahagn Hayrapetyan and the solo recording Artostan.
The youngest member of an Armenian family, he drew his initial creative spark from older brother Onno, a composer and bass player. At eleven he was already performing as a percussionist in a group that included Onno; when his sibling later started a separate ensemble, Tunçboyaciyan joined on trombone and percussion. Relocating to the United States in 1981, he established a solid session presence among jazz and world-music artists, issued sporadic solo projects, and recorded with the instrumental quartet Night Ark.
The 1996 plane crash that claimed his brother’s life left a deep imprint on his work, serving as the emotional core of Tears Of Dignity in 1996 and Onno in 1998, the latter recorded with Armenian ud player and Night Ark member Ara Dinkjian and featuring the tracks “My Royal Brother,” “I Know You Hear Me” and “Rolling In My Sleep.” That same theme resurfaced on the U.S. debut Every Day Is A New Life through the pieces “I Miss You Every Moment My Brother” and “Dear My Friend Onno,” where Tunçboyaciyan played sazabo, a traditional six-stringed lute, soloed on the double-reed duduk and handled percussion.
In 1998 he assembled the Armenian Navy Band, a compact ensemble grounded in Armenian and Anatolian traditions and conceived expressly to embody the sound of present-day Armenia; the group has issued several recordings, among them Bzdik Zinvor in 1999 and New Apricot in 2001. He also contributed to System Of A Down’s Toxicity in 2001 and Steal This Album! in 2002, using an empty Coke bottle, his bare chest and a water-filled bucket among other unconventional sound sources. A 2003 collaboration with the band’s frontman Serj Tankian appeared under the name Serart. At the beginning of 2005 two albums surfaced simultaneously: a duo project with Armenian Navy Band pianist Vahagn Hayrapetyan and the solo recording Artostan.
Albums
