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Ayda Erbal, Ozan Aksoy, Bedross Der Matossian, Umut Turem and Ohannes Berin founded NOUR to make life more bearable for themselves -and hopefully for everybody else- one late afternoon in September 2005. Since then, the group took stage in various locations and venues in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Minnesota and Boston. Mark Gavoor came on board when Umut was on leave for field work in Turkey. After trying several configurations including Anoush Mardjanian and Ohannes Berin on percussions, the group downsized to five pieces in October 2006. Ramzi el Edlibi joined the band in late 2006 and Spring 2007 brought NOUR the gentle breeze of violin with Gabrielle Clark. Minnesota Public Channel TPT made a documentary about NOUR which is available as a DVD upon request. NOUR’ishing itself from Middle Eastern polyglot folk traditions, NOUR -Pomegranate in Armenian, Divine Light in Arabic- sings in Armenian, Kurdish, Turkish, Ladino, Arabic, Hebrew, Assyrian, Greek and Persian. The heavenly fruit of the old world symbolizing fertility, abundance, sanctity, NOUR, is rich in anti-oxidants and is proven to enhance its audience’s cardio-vascular health. Ex Oriente Lux concert series strives to illuminate the New World with the divine light that NOUR brought from the Old one.
BINGOL -Avedik Isahakian -Traditional Armenian ..
DERZOR COLLERINDE - Armenian Lamentation in Turkish, for Hrant Dink ..
PENTE XRONIA - Yedikule - Greek -Turkish ..
POR UNA NINA - Traditional Ladino - Ramzi El Edlibi Dancing Flamenco ..
RINDE - Traditional Kurdish - Anonymous ..
KHIO KHIO - Traditional Armenian Women's Song ..
ALLAH ALLAH YA BABA - Tunisian ..