Find sounds with Visa, Eagle Rock Festival and Kohar

Friday, September 7 at 11 pm
VISA "de facto" Album Release Party & Live Show
The Derby
4500 Los Feliz Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90027
Derby Phone: (323) 663-8979
Live show is open to the public.
Tickets are $15 or $10 with a flier.

VISA - The Band Visa is old-soul, take-you-to-another-place music at its finest. It's poignantly emotive, hard-charging, no-boundary folk that will lift you out of your seat whether you're a hard-to-please grandparent or a punk-rocking prep.
In 2002, members of the band Neurobox, K'noup, Carlos and Hiram left New York City due to the stagnant music scene after 9/11. Destiny led them to Los Angeles where Visa was born in 2005. Visa's grown into a nine-member, world music phenomena.
K'noup is the mastermind and the voice of Visa. His David Bowie like voice is complimented by the sexy drifts of the duduk. Played by the world famous Djivan Gasparyan's grandson, the duduk is an ancient flute that intensifies and deepens the band's progressive arrangements. While the percussion and drums create a dramatic and passionate beat.Visa fuses the intensity of Middle Eastern rhythms and the sincerity of folk. This music is pervaded by sonorities taken from Arabic, Armenian and Greek traditions blended with elements of rock and dance. K'noup's original compositions resonate the sounds of past generations taking life in modern times. Each band member's distinct cultural roots and differing musical tastes weave the multi-ethnic sounds. The results are hip shaking and pulsating music that is pure pleasure.
Visa performances evoke the urge to drift to exotic far away lands. K'noup commands the stage with his voice and presence and the band plays in perfect cadence. The audience is captivated and cannot escape the tribal beat.
Where can you experience Visa live? El Rey Theater, the Roxy, the Knitting Factory, the Derby, and the Alex Theater in Glendale are among the many local venues. Visa loves to perform live and has garnered a large following in Los Angeles. To satisfy their fans' demand for more, Visa has just finished recording their second album, De Facto which will be released on September 7, 2007.
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Los Angeles City Councilmember Jose Huizar and Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock will present the Ninth Annual Eagle Rock Music Festival, a free community street music festival on Colorado Boulevard in the community of Eagle Rock, on Saturday, October 6, 2007, from 5 p.m.-Midnight.
The festival will host an eclectic, multicultural, innovative, and local lineup, with more than 30 artists. Stages will include two outdoor main stages, with a stage featuring headlining world and rock acts and multiple showcases up and down Colorado Boulevard.

A variety of genres will be represented, and the following artists:
- Afro-Cuban jazz pianist Chuchito Valdés, son of piano legend ChuchoValdés, headlining the Global Stage
- French-Chinese chanteuse Jessica Fichot, reggae and dub from Black Shakespeare, Michelle Green
- the Mariachi Divas (who appear courtesy of the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the Recording Industries' Music Performance Fund through the assistance of Professional Musicians Union Local 47)
- A showcase at the Women's Twentieth Century Club with Mia Doi Todd, HECUBA, We You., Leslie and the Badgers, and B is for Baroness
- Local indie acts The Pity Party, Bodies of Water, The Mormons, Tsk Tsk, Café Fuego, El-Haru Kuroi, and The Mama Suki
- A hip-hop showcase behind IMIX Bookstore, programmed by KPFK Divine Forces Radio DJ Fidel Rodriguez
- Jazz at Camilo's with the Juan Vega Trio and the Tim Emmons Trio
- Renaissance Arts Vocal Ensemble, a children's choir, at the Renaissance Arts Academy
- Interactive percussion on non-traditional, industrial items in a performance from GLANK

Additional headliner announcements to take place in the coming week The free Eagle Rock Music Festival is a musical expression of the individual sensibility and community character of Eagle Rock and the surrounding communities of Northeast Los Angeles! Musicians perform in unique venues ranging from tire shops to coffee shops—and even motel poolside— up and down Colorado Boulevard, which will be closed to traffic and open to pedestrians between Eagle Rock Boulevard and Argus Street. Music venues will include stages at Rantz, the American Tire Depot, Renaissance Arts Academy, Panang, Columbo's, Camilo's California Bistro, Bateman Water Heater, Swork, and the Welcome Inn. Main stages will be at Caspar and Shearin, and Merton and Colorado.
Updates on the growing line-up of artists and a schedule can be found on the festival's MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/eaglerockmusicfestival.
The Eagle Rock Music Festival is a centerpiece in the free arts programming of Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock, one of the last remaining arts and cultural programming centers in Northeast LosAngeles. The Ninth Annual Eagle Rock Music Festival is being presented with the generous support of Time Warner Cable, Bank of America Foundation, Metromix L.A., Eagle Rock Plaza, the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council, the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the L.A.County Arts Commission, the Women's Twentieth Century Club, and the community and businesses of Eagle Rock. Media partners include Pasadena Weekly, L.A. Record, Citizen L.A., Boulevard Sentinel, and The Arroyo Seco Journal.
Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock is a non-profit 501(c) 3 organizationwhose mission is to provide multicultural and innovative arts programming to the communities of Northeast Los Angeles. Programs include exhibitions, community festivals, free and low-cost after school arts classes, a Summer Art Camp, and more. The Center is located at 2225 Colorado Boulevard in the Los Angeles community of Eagle Rock, close to the intersection of Eagle Rock and Colorado Boulevards. For more information on the Center for the Arts, and its creative community programs, call 323-226-1617. or e-mail info@centerartseaglerock.org

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KOHAR, an internationally acclaimed symphony orchestra and choir based in Gyumri, Armenia, will grace the U.S. and Canada for the first time in an eight-city North American tour, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Chicago, Boston,Toronto, Montreal and New York.
KOHAR is comprised of 150 performing artists, musicians, choral singers, soloists, dancers, and a pantomime, fusing the sounds of Armenian culture and heritage with classical music. KOHAR Symphony Orchestra & Choir is the only symphony orchestra that integrates jazz music with traditional Armenian instruments to generate classical sound.
With audiences throughout the Near East and Europe and fans worldwide, KOHAR Symphony Orchestra and Choir of Gyumri has performed in Beirut, Lebanon; Nicosia, Cyprus; Istanbul, Turkey; and Moscow, Russia.
KOHAR Symphony Orchestra & Choir's DVD was bestowed the Anoush Achievement Award during the seventh annual Armenian Music Awards, held at the Hollywood Palladium in California in May 2005. The award was presented to KOHAR for its contribution to Armenian culture, which is exemplified in the All Time Armenian Favourites DVD.
Less than 20 years ago, on December 7, 1988, eighty percent of Gyumrilay under rubble, as a devastating earthquake hit Armenia, nearly demolishing the city of Gyumri and killing 10,000 inhabitants. The brothers Khatchadourian of Lebanon—Harout, Shahe, and Nar—prompted by their hearts and able to give generously, provided much-needed assistance to a city that still lacked permanent housing and employment opportunities. The brothers did more than revive a shattered economy, they nurtured talent and excellence as well, and in the process helped to revive a downtrodden city's spirit, as they established the KOHAR Music School for gifted children, founded in 1997, in honor of their parents Koharand Aram, and named after their mother.
The school was built in an old factory where the finest musicians were hired as instructors, using top-of-the-line instruments and classrooms furnished with the most modern equipment. In only three years, the school gave birth to a symphony orchestra and choir, under the artistic direction of Maestro Sebouh Abkarian of Cyprus.

CITIES, DATES AND LOCATIONS OF KOHAR'S AMERICAS TOUR INCLUDE:
Los Angeles
Thursday, October 18, 2007 at 8:15 PM
Gibson Amphitheatre Universal CityWalk
Universal City, CA 91608
Tickets ($25 - $150) are on sale now at each venue box office, via Ticketmaster and KoharConcert.com. Groups of 100+ may be eligible fora 10% discount, subject to availability. For details, visit www.KoharConcert.com or call 323-469-7356.