Vostan Hayots

The rock group “Ostan Armenians” is one of the representatives of the “third wave” of Armenian rock music. The group was founded in 1986 by director, composer, bassist, luminary Areg Nazaryan (1964-2019). In a short time, the group gained great popularity in Armenia and became one of the symbols of the national liberation movement of the 1980s. The music of “Ostan Armenians” is based on the Armenian folk musical thinking. The combination of the latter with the saturated instrumental sound characteristic of hard rock and the elements of art-rock laid the foundation for a new wave of Armenian music. The first members of the group were Areg Nazaryan – bass guitar, vocals, Yohan Kostanin (Hovhannes Kurghinyan) – vocals, Mkrtich Babayan – keyboard instruments, Varuzhan Ughurlyan – guitar, Ashot Ghadyan – drums. Later, Mkrtich Babayan was replaced by Vahe Khachatryan. From the very first years of its activity, the band has been active in concerts throughout Armenia, participated in a number of rock festivals, among which the Bicycle Square (1987), Sisian (1992-93), Gaudeamus (1994-96) festivals are notable. series of concerts in Yerevan, Stepanakert and elsewhere. In 1992-94, the main composition of the group was formed: Areg Nazaryan – bass guitar, vocals, Yohan Kostani (H. Kurghinyan) – vocals, Davit Musheghyan – guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals, and Levon Hakhverdyan – drums. During its 35 years of activity, the group released a number of singles and videos, two studio albums: “Wake Up, Son” (1989) and “Chimers” (1996), which gained wide recognition not only among Armenian music lovers, but also many among professionals both in Armenia and outside Armenia. 2019 On March 13, after the untimely death of Areg Nazaryan, the band’s bass guitarist, the group’s concert activities took a certain break. However, at the “Armenia In Rock” festival organized by the Armenian Rock Association in the summer of 2019, the “Ostan Armenians” group took the stage with a new composition (bass guitar: Sahak Ghazaryan, guitar: Narek Kurghinyan) and dedicated their performance to the memory of Areg Nazaryan. Now the group is busy with the process of creating a new album, in addition, the two members of the group – Davit Musheghyan and Hovhannes Kurghinyan – continue to present the group’s music to the public in the form of “ID Project” in the Vostan Hayots Unplugged format.