Night Ark’s Treasures is a good primer in the broad intentions of this world-influenced band, formed by Ara Dinkjian in 1985. Dinkjian plays a number of string instruments, including ud, saz and the Portuguese mandolin, and his song settings seem to build outward from a Western-sounding base that are often reminiscent of Oregon’s folk-world-jazz tendencies. Also in the band are keyboardists Shamira Shahinian and Armen Donellan, bassist Ed Schuller and the band’s secret weapon, the dynamic and coloristic Turkish percussionist Arto Tuncboyaciyan.
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