Creative Armenia and Serj Tankian release a compilation album of 7 Notes Challenge
In 2017 Serj Tankian unveiled his 7 Notes music challenge, produced by Creative Armenia. Now, both come together to launch a compilation album of the most outstanding songs submitted, out of thousands
September 17, 2019 | by Creative Armenia
Creative Armenia and Grammy-Award winning artist, System of a Down frontman, songwriter, composer, poet and visual artist Serj Tankian are happy to announce the release of the 7 Notes Challenge, a compilation album that includes the most remarkable of the thousands of submissions received from around the world. The 17 song album from various artists is available now on all major streaming and download platforms across the globe at https://bit.ly/2lUE7Xw.
The exclusive music challenge was launched by Creative Armenia back in October 2017 with a $5,000 top prize and 7 notes written by Tankian. The applicants were asked to write original song starting with the 7 notes.
Over 2000 outstanding submissions were received from more than 60 countries, ranging between diverse genres. The submissions were evaluated by System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian; Capital Cities star Sebu Simonian; jazz phenom and composer Tigran Hamasyan; jazz pianist and composer, Honored Artist of the Republic of Armenia Vahagn Hayrapetyan; professor and Founding Dean of the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, Judith Smith; and the iconic rock star and challenger himself – Serj Tankian. As a result of the in-depth evaluation, the $5,000 prize was shared by Alpha Lighting System (Mexico) and Mariam Petrosian (Armenia).
The album showcases the two winning songs — life.exe by Alpha Lighting System and Here I Come by Mariam Petrosian — along with 15 other favorites from among those submitted.
“All of the inspiration is out there for us to take,” said Serj Tankian. “If you’re an artist, you paint it…if you’re a musician, you compose it. The skill comes from the presentation. That’s what we learn over the years, how to best present this. This music, this muse, so that it’s palpable, it’s original, it’s appreciated and emotive.”
“One very simple challenge, consisting of seven musical notes, generated thousands of songs across every genre you can imagine, and now a beautiful album showcasing 17 diverse and serious talents from all over the world,” said Alec Mouhibian, vice president of Creative Armenia. “This is the Creative Armenia system in action.”
The two winning tracks stylistically bookend the wide spectrum of wonderfully diverse, experimental and lush songs from the rest of the contributing talented musicians that make up the 7 Notes Challenge compilation.
Below is the full tracklist of the 7 Notes Challenge compilation album and the associated performing artists:
1. life.exe – by Alpha Lighting System
2. Farewell – by Alejandro Gwynn Peña
3. Sweet and Spicy – by Andrés Montero
4. Counting Seconds – by Cygnus Flare
5. Prelude in Cm – by Artashes Baghdasaryan
6. Only Time – by Briar Prastiti
7. Snötäckt – by Cecilia Moore
8. KLOK – by Christophe Reitz
9. Soledad – by Memo
10. Water and Moon – by Synthgirl I-rena & Driezhas
11. Aramazd’s Lament – by Jean Belanger
12. Here I Come – by Mariam Petrosian
13. Realigned – by Matt Davies
14. I’m Alive – by PapaFaxe
15. Road to the Sun – by Syune Ghazaryan
16. Siete Notas, Siete Colores – by Tigran Ayvazyan
17. Suicide of Death, Beginning of Life – by Aidin Davoudi