The 1st Ever Ethiopian at The Eurovision Song Contest

And he is the third member of the band “”, representing Armenia in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest with “Don’t Deny.” Born and raised in Ethiopia, he will represent the continent of Africa in the project.

Vahe Tilbian is an Armenian-Ethiopian artist with an enthusiastic and bright character. He has a unique style: from rock to techno, from reggae to R&B, from Armenian to Ethiopian, and all that mixed with a lot of Latin music. This blend of cultures expresses Vahe’s personality and makes him stand out as an exclusive artist and a passionate dancer.

Genealogy will be uniting the new generation of Armenians spread through 5 continents (Europe, Asia, America, Africa, and Australia) around the world in the year of 1915. The group consists of 6 artists with Armenian origin – 6 destinies with 1 story.

An Armenian Artist from Africa

While Vahe was born and raised in Ethiopia both his parents are of Armenian origin. Vahe heard the call of the stage as a singer only after he graduated from University of British Columbia in Vancouver. After working in the business sector for over three years as a young college graduate, Vahe left his job in 2008 and started working in music full

He joined the band Z Beyaynetus and soon, Kenny Allen, performer and producer from DC residing in Ethiopia, heard him at one of the local bars and asked to sing backing vocals for his album release show with the 251 Band. Shortly afterwards Vahe decided to diversify his genre and repertoire joining a salsa band called Eshee Havana and worked on original remixes of Ethiopian songs into salsa music. In 2011 he reached the final auditions of Big Brother Africa.

Vahe wrote the lyrics to his first song called Life Or Something Like It in 2010. This gave him the enthusiasm and courage to write more songs. In November 2012 Vahe released his first album titled Mixology. In May of 2013 Vahe released Yene Tizita, a new rendition of the an old Ethiopian style of song.

A graduate of the Vancouver University, Canada, Vahe began demonstrating a serious interest in music upon obtaining his bachelor’s degrees in biology. He commenced as a senior tenor in the choir “The Motley Singers”.

The young singer’s first song, “Life or Something Like it”, was released in 2010. In 2012, his single “Don’t Stop” won the third place in the Armenian Pulse Music Award.

Later the same year, he completed the disc “Mixology” which was released for free.

In 2013, the singer released the song Yene Tizita (Nostalgia or Memories), which was a reproduced version of an old Ethiopian prototype. Its director and producer are Aramazd Kalajian and Mulugeta Amaru.

For the past two years, Vahe has been the soloist of Zemen Band. He has collaborated with singers Zeritu Kebede and Michael Belayneh, and the Nubian Arc Band. The ethnic Armenian singer has also been a back vocalist and first concert performer for Abby Lakew, Nhatty, Tsedenya Gebremarkos, Eyob Mekonnen and Shewandagn Hailu. He has performed concerts with Oliver Mtukudzi and Vee and Liz Ogumbo during tours in Ethiopia.

Vahe has been a correspondent for the Ethiopia-based Zoma Magazine; he can freely expresses his thoughts in Armenian, English, Amharic, Italian and French.

The young singer now intends to release two more discs, of which one will be completely Armenian, while the other will feature the Ethiopian musical culture, at the same time presenting a mix of equivalent elements.

The Eurovision 2016 semifinals are due on May 19 and 21. The final concert will take place on May 23.

—Keeping Up With The Kardashians circa 1900! How Kim’s ancestors heeded prophet’s warning of looming slaughter to escape rural Armenia for a new life in the U.S.

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