YEREVAN–In 1989 Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi and Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan were just a few names in a long list of talent involved in the recording of the Deep Purple track “Smoke on The Water.” This song was re-recorded to raise money for those affected by the Leninakan earthquake that struck Armenia in 1988.
In October of last year both Tony and Ian traveled to Armenia to see how the funds raised had helped the local community. On their trip they visited a music school only to find that it was being operated out of temporary accommodations, with its only location not having been rebuilt 20 years after the earthquake had struck.
Next week Tony and Ian will be heading back into the studio, joined by keyboardist Jon Lord from Deep Purple and Whitesnake and drummer Nicko McBrain from Iron Maiden to record a new track to raise money to rebuild the Armenian music school.
In October 2009, Gillan and Iommi were awarded the Orders Of Honor, which were delivered to them by Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan, for the “Armenia Grateful To Rock” program. The objective of the program, was to express gratitude to those musicians who 20 years ago participated in “Rock Aid Armenia.”
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ROCK ON IAN AND TONY!
Wonderful! Let’s hope that the Music School will be rebuilt eventually after 20 years.
That is so sick!
btw, what happened to the original funds they raised?