Ara Dinkjian

Night Ark reunited for a performance at the Jerusalem International Oud Festival on November 11, 2010.

At the 2008 Oud Festival in Israel, he recorded an album with Sokratis Sinopoulos – lyra (Greece), Tamer Pinarbasi – kanun (Turkey), Rimon Haddad – bass (Palestina) and Zohar Fresco – percussion (Israel), and named it Peace on Earth.

His first solo CD, An Armenian in America, was recorded live at the 2005 International Oud Festival in Jerusalem.

In 2002, Dinkjian was chosen to represent Armenia in the First International Meeting Of The Oud, where twelve of the world’s top oud players gathered in Thessaloniki, Greece for three days of solo concerts, master classes, and exchange of information.

He formed his band Night Ark in 1986, which introduced listeners to a new blend of Anatolian roots music fused with jazz.

His first album under the Night Ark band name was Picture, released in 1986.

Ara Dinkjian's band, Night Ark, came together in 1986 after Steve Backer, a producer for RCA, heard a demo of one of Dinkjian's original compositions and promptly issued an invitation to record.

Born in New Jersey to Armenian parents, Dinkjian made his professional debut at age five playing on the doumbag at the 1964 New York World's Fair. He accompanied John Berberian and George Mgrdichian. His earliest professional musical experience was accompanying his father Onnik Dinkjian, a renowned Armenian folk and liturgical singer. He received a scholarship to The Hartt School, a performing arts college in Hartford, Connecticut. Dinkjian learned several western and eastern instruments (piano, guitar, darbuka) and in 1980 graduated from the Hartt College of Music, earning the country’s first and only special degree in the instrument for which he has become most well-known, the oud.

Ara Dinkjian (Armenian: Արա Տինքճեան ; born 1958) is an Armenian-American musician. He is the founder of the band Night Ark. Dinkjian is considered one of the top oud players in the world, his compositions have been recorded in thirteen different languages, which include the multi-platinum hit "Dinata" which was performed in the closing ceremonies of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.