Continued from page 12
Ian
horrified — I saw some things there that
Iwrote a song about, called “Pictures of
Hell.” But not long after that, a few people
got together to raise money , so we
did RockAid Armenia with the guys
frost inside the building, and on the
instruments. But the kids were still turning
up, trying to play music. So on the
plane, we decided that we needed to
build a new school. So went home, got
together some interested parties, and we
built this school (the Octet Music School
in Gyumri), and we sent over a truckload
of instruments — violins, cellos,
pianos, drums. And it was fantastic —
people were crying with happiness. And
what was so profound about it for me
was, a year after that earthquake which
largely went unreported in Western
news, where 25,000 people died and
another quarter of a million became
homeless, a local mayor in Armenia had
Deep Purple (2020)
from Pink Floyd, Bryan Adams, everyone
you could think of in the studio,
playing “Smoke on the Water.” So we
raised a lot of money, and years later we
were honored by the president, so Tony
Iommi and I flew back to Armenia to
receive a presidential award, and on the
plane ride back, Tony and I started talking
— we’d been to a little village and
seen its music school, and there were
holes in the walls and kids and teachers
were all wearing gloves, trying to play
violins and drums. There was snow and
09•2020
told me, “You know, for a year there has
been no music. No music in the church,
no music on the radio, and even the
birds have stopped singing. It’s completely
silent.” And that’s when I first
thought, “Let’s not get involved now,
but when you’re ready to start, let’s do
something symbolic to help these people
start again.” And that’s what the music
school is all about. So Armenia is kind of
like a spiritual home for me.
Tom Lanham
108 E. St. Charles Rd.
Villa Park IL 60181
630-607-0072
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18 illinoisentertainer.com september 2020