Yerevan /Mediamax/. The ceremony of awarding Deep Purple frontman and legendary rock musician Ian Gillan the honorary title of "Friend of Armenians 2014” took place in the solemn assemblies hall of Saint Vardan Cathedral in New York on May 2.

The ceremony was held within annual assembly of about 500 members of Eastern Diocese of Armenian Apostolic Church in U.S.  On a yearly basis, the Eastern Diocese awards the title of “Friend of Armenians” to people who made significant contributions to development of relations with Armenia and the Armenian people. In 2013, the title was awarded to Governor of Florida Jab Bush.

The decision to award Ian Gillan was conditioned by his role in Rock Aid Armenia project and considerable contribution to reconstruction of N6 music school in Gyumri which was officially opened in September 2013 with participation of the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, prelate of Eastern Diocese Archbishop Khazhak Parsamyan, benefactors Edward and Janet Mardigian and Deep Purple lead singer.

Before the start of the awards ceremony, those presented were shown episodes from Mediamax’s documentary “Pictures of Home” which features Ian Gillan’s spiritual bonds with Armenia. Introducing Ian Gillan, Chairman of the Board of Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR) Randy Sapakh-Gulyan stated that “music has the power of creating kindness, and Ian Gillan used this power to the fullest”. “It’s hard to put it into words the expression of the eyes of the music school pupils in Gyumri which I saw in September: at last, they got the opportunity to study music in proper conditions”, said Sapakh-Gulyan.

Archbishop Khazhak Parsamyan called Ian Gillan “Ambassador of Hope” who used the power of art for the good of the Armenian people.

In his speech, Ian Gillan said that he was incredibly touched to have got Archbishop Parsamyan’s letter in which the leader of the Eastern Diocese wrote about the decision on awarding him the title of “Friend of Armenians”. The singer told about his trip to Spitak in 1990 which became one of the most dramatic emotional experiences in his life. Ian Gillan stressed that he and Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi were “to the view” of the implementation of the project of music school construction while tremendous work was done by those who “were behind the scene”. Ian especially mentioned Jon Dee who was the initiator of Rock Aid Armenia project in 1989. Deep Purple frontman also pointed out the role of the owner of musical instruments store in Canada Tim Irving who donated necessary instruments to the Gyumri music school.

The legendary musician said that the world dramatically changed over the past decades. “There was time when people in Poland and German Democratic Republic were put into prison for listening to Deep Purple. I talked about it at my meeting with Dmitry Medvedev when he was the President of Russia. Now music helps us contribute to solving certain issues”, noted the singer. “This fantastic “journey” ended in September 2013 when we opened the school in Gyumri. But I believe new “journeys” are awaiting us”, concluded Ian Gillan.