System of a Down Celebrating 100th Anniversary of Armenian Genocide With Free Concert

Each member of System of a Down is of Armenian descent and in order to commemorate the 100th anniversary of their people's genocide the band has decided to do something special or their people. On April 23rd, System of a Down will present a free concert to Armenian citizens. The big event will also coincide with the international Wake Up the Souls Tour that System of a Down will begin on Monday in Los Angeles.

"This is something that transcends the music," drummer John Dolmayan was quoted as saying in Rolling Stone magazine. "This is more important than a next System of a Down album. This is something that is far-reaching and even bigger than the Armenian genocide itself. We want to help prevent what happened to the Armenians happening to other people."

The announcement of the Armenian show comes just a month after Serj Tankian told Rolling Stone they were open to playing new music. Dolyman followed that up by saying the band is talking about writing new music following the upcoming shows. "We do want to get together after the tour and talk about writing," Dolmayan continued.

Hear more of the story about the #wakeupthesouls tour in @rollingstone's interview with Serj. https://t.co/JZ15BgTGo3 pic.twitter.com/KnDYtCAdLC

— System of a Down (@systemofadown) January 8, 2015

System of a Down hopes to raise awareness for 1915's Armenian genocide where the Ottoman regime executed more than 1.5 million people. Tankian says the genocide still causes the Armenians pain. A lot of that pain, he says, is also due to Turkey not acknowledging the event.

"The genocide is still with us," System of a Down's lead singer says. "The denial is a spit in the face of that every year."

Dolmayan continued Tankian's sentiment.

"It stays with you," he says. "It's still with me today, because of the stories that we did hear from our families."

The Armenian concert will have a three-part animated video explaining the Ottoman genocide and how that particular genocide inspired future ones.