"Artsakh" () is an instrumental folk composition by Armenian contemporary composer Ara Gevorgyan, released in 1999 as part of his album Ani. The composition was written in 1997. In 1998, Gevorgyan registered the rights to all works from the album, including "Artsakh", with the United States Library of Congress.
The recording featured Ara Gevorgyan, the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra (ANPO), Djivan Gasparyan (duduk), and Norayr Sharoyan (dhol).
The piece became widely popular in Armenia and among the Armenian diaspora. Over the years, it has been performed at cultural and political events and has been used by figure skaters, gymnasts, and other athletes in international competitions.
Gevorgyan later released a documentary film titled Story about Artsakh Music, in which he discusses the history and creation of the piece.
Artsakh was one of the 15 provinces of the ancient Kingdom of Armenia. Today, the name "Artsakh" is still used for the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan which corresponds to this historical province by Armenians. The region where the Armenians were the majority achieved de facto independence which would last until 2023 alongside the Armenian forces during the bloody war with Azerbaijan in 1988-94. The war is seen by Armenians as liberation of their historic lands and the song is a tribute to the Armenian victory.
Parts of "Artsakh" have been used in sports, including:
In 2007 Azerbaijani ambassador in Russia and former singer Polad BülbüloÃÂlu alleged that "Artsakh" contains an Azerbaijani song. Ara Georgyan responded that BülbüloÃÂlu's statements were a result of confusion from an incident that occurred during one of the episodes of the Russian TV show "Ice Age" broadcast by Channel One. During the performance of Russian singer Aleksandra Savaleva () and Israeli ice dancer Sergei Sakhnovski, it was initially announced that the song they were going to use was called "Armenian dance" by Ara Gevorgyan, but instead a song called "Sene de galmaz" by Azerbaijani composer Tofig Guliyev was played and only after that a small portion of "Artsakh" was played. Ara Gevorgyan suggested that Azerbaijanis tried to justify Dinara Gimatova's use of the song without his permission in a 2005 grand-prix.