during his musical career, tankian has released five albums with system of a down, one with arto tunçboyacıyan ("serart"), as well as the five solo albums "elect the dead", "imperfect harmonies", "harakiri", "orca", and "jazz-iz-christ". a live orchestral version of elect the dead incorporating the auckland philharmonia orchestra named "elect the dead symphony" was released. in 2002, tankian and rage against the machine and audioslave guitarist tom morello co-founded a non-profit political activist organization, axis of justice. tankian also founded the music label serjical strike records, and is represented by velvet hammer music and management group under system of a down. on august 12, 2011, tankian was awarded the armenian prime minister's medal for his contributions to the recognition of the armenian genocide and the advancement of music.