 |
| Jorge Aliaga Cacho en el mercado La Boquería, La Rambla, Barcelona. |
By Jorge Aliaga Cacho
When traveling to Russia, in 2001, guitar chords from one of the neighboring Red Square kiosks attracted my attention. It was Armik's music. His CDs were attracting public attention, I bought one cd and used later on, one of his tracks to musicalize one of my poems. Now I find on the net more information about this great Iranian musician who I'm sure will be of your delight. Armik, a prolific composer of bravura guitar works, enjoys great popularity around the world.
Launching his solo career in 1994, Armik drew upon his jazz roots and flamenco passions to create a revolutionary twist on the emerging Nuevo flamenco sound. His invaluable compositions and performances cover an entire range of provocative melodies honed throughout his formative years to his delicate balancing of flamenco and classical guitar to the Latin and jazz influences that listeners hear in his music today. As a guitarist, he is one of the most adulated virtuosos of the Nuevo Flamenco genre, having attained this stature by virtue of his commanding presence among Billboard Magazine’s Top Ten New Age Artists of 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, and 2013.
Armik was born in Iran of Armenian descent. When he was just seven years old, he pawned his watch for a classical guitar, which he hid and practiced on in the basement. Formal music lessons followed and Armik completed a rigid instructional regimen in just two years. At 12, he was a professional recording artist. While his early career focused mostly on jazz, Armik discovered the beauty and passion of Flamenco while visiting Spain during the 1970s when he saw the legendary Paco de Lucia perform. Driven by a fire for the tradition that has defined his musical life ever since, the young musician immediately switched from his Jazz guitar for an in-depth journey to the heart of Spanish music.
In 1981 Armik moved to Los Angeles to pursue this new direction, playing with other artists live and in the studio. By 1994 he released his solo debut album RAIN DANCER, a critical and commercial success that he followed with 1995′s GYPSY FLAME (GOLD in Australia). At this point, Armik’s reputation as a professional recording artist of Nuevo flamenco was such that expert Spanish luthier Pedro Maldonado created an instrument for him, the Rubia; Armik’s 1996 album was recorded with, and named after it. The following year saw the release of MALAGA, and his fifth album, ISLA DEL SOL, appeared in 1999, followed by ROSAS DEL AMOR in the spring of 2001.
Armik, the internationally renowned nuevo flamenco guitarist/composer/producer continues to blaze his guitar virtuosity around the world as the owner of the Bolero Records imprint, which was established in 2002. Since its inception, all of Armik’s recordings have charted above the top ten rung on the Billboard New Age ladder of success; LOST IN PARADISE (2002), AMOR DE GUITARRA (2003), ROMANTIC DREAMS (2004), PIANO NIGHTS (2004), TREASURES (2004), CAFE ROMANTICO (2005), MAR DE SUENOS (2005), DESIRES, The Romantic Collection (2006), MI PASION (2006), CHRISTMAS WISHES (2006), GUITARRISTA (2007), A DAY IN BRAZIL (2007), BARCELONA (2008), FUEGO GITANA, The Nuevo Flamenco Collection (2008), SERENATA (2009), BESOS (2010), CASA DE AMOR (2012), REFLECTIONS (2012), FLAMES OF LOVE (2013), ALEGRA (2013), ROMANTIC SPANISH GUITAR, VOLUME 1 (2014), GREATEST HITS (2014), and MYSTIFY (2014).
