Armik Information

He has developed an unsurpassed facility for integrating the Spanish guitar scales to give his songs a Spanish feel with the instrument's conventional range, bringing a new edge and polish to the concept of extended technique. As a result, his imaginative recordings have topped the Billboard New Age charts for the past 16 years all while introducing and re-introducing Armik to his worldwide legions of fans. A child prodigy, born in Iran of Armenian descent, at seven years old he pawned his watch for a classical guitar, which he hid and practiced on in the basement. By the age of nine, Armik had completed formal music lessons as well as a rigid instructional regimen. 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. Armik launched his solo career in 1994, drawing upon his jazz roots and passion for flamenco music to create a revolutionary twist on the emerging Nuevo Flamenco sound. His solo debut album RAIN DANCER, was a critical and commercial success that he followed with 1995's GYPSY FLAME which attained GOLD status 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 a guitar for him named the Rubia. Armik's 1996 album was recorded with, and named after it. The following year Armik released MALAGA, his fifth album, ISLA DEL SOL in 1999, and ROSAS DEL AMOR in the spring of 2001. Today 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 spot on the Billboard New Age chart. His compositions and performances cover an entire range of provocative melodies honed throughout his formative years which fuse a delicate balance of Spanish guitar scales surrounded with flamenco improvisation, Latin jazz rhythms and classical elements. LOST IN PARADISE (2002)