The prince charming of Armenian pop - Armenian Reporter

On his way up he has charmedfans with his good looks, his romanticballads, and a definitesense of style.From classics to popballadsGrowing up a mischievous boywho liked to play in the streetwith his friends, Hayko did nothave any particular dreams of becominga singer or a star. “I neverintended to become a singer. Infact I wanted to become a jazzpianist,” he says over ice creamat the Marriott-Armenia café inYerevan. When I asked him hisage, Hayko didn’t disclose it,but said that his birthday ison August 25. “I always tellpeople that I sleep besidethe fridge so that I won’tage,” he joked. Regardlessof his age, musichas always been apart of his life.From his earlyschool yearsHayko startedtaking violin lessons.The gradualshaping of thefuture musicianwould take a moredecisive turn when he continuedhis high school studies atthe Romanos Melikyan musicschool. Then he continuedhis studies at the YerevanState Conservatory, aspiringto become a conductorand a composer in classicalmusic. Young Hayko soonfound himself playing thekeyboard in various popbands in Yerevan. At thesame time he was writingsongs for other singers.Singing happenedspontaneously. “Songsare born with singing,and then it occurredto me why don’t I startsinging some of myown songs?” he says.His transition froma wannabe classical musician to abudding young pop star happenedwith the release of his first videoclip for the ballad Im Ser (My love)in 1996. Meanwhile, he began appearingon stage as a singer at theState Theater of Song, under thepatronage of Arthur Grigoryan,widely known as the patron of theArmenian pop music industry.While waiting to become one ofthe most successful artists in contemporaryArmenian pop music,for some years Hayko enjoyed akind of second-tier level of fame.Participation in various musicalcontests and awards were accompaniedwith succeeding albums,and an increasing army of fans,mostly young females, in both Armeniaand the diaspora.Hayko has a very busyschedule where workwith new recordingsdominates most of histime.In 1996, Hayko began to appearon the stage of various Armenianand international music competitions.That same year he participatedat the Moskva 96 (Moscow1996) music festival and wonfirst place. It was at that festivalthat Hayko Hakobyan portrayedhimself simply as Hayko. “At thecontest we wanted to be rememberedby the name, too. ThereforeI chose to be known as Hayko, asimple and short name, easily remembered,”says Hayko. In 1997Hayko won first prize at the BigApple Festival in New York. In1998 he was acknowledged as thebest singer-songwriter at the Ayocompetition.His first album was released in1999. It immediately became a hitin Armenia. The very romanticalbum, Hayko Romance, includeda dozen of the most popular Armenianromantic ballads. “It hasbeen the shortest path to my suc-C8 Armenian Reporter Arts & Culture 11/10/2007