The prince charming of Armenian pop - Armenian Reporter

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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
Hayko withsingers HasmikGarabedyan (l.)and Emmy.cess,” says Hayko. After years ofbeing nominated at the ArmenianMusic Awards, in 2003 he releasedhis Best of album on DVD, and gavehis first solo concert at the AlexTheatre in Glendale, Calif.Back home in Yerevan, Haykogave a solo performance in May2003 and recorded his Live ConcertDVD. In the same year he releasedhis first album authored by himself,Norits (Again), and receivedthe Best Male Singer Award at theArmenian National Music Awards.A year later, in 2004 Hayko releasedhis fourth album, Mi khoskov(In a word). Once again, hewas recognized as best male singerat the 2006 Armenian NationalMusic Awards.Hayko also is a music producerfor many pop singers. He composesand arranges music. Hehas written songs for Armenianpop singers Tigran Petrosyan, Sirousho,and Emmy, to mentionthree. He plans to expand his musicproduction as soon as his newstudio is completed. In spite of hishandsome looks, Hayko has yet toappear in movies, although it issomething he says he hasn’t activelypursued. “My input in thefilm industry is to compose songsfor Armenian movies,” he says.Among his collaborations is thesoundtrack of a new soap operaproduced by Armenia TV. “I havecomposed the soundtrack, andwritten songs to be performedby me and other Armenian popsingers.” He is currently workingon the soundtrack of yet anotherfilm, a love story being directed byHrach Keshishyan.Hayko has a very busy schedulewhere work with new recordingsdominates most of his time. Thissummer, while much of the cityhad escaped from the heat anddust of Yerevan Hayko was contributingto the dust, buildinga new studio close to his homein the Avan district of Yerevan.Hayko still lives with his family,but as soon as the building of thenew studio is constructed, he willmove there to live alone. “Naturallyit is something I always wanted,but I know that I always will bevery close to my family.”Lucky in love in theUnited StatesHayko is known for his serenity.His public appearances, on and offthe stage have always portrayeda cool image. However he is passionatein his “cool,” romantic, andcharismatic way. He is very mucha composed prince charming, “ButI am not that calm at all. I alwayslike to have movement aroundme. I am always doing something,”says Hayko.In the evenings he likes to spendsome time with his friends. “I loveArmenian Reporter Arts & Culture 11/10/2007C9
Page 2 and 3: Elyssa Karanian.“Our parents were
Page 4 and 5: Above left: Armanand Arik sharea mi
Page 6 and 7: fucked up.” He pauses to catch up
Page 10 and 11: Right: Hayko at aconcert in Yerevan
Page 12 and 13: Garbis Zobian in Dame de Prague (Gh
Page 14 and 15: My myrigKay Mouradianstoryby Kay Mo
Page 16 and 17: Naush Boghossian.Le Mur de LaPropri
Page 18 and 19: Fondation Carzou.Femme Devant lePor
Page 20 and 21: 12 November 13 November 14 November
Page 22 and 23: Lights, camera, ArmenianCelebrating

The prince charming of Armenian pop - Armenian Reporter

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