Armen Grigoryan

This article is about guitar player. For duduk player, see Armen Grigoryan (duduk player).
Armen Grigoryan
Background information
Birth name Armen Sergeevich Grigoryan
Born (1960-11-24) November 24, 1960
Moscow, RSFSR, Soviet Union
Genres Rock
Instruments Guitar, harmonica
Years active 1978-
Labels Melodiya, Moroz, Soyuz, Kvadro-Disk
Associated acts Krematorij
Website www.crematorium.ru

Armen Grigoryan (Russian: Армен Григорян, Armenian: Արմեն Գրիգորյան) is a singer/songwriter, artist, and the front man (and main songwriter) of "Krematorij" (Crematorium) Russian rock-band.

Biography

Armen Grigoryan was born on November 24, 1960 in Moscow by Armenian parents. A player of Dynamo Moscow, he became a two-time champion of junior football.

He grew up listening to the magic sounds of The Beatles mysteriously penetrating the Iron Curtain. Inspired by Beatle's music, Grigoryan, while still in high school, started his musical career (since 1977 he played in a band called "Atmospheric pressure") and in 1983 he formed "Crematorium" which gained a reputation throughout the former Soviet Union and begin to perform at concerts all over the country. A long search for his own unique sounds came to fruition in 1984, when "Krematorij" added a violin to their version of Rock-n-Roll. Since the 1980s, Armen Grigoryan participated in the development of Russian rock music.

Armen Grigoryan is an author of more than two hundred songs. Many of them, including "Krematori", "Tanya", "Kondrati", "Trash Wind", "Khabibulin", "Ugly Elsa", "Sebastia", "Sexy Cat", "Strawberry with Ice", "Little Girl", "2001" and "Katmandu", are very popular among the audiences throughout the former Soviet Union, the Netherlands, Germany, Israel and the United States. He composes multifaceted lyrics that frequently deal with the themes of life and death in various religious contexts. Grigoryan's "ironical and philosophical songs are fond of sincerity and humanity".[1]

"The red-haired trouble of the neighborhood
The first fiddle; that was understood
All her days
Like a zebra's skin
She used to be happy
But now she's in
Chinese tank ..." (transl. K. Leonov)

In 2006 Armen Grigoryan starts new project 3' Angel and releases album "Chinese Tank". According to critics, the album's concept is the spirit of excitement, adventure and immutable truths, tied up with modern realities.[2]

Armen Grigoryan is an author of several architectural projects.[3] He is also known as a painter and public activist. Grigoryan is considered as one of the 100 famous Armenians living in Russia by the readers of “Noah’s Ark” newspaper.[4] In 2012 "Krematorij" issued a petition urging the Russian State Duma to criminalize all forms of nazism, including the Armenian genocide.[5]

Armen Grigoryan

In 2012 "Krematorij" and other well-known Russian musicians (Yuri Shevchuk, Bravo, Noize MC, etc.) recorded the "White Album" to show solidarity with opponents of President Vladimir Putin. The album took its name from the white ribbons worn by demonstrators during the opposition rallies.[6]

Armen Grigoryan was a classmate of the future serial killer Sergey Golovkin who tortured and killed at least 11 boys.

Discography (solo)

Filmography

Other websites

References

  1. ↑ The faces of rock-n-roll, by I. Yakusheva, Sovetskaya kultura, April, 1990
  2. ↑ Armen Grigoryan left Crematorium, May 5 2006
  3. ↑ Армен Григорян: Не думал, что группа с названием «Крематорий» просуществует столько лет!, Komsomolskaya Pravda, 19.11.2013
  4. ↑ 100 famous Armenians living in Russia-2008, the Diaspora
  5. ↑ Krematorij. Moscow. Open letter. 2012
  6. ↑ Russia musicians make anti-Putin protest White Album, Reuters, 2012
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