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BIOGRAPHY

Born in an Armenian family on March 11 1968 in Baku Azerbaijan, former Soviet Republic. At age 7 Harry entered music school and chose violin as his instrument. At age 10 Harry was entered to the city violin competition where took  first place, and he took  first place again at age 12 and 14. 

 

In 1986 Harry was accepted to the conservatory to continue his education. From 1986 Harry was hired as a musician to a local 5 star international hotel to entertain tourists from all over the world. At this hotel Harry personally performed for the President of Portugal, president of Finland and former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev. In 1988 horrible events took place in Baku Azerbaijan where all the Armenians were deported or massacred. Due to ethnic cleansing Harry among his family and 250 thousand Armenians had to flee and became a refugee. Harry established in a small city in southern Russia Pyatigorsk where he performed in the local restaurants and continued his education. 

 

In 1991 Harry graduated from Armenian State conservatory as a Master of Arts in Music and Education. The same month at graduation, April of 1991 Harry arrived with his family to the US as a refugee and settled in Erie, PA. The first job Harry got was a dishwasher at  a 24 hour truck stop, then 2 months after Harry started pizza delivery at Domino’s Pizza. A few month after Harry was hired to play at a local restaurant and introduced himself to many local musicians. Next job was at a Bel Air 4 star hotel. In 1997 Harry performed at Erie Jazz and Blues festival in Erie, PA with Michael Boothman’s Kysofusion group from Trinidad.

 

In 1998 Harry moved to Detroit and became an entertainer at Russian Bear restaurant in West Bloomfield. Also Harry becomes a music teacher at AGBU Alex Manoogian School in Southfield, MI. in 1999 Harry starts playing 5 nights a week at The Fiddler Russian restaurant in West Bloomfield, MI. where he performed for 12 years. In  2000 Harry performed at Ford Jazz festival in Detroit with Jon Crawford’s group.

 

In 2010 Harry started composing music for a 6 part American/Russian movie “The Puppeteer”. Harry also completed the soundtrack for the documentary movie  “Silence of the Mountains”in 2012 and Documentary movie “Give me a family” 2013.

 Harry was recorded many times for local middle-eastern groups and church choirs .Harry recorded several tracks for Darold Gholston’s album The Art of Romance. 

In 2011 Harry recorded his own Christmas album “It’s Christmas”.

in 2016 Harry created Contemporary Jazz band Knights of Onyx (with Rick Beamon and others)and in 2018 recorded the album "The More You Say". 7 Tracks of 10 on the album are Harry's original compositions. This new band is a main stream of Harry's future plans for recording and touring.

Harry moved to Las Vegas in 2020 and is currently performing locally and nationwide.

© 2017 by HARRY HOVAKIMIAN

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