Gulezian was born 1957 in Newark, New Jersey. He began playing acoustic guitar at the age of six; although he never took formal lessons, he underwent years of self-imposed classical guitar training. He was influenced by his mother, who sang
Armenian folk songs, and his father, classical Middle-Eastern
oud virtuoso and Pharonic Egyptian ethnomusicologist H. Aram Gulezyan. Gulezian immersed himself in his
Armenian cultural heritage,
Middle Eastern music, non-Western
Indian and
Chinese music, improvisational
rāgas, as well as Western idioms such as
Gregorian chants,
rock,
jazz and
folk.,, In 1965 the family moved from the New York City area to Tucson, Arizona. As a young guitarist he was influenced by the early Mississippi Delta fingerstyle guitarists:
Mississippi John Hurt,
Bukka White,
Son House, and
Robert Johnson, as well as their contemporaries from the Atlantic seaboard,
Blind Blake and
Reverend Gary Davis. Later he discovered and explored the music of
John Fahey and
Leo Kottke, and further broadened his musical horizons by listening to
Keith Jarrett,
John McLaughlin,
Ravi Shankar and
Sun Ra. Upon graduation Gulezian returned to a career in music. He founded the
Timbreline Music label, releasing his third album
Distant Memories & Dreams in 1992. He began touring again and released his fourth CD
The Dare of an Angel in 1994. In 1997 Gulezian moved to
Nashville, Tennessee. In 2002
Unspoken Intentions was reissued on CD by
Fantasy Records. His fifth CD was released in 2003 - the incendiary
Language of the Flame, and followed in 2005 by the live recording
Concert at St. Olaf College. In recent years Gulezian has played hundreds of concerts, and continues to present guitar workshops and master classes at colleges and universities across the United States. In addition to his live concerts, Gulezian has been featured in the United States on many radio and television broadcasts, and is regularly heard on
NPR. == Discography ==