Flamenco guitarist plays from the heart

Armin Kooshkebaghi, also known as El Armin, plays guitar for flamenco dancers at Academia De Arte Flamenco. Kooshkebaghi learned to play the guitar at age nine. Now he fuses his culture and his own words with this timeless style of music.

 “There’s really no music for it,” El Armin says. “It’s all from the heart and it’s just how you express the music yourself. So that’s why I got into it because that’s what I’m good at just picking up memorizing and just playing how I want.”

Flamenco is all about chemistry between the musician and dancers. The rhythm between the two isn’t simple, but when it comes together like this, it’s powerful.

It’s something that impresses Ricardo Ghiementi, who is glad to be a part of this team.

 “He’s an inspiration creatively. My partner Eva and I will be dancing and he’ll throw out some different falsetas for us and different pieces–different for our choreographies,” Ghiementi says.

It keeps his partner Eva Amador on her toes. She says El Armin plays with emotion and soul, and that’s what sets him apart from others.

“When I first heard him sing I thought, wow, this guy can sing. This kid can sing, and I have not been let down since. He just continues to grow and grow into I don’t know what he’s going to grow into but he’s going to be something fantastic someday,” Amador says. 

El Armin sees music beyond the surface of what it is.

“Music is like such a holy thing, and it’s so sacred, and people don’t usually see how holy it is. I mean because it’s so connected to the soul, and it’s all coming from the soul,” El Armin said.

If you want to know more about El Armin and his music, follow his Instagram at El__Armin