Acoustic guitarist performs genre-crossing music
By Elizabeth Ziegler – Journal Writer

Idaho State Journal, ID
Aug 6 2005

POCATELLO – Critics laud his music as soulful and emotive, placing
Michael Gulezian at the forefront of the acoustic guitar world,
where he is creating haunting melodies and crossing genres alongside
acoustic music innovators Leo Kottke, Michael Hedges, John Fahey,
and Robbie Basho.

Gulezian will play in Pocatello tonight, at Pub & Duds Acoustic Cafe.
Local musician Kristi Austin said if you have never heard his music,
you’re in for a very pleasant surprise.

“Michael Gulezian continues to amaze fellow musicians as well as
audiences new to the art of solo acoustic guitar,” she said.

Although he may not be a household name yet, Gulezian is well on
his way. He recently performed on three nationally syndicated radio
shows, West Coast Live, Echoes and World Cafe. He tours extensively
throughout the United States and began recording more than 25 years
ago, producing five highly acclaimed albums along the way.

Austin describes Gulezian’s music as, “boundary-free,
horizon-expanding, genre-bending, transcendent, soulful, mind-opening,
exquisitely gorgeous instrumental solo acoustic guitar.”

With all those adjectives from a fan and fellow musician, it’s no
wonder Gulezian himself has a hard time summing up his sound into
one sentence.

“It is hard to describe,” Gulezian said, in a phone interview Friday.
“I am not a bluegrass artist, I am not a country artist or a folk
artist. I’m not really a jazz artist and I’m not classical. But it
all has elements of those types of music and it all comes out via
instrumental acoustic guitars. So it is a hybrid of a lot of different
types of music.

“There’s no band, it is just me, but I do incorporate a lot of rhythm
and it is very percussive. It is very extreme acoustic solo guitar
music that draws on a lot of influences.”

Gulezian said his influences range from the music of his
Armenian-American upbringing, to blues, jazz, bluegrass, classical,
world music and rock ‘n’ roll.

Music is universal, he said, and is a force that can unite people
from a wide variety of backgrounds.

Gulezian said he often looks out into his audiences and sees punks
sitting next to cowboys, hippies, senior citizens, young couples,
and everyone in between.

“Very early on, I recognized music’s universality, and how it brings
us together rather than separates us into different camps,” he said.
“We all are made of the same stuff. We all have hearts and souls. We
all have the same rhythm.”

If you go

– Who: Michael Gulezian.

– What: Acoustic solo guitarist.

– Where: Pub & Duds Acoustic Cafe.

– When: Today at 8:30 p.m.