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Faculty

Randy Armstrong

Adjunct Faculty, Integrated Arts

Office phone number: (603) 664-6768
e-mail: rdarmstrong@plymouth.edu

Administrative contact: Deborah Stalnaker
Administrative contact phone number: (603) 535-2933
Administrative contact email: dlstalnaker@plymouth.edu

Profile
Mr. Armstrong has been hailed by the Boston Globe as a "sure-fingered guitar virtuoso", he is the co-founder of DOAH WORLD MUSIC ENSEMBLE and UNU MONDO. With a collection of over two hundred instruments from around the world, including acoustic, synthesizer and nylon-string guitars, sitar, balofon, djembe, koto, charango, mbira and a wide variety of percussion and stringed instruments, he has amazed audiences throughout the United States, Canada, Alaska, and India. Professor Armstrong recently returned from Central America and West Africa performing and studying with Garifuna musicians and drummers in Dangriga and Hopkins, Belize and Ewe, Fanti and Ga drummers in Accra and Legon, Ghana. He has performed at Carnegie Recital Hall and festivals at Lincoln Center in New York City. In 1998, Professor Armstrong was selected as an artist representative to attend a Cultural Trade Mission to Ireland, Northern Ireland and England sponsored by Governor Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and in May 2005 attended a Curatorial Research trip on Son Jarocho music in Xalapa and Veracruz, Mexico for the New England Foundation for the Arts. As a composer and performing artist with DOAH WORLD MUSIC ENSEMBLE, his music has been acclaimed as "a marvelous kaleidoscope of shifting melodies, rhythms, and instrumental colors" by DOWNBEAT magazine. CD REVIEW stated, "guitarist Randy Armstrong…has composed some of the brightest contemporary instrumentals this side of the hemisphere." DOAH’s fifth album, WORLD DANCE, released in 1988, reached the top 10 of several national charts including #7 in BILLBOARD. With DOAH WORLD MUSIC ENSEMBLE and as a solo artist, he has been the recipient of numerous grants from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, the New England Foundation for the Arts, the state arts councils of Arkansas, Arizona and New York and the National Endowment of the Arts. He has shared the stage with such artists as Dizzy Gillespie, King Sunny Ade, the Paul Winter Consort, Babtunde Olatunji, Pierre Bensusan, Michael Hedges, Eddie Palmieri and Richie Havens.
Degrees and Education
  • Columbia Pacific University, B.A. Independent Study, 1983. Major: Music Performance and World Music Studies Lalit Center of Indian Music, 1976 Sitar Performance and North Indian Music Theory with Peter Rowe; faculty, New England Conservatory of Music
  • Professor Armstrong holds a degree in composition and world music studies and has conducted workshops at schools, universities and cultural institutions throughout the United States.
  • He is an adjunct faculty instructor of West African drumming and North Indian sitar and tabla at Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter NH and teaches for the Graduate Studies Integrated Arts Program at Plymouth State University.
Research Interests
  • Jazz Guitar with Edward Corey; faculty, Manchester Institute of the Arts and Sciences (1976 - 77)
  • Classical Guitar with Bart Jordan, former student of Andreas Segovia (1977 - 81)
  • West African Balofon with Hafiz Shabazz; faculty, Dartmouth College (1981 - 82)
  • Shona Mbira workshop with Ephat Mujuru (1983)
  • Lakota Sioux Courting Flute workshop with Kevin Locke (1991)
  • West African Drumming workshops with Babatunde Olatunji (1994)
  • Brazilian Samba workshop with Henrique Almeida (1995)
  • West African Drumming with Abdoul Doumbia and Sanga (1996)
  • Haitian, Cuban and Ghanaian Drumming residency with John Amira, G. Fleurant, David Locke, Gideon Modawo; New England Conservatory of Music (1997)
  • University of Ghana – Legon West African drumming studies (2004)
  • Garifuna Drumming studies in Belize, Central America (2004)
  • North Indian Tabla master classes with Ustad Karin Khan (2005)
  • North Indian Sitar Master classes with Ustad Shahid Parvez (2005)
Publications
Record Albums
  • Tsunami Relief Project : A Musical Compilation, AGR-56783 released by Atta Girl Records / CARE International (2005)
  • Domo 10th Anniversary Collection, 73040-2 released by DOMO Records (2005)
  • No Regrets, 73018-2 released by DOMO Records (2003)
  • Dinner on the Diner, CD 3680 released by Ellipsis Arts nationally distributed by Rykodisc (2000)
  • Armstrong & Aichele: World Tales Vol.1, UMP 001 released by UMP Records (1996)
  • Hand in Hand, GPD 361 released by Global Pacific Records (1994)
  • World Dance, ZK 40734 released by Global Pacific/CBS Records, Inc. (1989)
  • Do'a-The Early Years, RDCD 11539 released by Rounder Records (1986)
  • Companions of the Crimson Coloured Ark, PH 9009 released by Philo/Rounder Records (1984)
  • Ancient Beauty, PH 9004 released by Philo/Rounder Records (1981)
  • Ornament of Hope, PH 9000 released by Philo/Rounder Records (1979)
  • Light upon Light, PH 1056 released by Philo/Rounder Records (1977)
Film, Video, Television Scores
  • A Concert Tribute to Babatunde Olatunji – DVD by Atlantic Media (2003)
  • Dinner on the Dinner, PBS four-part series (2000)
  • Mass Performance, Massachusetts Corporation for Educational Television (1999)
  • Artsbreak, New Hampshire Public Television (1998)
  • ZuluTV, Internet site Theme Song (1997)
  • Finding the Solution, Environmental Documentary (1989)
  • Entertainment Tonight, TV Theme Song "WAYO" (1989)
  • A.F.S. foreign student exchange, TV Commercial (1989)
  • Missouri State Wildlife Reserve, Environmental Educational Video (1989)
  • Nature, PBS Educational Series (1989)
  • Neiman-Marcus, Staff Development Video (1989)
  • The Landfill Dilemma, Documentary Film (1988)
  • With All My Heart, Documentary Film (1985)
  • The Glass Kaleidoscope, Documentary Film (1982)
  • Affluent Effluent, Documentary Film (1982)
  • History of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, (1982)
  • Emigration: A Franco American Experience, (1981)
  • The White Mountains: A Cultural View, (1981)
  • Archaeology in New Hampshire, (1981)
  • New Hampshire Writers and the Small Town, (1980)
  • Lotte Jacobi: A Film Portrait, (1980)
  • The University of New Hampshire: 1866-1925, (1979)
  • Private Day Schools, TV Advertisement (1978)
  • Mast Making for the King, Documentary Film (1977)
  • New Hampshire Public Television, Sign on/off Theme (1977)
Theatre & Dance Scores
  • Anansi the Spider Man, Plymouth State University (2005)
  • The Crucible, Seacoast Repertory Theatre (1998)
  • Journey to Heaven-The Shaker Way, Pontine Movement Theatre (1997)
  • Correspondence of Desire, Pontine Movement Theatre (1994)
  • World Tales, NH Theatre Project (1993)
  • Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters, Pastiche Theatre (1992)
  • Beyond Myth, NH Theatre Project (1991)
  • Seven Mysteries of Life, Touchstone Theatre (1988)
  • Quartet Suite, Pontine Movement Theatre (1984)
  • Dance of the Kung Fu Master, Piscataqua River Dance Company (1979)
Associations, Boards and Committees
  • Arts Councilor - NH State Council on the Arts
  • Board Member - NH Alliance for Arts
  • Education Faculty - Phillips Exeter Academy.
Professional Experience
  • Artistic director and co-founder of DOAH WORLD MUSIC ENSEMBLE (1974), UNU MONDO (1991) and THE ARMSTRONG-NAHRMANN GROUP (2000) RANDY ARMSTRONG TRIO (2003)
  • Tours throughout the United States, Canada, Alaska, Belize, Ghana and India.
  • Recorded and produced 10 nationally released albums for the Philo/Rounder, Global Pacific/CBS and Ellipsis Arts/Ryko labels.
  • Selected for the NH State Council on the Arts / New England Foundation for the Arts Touring Roster (1978 - present).
  • Produced over 20 film, dance, theatre and television music scores.
  • Adjunct faculty at Phillips Exeter Academy teaching sitar, tabla and West African drumming since 1991.
  • Selected for the "Arts in Education" program by the NH State Council on the Arts to conduct residency programs throughout the state (1991 - present).
  • Co-founder of ARMSTRONG & AICHELE: WORLD TALES, a performance ensemble of storytelling and music in 1992.
  • Music director, composer/arranger and recording artist for the four part PBS series, Dinner on the Diner filmed in Scotland, Spain, South Africa and Southeast Asia; premiered in the United States, June 2000.
  • Adjunct faculty at Plymouth State University teaching graduate courses in West African Drumming for the Classroom and World Music and Stories in the Classroom: Adapting Multi-Cultural Curriculum and Children's Literature through the Arts (2002).
  • Board member for the New Hampshire Alliance for Arts Education, NHAAE (2002).
  • Appointed as Arts Councilor for the NH State Council on the Arts by Governor Greg Benson (2003).

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This page was last revised: 4/24/2008