About

Armin Alic was born on September 2nd of 1980 in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.

HIs love towards music started already in very early childhood, when he enjoyed going through his father’s record collection and listening to a vast variety of albums and musical styles. Around the age of 8 he for the first time expressed the wish to play a musical instrument, and took advantage of the possibility of trying to learn classical guitar and piano at a local music school in Sarajevo. While Armin enjoyed playing music and being creative right from the start, somehow neither guitar nor piano felt like home to him, while at the same time he was able to notice a huge fascination with the bass.

In April of 1992, when the war in Bosnia started, the Alic family was lucky enough to be able to escape from war torn Sarajevo and find a new home in Wuppertal, Germany. Couple of moths later, on his first day of school, Armin took the offer of playing bass in a school band, and immediately felt at home. Starting around 1995 Armin began playing with bands from the local metal scene in Wuppertal, this way making his first experiences in the music business, both of which very much to his pleasure.

Couple of years later, while still being a metal kid, Armin remembered his early childhood, when he was listening to many different musical styles, and started to explore black music and also the traditional music of the Balkans, which opened up his perspective on music and life a lot. Having known right from the start that there would be no other path in life for him than music, in 2005 Armin decided to put all eggs in one basket and started working full time as a bassist and session musician, which he is still enjoying doing up to this day.

Since 2017 Armin is a permanent member in the band of German blues guitarist and singer Henrik Freischlader.

Since 2009, he is playing with the Royal Street Orchestra, an international world music collective, which he co-founded with other musicians from the Wuppertal area. The band is still active and it´s line-up has remained the same ever since.

While staying true to these two musical families and dear friends, Armin also works as a freelance bassist for and with many artists from around the world, in many different musical styles and directions.

Freelance credits include, among many others:

Live:

Almanac / Victor Smolski, Söhne Mannheims, Mem Nahadr, Bozo Vreco, Layla Zoe, Dean Bowman, Big Daddy Wilson, Noah Sow

Studio:

Almanac / Victor Smolski, Marko Markovic, Damir Imamovic, Rhani Krija, Nenad Gajin, Hanno Busch, Mem Nahadr, Noah Sow, Dean Bowman, Udo Dirkschneider, Michael Wagener / Wire World Studio – Nashville, USA, David Readman

Up to now Armin has played concerts, festivals and tours in the following countries:

GER / GB / NL / B / LUX / F / CH / A / I / BiH / HR / SLO / MK / SWE / DK / NOR / RUS / CZ / HU / SK / ROU / PRT

and is very happy about and grateful for further opportunities to travel and play bass in the future.

Being an autodidact musician for the most part, since 2013 Armin also enjoys working as a music educator and has done so in many different contexts and projects in Germany.

Current educational projects are:

• Permanent work as a music lecturer for the government-funded project „Kultur macht Stark“ since 2013 – music projects with and for the youth in social hotspots

• Permanent work for government-funded project „create music NRW“ since beginning of 2021 – promotion and support of young talent within the German pop music scene

• Permanent work for the interactive and international youth music project „Small World Music“ since beginning of 2021 – in cooperation with „Haus der Jugend Barmen“ from Wuppertal, Germany, and „Mostar Rock School“ from Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Freelance educational credits include:

Elixir Strings, Jugend Musiziert music competition,  Kultur und Schule NRW, Alte Feuerwache Wuppertal, Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Katholisches Bildungswerk Wuppertal, Wuppertaler Bühnen: Sinfonieorchester, Rudolstadt Festival and many more.

Since 2021 Armin is producing his own conversational „Talking Spirits Podcast”.  For more info visit the “Podcast” section.

Armin is one of the founding members and board member of the Wuppertal association „Planet K – Kultur für alle e.V.“, with the common goal of facilitating access to culture and cultural participation. For more info, visit the “Partners” section