NINIO & THE GROOVERS – Ilin Papazyan – vocals and guitar, Mihail Filipov – keyboards, Lyuben Lyubenov – bass, Tsonyo Tsvetkov – drums
Ilin Papazyan – Ninio is a native of the city of wind and princes – Sliven. He took his first steps in music at the age of 12, when he started taking classical guitar lessons at the “Guitar School” with teacher Naiden Doinov.
A little later, he became interested in pop and jazz singing, and not long after, he started writing his own music and lyrics. He graduated with honors from the Language High School in Sliven, then a bachelor’s degree in classical guitar in the class of Prof. Dr. Stella Miteva-Dinkova and a master’s degree in pop and jazz guitar under Nikolay Karageorgiev.
He Participated in master classes of: Marco Tamayo, Pavel Steidl, Goran Krivokapić, Eric Francerie, Tal Hurvitz, Sanel Redžić, Jeremy Jouve, George Vasilev, Atanas Ourkouzounov, Rosen Balkanski, Kostas Tosidis, etc.
Over the years, he became the winner of awards in the field of classical guitar, pop and jazz performance and composing, the most significant of which are:
– First prize for best solo artist from Plovdiv Jazz Fest 2019
– First Prize and Music Author Award from Pleven Guitar Festival 2019
– Grand Prix of Thrace Guitar Festival 2019 – Komotini, Greece
– Second prize from Young Guitar Composer 2016, by Bergmann Edition
After his television debut and finals in “The Voice of Bulgaria” 2020, he decided to take his first steps as an independent artist and release his music.
Ilin presents his debut single “Give me freedom” at the end of 2020 under the artistic pseudonym – Ninio, as this name he associates with his essence as an artist and his creative approach. The video singles “Will you be next to me” follow. , “Smile” and “I want to continue”. On June 1, 2024, his debut album “The First 7” was released, and at its premiere – Ninio officially appeared on stage for the first time with his project Ninio & The Groovers!
To date, Ilin Papazyan – Niño is a guitar teacher at National school of arts Hristina Morfova – Stara Zagora, and outside of her teaching activities, she is working on the production of her next album and, in parallel, as a music producer and songwriter for other up-and-coming artists.