Armand Aromin

In chronological order, Armand Aromin is a queer Filipino American musician, percussive dancer, singer, and violin maker now enmortgaged in Riverside, RI with his partner, Benedict Gagliardi. More importantly, if you can say “Arm & Hammer” you’re pronouncing his name correctly!

Like many who came before him, Armand’s ukulele journey, too, began with the Irish fiddle in high school. After a text-message-break-up his senior year (he’s doing fine.) his heart told him, “The only way to heal is to stress-purchase a 5-string banjo.” And so he did. But while contentedly clawhammering his way through college, he beheld his first ukulele, and thus his eyes were truly opened. It was as if a banjo-shaped weight was lifted from his shoulders! Now, lo these many years, the clawhammer’s twang has graced and grazed many an ear with a growing repertoire of tunes and songs that continue to wonderfully confound the writer of this bio.

Armand is one-third of The Vox Hunters, a quarter of Eight Feet Tall, and at least a third of The Ivy Leaf. He proudly owns Aromin Violins, a tiny basement workshop in his first, and only, house.

Armand loves, loves, loves teaching with a focus on musicality and giving students tools with which to find their own voice. He’s taught at the Nutmeg Ukulele Festival in Simsbury, Ct; and he regularly teaches private lessons at home as well as group classes at the Blackstone River Theatre in Cumberland, RI. In November 2023, The Ukulele Site hosted an Instagram contest where his submission, “Hunt the Hare”, made it to the Top 10!