Megerditch Douzjian

Born: May 10, 1896, Dikranagerd, Ottoman Empire
Death: April 18, 1958, Union City, NJ
Years Active Recording: 1925-1933
Label Associations: Margosian Records, M. G. Parsekian Records, Pharos Records, Yeldez Records

On April 29, 1921, Megerditch Douzjian, aged twenty-five, arrived in the United States after a sixteen-day voyage from Marseille on a ship named Braga. He was born in Dikranagerd on May 10, 1896, where his father was recognized as a half doctor, half apothecary. During the Genocide and the First World War, Douzjian remained in Turkey, living in hiding and extreme poverty. During the Armistice period he found his way to Cilicia. In 1921, Douzjian, like many fellow Dikranagerdtsi musicians, settled in West Hoboken (now Union City) New Jersey. He became a member of the Hunchakian party and joined the Paramaz Dramatic Association, which he performed with over the decades. In 1922, he married Azniv (Elsie) Fanarjian while living at 721 Highpoint Avenue in West Hoboken. Azniv arrived in America in 1908 with her parents Hovhaness and Lucia (all born in Dikranagerd). The couple had two children, Vartouhi, born 1924, and John, born 1927. Douzjian found work in the silk mills, which he segued into a successful career in the dry cleaning industry. 

His success on stage with the Paramaz Dramatic Association led to his recording career. His discography consists of a range of songs from Western Armenia. Beginning in 1925, he recorded three songs for Vartan Margosian’s label (Margosian Records). In 1927, he recorded a total of 10 songs: two songs for the M. G. Parsekian label and an additional eight for the Pharos record label (by this time, Pharos had bought the catalogs of M. G. Parsekian and the two songs by Douzjian were reissued on the Pharos label). It was during these sessions that Douzjian recorded his most popular song, Iprev Ardziv (Zoravor Antranigi Anmah Hishadagin), an ode dedicated to Armenian revolutionary General Antranig Ozanian, written by Ashough Sheram (Grigor Talian). On the flip side of the disc is the ode to the freedom fighter Bedros Seremjian, Vekerov Li, written by Ashough Farhad (Khatchadour Gevorkian). 

In 1928, Douzjian started his own record label, Yeldez Records, releasing three discs. This set of recordings would later be reissued by the Pharos label. The first song featured on his new label is the first known recording of the song Dari Lo Lo, titled on the record as Shad Anoush. While the origins of the lyrics are unknown, the song became a standard of the Armenian-American repertoire. Douzjian had two other recording sessions with the Pharos label, recording six songs in 1929. Among these songs is his unique incorporation of the Lezginka dance melody for the song Akh Im Aghvor Meg Hadig, a love song written as a duet but here performed by Douzjian as a soloist. Ending an era of Armenian independent labels, he recorded his final two songs on the Pharos label in 1933. 

Following his recording career, Megerditch Douzjian continued to perform with the Paramaz acting troupe and his last known performance was in the three-act comedy, The Village Bride and The Big City Groom, staged in Union City on March 16, 1947. Upon his death in 1958, a fellow actor wrote of Megerditch Douzjian: “His voice and songs would brighten the room. The memory of his voice on his recordings will be appreciated long after his death.”

A special thanks to the SJS Charitable Trust for their generous support of our work to digitize and share our collection of 78 rpm records.