This installment of the Sound Archive highlights recordings made in late 1947 by Armenian composer and conductor Kurken Alemshah in Paris, shortly before his untimely death. A significant figure in modern Armenian music, Alemshah merged traditional Eastern Armenian melodies with Western classical techniques, drawing inspiration from composers like Sayat Nova and Gomidas Vartabed. The recordings feature the soprano Asdghig Arakelian and showcase Alemshah's talents, which had flourished throughout his career as a teacher and composer between Paris and Venice. Despite passing away just before a performance in Detroit, Alemshah left a lasting legacy, influencing Armenian classical music, with his works being featured posthumously by the Armenian National Chorus shortly after his death.

Setrag Vartian and Zaruhi Elmassian amazed and impressed audiences from stage to screen. Before meeting, they had each gained national recognition: Zaruhi as a singer and Setrag as an entertainer. Eventually eloping to Las Vegas in 1942, the couple became invaluable to the Armenian community through continued commitment to Armenian art and culture.

Western Armenian folk music was not only preserved through social gatherings or widely distributed recordings, but also through the private sphere. As a practice often carried on by women and existing outside the market of commercial recording, it was not until consumer level home recording equipment became widely available in the 1940s that much of this repertoire was recorded. We are fortunate to be able to share the privately recorded rendition of the Van folk song Le Le Jinar, sung by the late Dr. Elizabeth Gregory, a woman whose professional career in medicine and support of the arts were as impactful as her voice. The recording was made in the mid 1940s to 1950s on a one-of-a-kind home recorded lacquer disc, likely as part of an exchange between Elizabeth and the artist Yenovk Der Hagopian.

Like many musicians we’ve discussed here, Hrach Yacoubian's name has fallen into obscurity. But from the mid-1930s well into the 1980s, he enjoyed a successful career as a violinist, band leader, and composer. Here, we present Hrach’s earliest recorded work, a four-disc set of his compositions titled Armenian Sketches. The set was published in the 1940s on the private Hollywood-based record label Notable Records. We’ve taken the liberty to present the album in full as one continuous piece of music. Hrach was notable not only for the strength of his compositions and virtuosity as a violinist, but for the energy and personality he conveyed as a performer — characteristics which both strengthened and damaged his reputation.

Hrach Yacoubian did not fall within a neat, idealized framework of Western or Eastern Armenian music. Though it was substantially informed by his Armenian heritage and perspective, his music was distinctly American in its aesthetics and context, a product of his own biography. 

As we process the Museum's early 20th century sound recordings and as new materials are donated, individual records shed light on other familiar, but only partially understood recordings. This edition of the Sound Archive presents one such case. By cross-referencing the information from three record labels — Orfeon Records, Favorite Records, and Odeon Records — we’ve identified a previously uncredited artist on some of the collection’s scarce Armenian language Odeon discs. 

This artist is renowned oud player, singer, and composer Krikor Berberian, featured here as an Armenian-language vocalist. Born in 1884 in Istanbul, Berberian was part of a strong lineage of Armenian musicians in the region. 

Reuben Sarkisian and his wife Vart were born in Kharpert, ultimately settling in Haverhill to become active members of Boston's Armenian music community. Reuben was a violinist, composer, and lyricist primarily playing at dances, while Vart gained a reputation for her voice and her exceptional repertoire of songs.

As a young man Ardashes followed in his father's footsteps, gaining acclaim for his recitation of lyrical narratives, a musical form of storytelling. Born on March 10, 1900 in Gyumri (then Alexandropol) in the Russian Empire, Kmpetian was raised in a musically rich environment. His father, Ashough Pesendi (born Mardiros Kmpetian), was a renowned performer among both Turkish and Armenian audiences in his native Sebastia. After the Constitution of 1908 was announced, he, like many other Armenians, gained hope and returned to the Ottoman Empire.1 Ardashes began his career as a stage actor, joining the Arevelyan Taderakhump (Eastern Theatre Troupe) under the direction of Mihrtad Haygazn. But just as his fledgling career was beginning to take off, Kmpetian would flee the newly established Turkish state in 1923, settling in Paris.

As part of our ongoing series highlighting Armenian-American musicians from the postwar era, this profile features the recording career of Boston's own "King of Armenian Swing," Artie Barsamian. We are also celebrating the release of a book by clarinetist, musicologist, and educator Hachig Kazarian, Western Armenian Music: From Asia Minor to the United States (available in the museum's bookstore.) 

For the third time in the Sound Archive series, we are exploring material from the Museum's collection of Soviet Armenian recordings. In previous posts, we've discussed a variety of artists representing the diversity of Soviet Armenian music, from folk styles to the Western classical tradition. We’ve touched on the conservatory and state ensemble structures (which codified aesthetic standards set from Moscow among state-affiliated musicians), as well as some individuals, like Tatul Altunyan, who formed and ran the state ensembles. 

As a recurring theme here on the Sound Archive, we've explored the cultural preservation undertaken by Armenians from Kharpert who built new lives in and around the Northeast in the early 20th century. Before arriving in the United States, these individuals were first driven from their homeland in Kharpert during the massacres of 1895-96, and ultimately deported during the Genocide of 1915.

Those who did survive and seek refuge abroad understood the acute vulnerability and preciousness of their cultural heritage. So It’s no accident that in the 1920s, several of these individuals personally invested in recording and publishing folk songs from the Kharpert region. We’ve discussed the most prolific of these musicians, Vartan Margosian. But here we would like to introduce the recordings of Kaspar Janjanian, who recorded on the Boston-based Yeprad Record Company, a label with only three known discs in its catalog.

Over the past year, the Sound Archive project has taken a step forward. In addition to the monthly posts here on the webpage, the Museum hosted two listening events under the Sound Archive umbrella this fall. Meanwhile, our web features are covering the full range of our collection. Along with more "conventional" musical recordings, we've highlighted sound recordings that touch on Armenian cultural, political, and educational history, as well as the history of recording technologies.

This month the Sound Archive turns to another canonical figure in the history of 20th century Armenian American recordings, Yetvart “Edward” Bogosian, affectionately referred to by friends as "Maestro Yetvart". His work is as comic, playful, and bawdy as it is profound and impactful. Like several of the post-war bands we’ve discussed before, Bogosian's music is often mentioned in reference to the modern Armenian American music known as Kef. But artists like Bogosian and his peer Hovsep Shamlian predate and exceed this classification.

NBC Radio of San Francisco produced a captivating 20-minute segment about Armenia in 1945, on the sidelines of the UN meeting of 50 Allied nations. It highlights the Armenian National Chorus and advocacy in pursuit of the Armenian Question led by celebrity chef George Mardikian and attorney Souren Saroyan of the Armenian National Committee.

As the “back to school” season begins, the Museum’s emphasis on language preservation and education continues. For this Sound Archive edition, we are sharing a recording not by a professional musician, but rather by a schoolteacher and community servant who only recorded one single disc. This unusual, one-of-a-kind record is a celebration of educators, and serves as an instructional resource for the Armenian language teacher.

Today, we’re revisiting Soviet Armenian recordings through discs produced by the Armenian Progressive League of America, headquartered in New York City. Active from 1938 to 1990, the League was one of many political organizations formed by Soviet-aligned Armenian Americans in the years after 1920, when the First Republic of Armenia fell. In addition to publishing Lraper (The Herald), which reported on news from Armenia, the League distributed reissued material originally recorded in Yerevan. The recordings presented here were published on a label called Yerker Hayastanen (Songs from Armenia). The League ran advertisements for these discs from 1949 into the 1960s, making these titles available to Armenians in the United States. The Armenian Museum of America is fortunate to have a nearly complete collection of the records produced on Yerker Hayastanen. Four songs from that collection are presented here.

This month the Museum is exhibiting two watercolors by the award-winning novelist and playwright, William Saroyan.To accompany these pieces, we are also highlighting sound clips from a homemade lacquer record featuring the iconic writer. In the 1930s and 1940s, we witnessed an explosion of people documenting all kinds of events using commercially available record lathes.These suitcase-sized machines were turntables with a steel needle that instead of playing back a record, etched sound onto a blank disc covered in a lacquer material. The sound quality was often poor but the technology was revolutionary in making home recording accessible for the first time.

Our Sound Archive series often celebrates the work of the early 20th century folk musicians who documented the music of their homeland upon arriving in America, as well as the music of their children, who we might think of as the post-WWII “Kef generation.” While shaped by the musical path between these generations, the singer and songwriter Hovsep Shamlian is key to that development. Many songs that Hovsep Shamlian wrote and recorded in 1927 are staples of the Armenian-American musical repertoire, particularly songs like Sheg Mazerov and Hasaguet Partzer (now known as Kale Kale). Another notable Shamlian composition which is still heard from “kef” bands today is Gamavor Zinvor, recognized as a historic testament to the Armenian Legionnaires who fought in WWI under the French flag.

In this Sound Archive edition, we are featuring four songs by Vanetsi folk musician and artist Yenovk Der Hagopian. As you may recall Yenovk’s name from the Museum’s “Treasures from Our Collection” video, which Curator Gary Lind-Sinanian presented in 2022. This post serves as a brief reintroduction to Yenovk and an opportunity to let his voice be heard through the recordings he brought into the world 80 years ago.

Yenovk Der Hagopian was born in Ishkhanikom village (present day Bakimli) on May 24, 1900. The village is near Lake Van but set back against the mountain's foothills in the history-rich valley known as "Hayots Tzor" or “Valley of the Armenians.” Yenovk’s father, Hagop, was a priest and an Ashough (or troubadour) in the style of Sayat Nova. Yenovk traveled with Hagop learning much of the repertoire he would go on to record, sung in the numerous regional languages and dialects. Equally formative to his youth was Yenovk’s relationship to Manoog Adoian who was from a nearby village, Khorkom. The world would come to know Manoog as the seminal abstract painter Arshile Gorky.

Given the Museum’s location in the US, many of the recordings we have discussed in the Sound Archive represent the output of the Armenian American diaspora, but the nature of diaspora is inherently global and the unifying aspect of a common culture means that sometimes documents end up far from their place of origin. Today we present one such record that provides a window into the Armenian Argentine diaspora, as well as a special subcollection of non-commercial lacquer discs. 

The post-WWII Armenian-American bands have been a recurring theme here at the Sound Archive. These sons of immigrants gave new impetus to the Armenian dance culture in the Diaspora by blending their Anatolian roots with the brash sounds of American jazz, giving rise to “kef music.” 

This history is intertwined with the story of the Gomidas Band — which is largely the story of Henry “Hank” Mardigian. Mardigian was born and raised in Philadelphia to a family from Malatia. He first apprenticed under musician Sam Vosbikian as a fill-in banjo player and then saxophone player in the Vosbikian Band, while two of the members were off fighting in WWII. In 1949, he was approached by Johnny Kitabjian, a friend from AYF, to help him with a band he was forming. This band became the Gomidas Band.

The Armenian Museum of America’s Sound Archive begins 2023 with a celebration of Guy Chookoorian’s fascinating and humorous musical contributions. Guy was a musician, singer, comedian, and actor. Proudly American, Guy served in World War II as a member of the 331st Bomb Squadron of the 94th Bomb Group, flying 32 missions over Europe. He was the son of heroic Genocide survivors from Yerzinga. Along with his sister Sue, Guy cofounded the Armenian-American Theater Group in Fresno in the mid-1940s. Even as he thrived in Hollywood, Guy would never forget his heritage. Celebrating Armenian culture throughout his entire career, he helped to preserve the folk songs of his native region.

As we enter the New Year, we’re taking a look back at the artists and topics covered in the Sound Archive posts since they began two years ago!  We hope this overview helps emphasize the depth and richness of Armenian musical history encompassed in the collection. For half a century now, the Museum’s collection of 78rpm records has grown, thanks to generous donors who have been entrusting us with their personal collections. The diverse histories, taste, and experience of those donors is reflected in the recordings found in the collection, providing a rich pool of music to share and a wide range of stories through which we can explore Armenian culture and music.

We hope you enjoy the selections that we're shared so far. For those of you who may have missed previous posts or are just discovering the series, we encourage you to take a look back and explore previous sounds from our archives!

The Sound Archive presents digitized versions of 78 rpm records from our collection. This month we are featuring record distributor Hrand Markar Tashjian. Tashjian was a trailblazer, taking matters into his own hands when Armenian music was almost impossible to get your hands on in the 1940s and 50s. He reissued out of print recordings from major labels on a series of his own imprints.

This month's post includes four digitized and restored songs: Yaylouges Gorav, Siroung Groung, Amen Hayr Sourp, and Vart. Special thanks to the SJS Charitable Foundation for their generous support of our work to digitize and share our collection of 78 rpm records.

This Sound Archive highlights one of the most influential bands in the history of the Armenian community in America. Known and beloved by fans on the East Coast for generations, the Vosbikian Band was the first American-born Armenian dance band, raised outside of their parents’ historic homeland in Armenia and Asia Minor.

The Vosbikian Band started with three brothers, Sam (Sahag) Vosbikian (1919-2012), Mike (Manuel) Vosbikian (1921-2019), and Joe (Hovsep) Vosbikian (1924-2012). They were born in Philadelphia to Bedros and Vartanoush Vosbikian, who were natives of Malatia. Bedros was a clarinet player who performed with his brother Thomas on violin, with other friends and cousins providing vocals and dumbeg (hand drum) beats.

In this 18th Sound Archive post, we feature four songs by two highly accomplished musicians. Born in Shushi, Arev Baghdasaryan studied dance and music in Baku during the 1930’s. The arrangements of the folk songs “Garunkner'' and “Hayots Ashkharh'' feature her distinctive sound. The other two pieces, “Akh, Im Champen” (Ah, My road) and “Shirakskii Tanets” (Dance of Shirak) showcase an iconic Armenian instrument. On this Soviet 78 rpm record manufactured in Moscow, we hear the highly accomplished duduk player Levon Madoyan. 

In post-World War II America, a generation of American born Armenians began recording music. In 1949, the Vosbikians and the Nor-Ikes would redefine Armenian music and create a cultural phenomenon. Other bands followed including the Gomidas Band, Aramite Band, the Orientals, the Ararat Band, and the Barsamian Orchestra. This profile of Souren Baronian is the beginning of a series of posts related to the young Armenian-American musicians.  

Today's post features the stunning voice of Zabelle Panosian, an Armenian soprano and recording star of the early 20th century. Once a household name for Armenians in the 1910s and 1920s, the recent publication of Zabelle Panosian: I am Servant of Your Voice, a book and CD compilation by Canary Records, has taken great effort to bring Zabelle back into focus and let her voice be heard and celebrated again in the 21st century.

Masha (Marie) Sourabian had an illustrious career on the Armenian stage as an actor and vocalist. She was born in the town of Yekaterinodar, modern day Krasnodar, Russia on February 16, 1896. Her musical training began at the Moscow Conservatory of Music. Masha met and married Armenian actor Setrak Sourabian in 1919, in Tiflis. Together they formed the Hay Dramatic Operet Khoump (Armenian Dramatic Operetta Troupe) and began touring with stops in various Armenian communities with performances in Tiflis, Yerevan, Baku, Smyrna, and Constantinople.

Among the numerous musicians from the Kharpert region that recorded for Columbia Records in the 1920s, the father and son duo Stepan and Haigaz Simonian stand out for their exuberant renditions of regional dances. Stepan Simonian was born in 1887 in Mezire and came to the United States in 1907, settling first in Haverhill, then later in Worcester, MA, where he worked as a cobbler. He and his wife Sophia Berberian, a Kharpert Assyrian, had two sons and two daughters. Their oldest son and Stepan’s collaborator, Haigaz, was born in 1909 in Worcester.

Nevart Dzeron-Koshkarian, sometimes known as Nouart, was a fine artist and art educator. She was born in Perchanj, a village that was south of Kharpert. She would arrive in the United States in 1893. Daughter to engineer and author Manoog A. Dzeron, who wrote, “Nevart having received her preparatory education in Worcester and Chicago, completed a 7- year course at the Chicago Art Institute and graduated with honors as an artist. For an additional year she went to France and Italy to refine her art. She married Prof. Bedros Goshgarian. They settled in New Jersey. Nevart has always remained a patriotic Armenian. During the Near East Relief fundraising she traveled to important centers in America, lecturing on indigenous Armenian music and singing Armenian songs.

As we enter the New Year we’re taking a look back at the artists and topics covered in the Sound Archive posts since they began in March of 2021. We hope you enjoy the selections here which bring together on one page some of the music we’ve shared to date.

Vartan Margosian’s style of music was unique and will probably never again be repeated. He was not a highly trained musician, and he wasn’t even a “master player” in the folk tradition. There were probably any number of Armenians like him, who knew how to play an instrument and who knew the folk songs of their local area. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t great, but one asks oneself how many Vartans we lost due to the Armenian Genocide. Vartan’s special quality lies in two things, as far as this listener is concerned: his near-heroic attempt to document the songs of his native land by printing an incredible amount of records on his own dime, and his irrepressible spirit which shines through in all his recordings and in the surviving photographs, a man who must have been a naturally happy person, subjected to loss and destruction of his homeland and most likely, his parents and extended family. Vartan’s singing verges from deeply, emotionally melancholic to sprightly, happy, and contented, reflecting his and his people’s loss on the one hand and his successful realization of the American Dream and happy family life on the other. The songs included here are mostly from his early recordings and mostly from the second half of 1923 and the first half 1924.