Born: May 24, 1900, Van
Died: March 15, 1966, Yonkers NY
Active years (recording): 1943-1946
Label Association: Ashoogh Records

In this Sound Archive edition, we are featuring four songs by Vanetsi folk musician and artist Yenovk Der Hagopian. 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 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 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. Both Gorky and Yenovk experienced first-hand the horror of the Genocide when Van came under attack in the spring of 1915. Yenovk and his family fled for Yerevan but sadly both of his parents lost their lives. Between fleeing Van and immigrating to the United States in 1923 Yenovk lived a varied life, studying fine art in Tiflis before serving as the director of two orphanages in Yerevan for the Near East Relief Foundation.

Out of the diverse experience and tragic loss of his teens and early twenties Yenovk dedicated himself to creative work across several mediums. He worked as a painter, a sculptor, and a folk singer. All of these pursuits served to celebrate, express, and preserve the richness of Armenian culture as he experienced it in his youth, as well as a means of processing the trauma inflicted by the Genocide.

After coming to America in 1923, Yenovk reconnected with Gorky and settled in Watertown, MA becoming a part of a fledgling Armenian art community. There he took jobs in the local rubber factory as well as house painting, and worked out of his studio at 157 Mt Auburn St. just a short walk from where the Armenian Museum is today. Yenovk became central to a rich community of friends and creative colleagues including Hyman Bloom who introduced him to Alan Hovhaness. Yenovk’s music became quite important to Hovhaness and with the support of this cohort, Yenovk published an eight disc album of 78rpm records in 1943 under his own Ashoogh Records label. A second set followed in 1946, bringing his recorded output to 16 songs. Accompanying Yenovk on each of these songs is the saz player Sam Haidostian, a native of Marash and fellow Watertown resident. In addition to his musical activity Sam worked at the Hairenik newspaper and was a writer of short stories. The two complement each other in their no-frills articulation of the folk repertoire characteristic of the 19th century ashoogh. This is particularly remarkable for recordings made in the 1940s - a time when many artists were exploring ways of modernizing historical repertoire. You can find much more biographic detail and explore aspects of Yenovk’s work through the Bishop Gallery’s website, and we plan to revisit his story in more detail in the future. But for now please take some time to listen to Yenovk sing Doon En Glkhen, Ser Ouneink, Dsovoon Khavk Me Gehr, and Yes Koo Ghimetn Chim Gidi from his 1943 album set.

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.