Rare is a composer known to be as prolific as Alan Hovahness Chakmakjian. Consider this a short profile into his early Armenian years.

Hovhaness’ exposure to Armenian music began with his father, Haroutioun Hovhaness Chakmakjian. While his mother, Madeline Scott, preferred Alan not to attend any of the after-school programs in the Armenian community, his father made up for any lack in young Alan’s Armenian education. Chakmakjian came to America in 1904 after a turbulent journey from Cypress to Boston. Born in Adana in 1878 and educated in the sciences, Chakmakjian became a professor of chemistry at Tufts University. Alan’s mother Madeline was a graduate of Wellesley College. Alan’s parents met at an Armenian fundraiser. On Alan’s maternal side, his mother’s paternal grandfather was born in Scotland; her maternal side dates back to the 17^th century in Westchester County, New York, around Sleepy Hollow. 

It's easy to forget just how powerful radio was before the internet, but in the first half of the twentieth century the medium had an immeasurable impact on communities across the country. To illustrate that impact, we look at two records which stand as artifacts of the way early radio brought the Armenian-American community together. For Armenian communities across America the presence of “Armenian Radio Hours” wasn't just a broadcast; the sound of Armenian-language presenters and music was a comfort and a link to their homeland, serving as a pillar of identity. These shows, which broadcast around the states from Detroit to Fresno, were largely influenced by The Armenian Radio Hour that was started in Providence, Rhode Island in 1947 by Russell Gasparian.

With summer in full swing, we turn our attention again to the post-World War Two generation of Armenian-American musicians who codified their unique blend of Armenian traditional melodies and American popular music. We’re revisiting a group we’ve touched on before, the Nor-Ikes Band, from a different angle. Our first piece on the group explored the career and perspective of the band's clarinetist Souren Baronian, but like many musically pioneering groups it was creative partnership that drove the work, and so we share here another set of songs which highlight the group’s oudist and driving force, Chick Ganimian. The music heard here is paired with excerpts of Ganimian in his own words, from a 1963 interview conducted with Arno Karlen and later published as “New York’s Near East” in the January 1966 edition of Holiday Magazine.  

In the late 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century Armenian musicians began making efforts to introduce Europeans to the wonders of Armenian music. Important figures in this effort include artists we have covered in the past such as Gomidas Vartabed, Grigor Suni, and Armenag Shah-Mouradian. Among them, Krikor Proff-Kalfaian was an instrumental figure, a trendsetter who opened doors for fellow Armenian musicians. Included along with this article are two songs which make up one of the now scarcely available records self-produced by Proff-Kalfaian on his own self-titled label in 1925.

The history of Armenian recorded music here in America largely revolves around passionate individuals, groups, and families who take it on themselves to perform, record, and share the joy of their music and dance heritage. In 1948 in Los Angeles, the father and son duo Enoch and Peter Gamoian committed to recording a dozen dumbeg and clarinet-driven dance tunes, which have remained staples of the dance repertoire to this day. The Gamoian’s recordings, now almost 80 years old, may be relative rarities but the contribution these musicians made to ensuring the continued practice of these dances within the Fresno Armenian community is notable and lasting. 

Hrant Kenkulian, known as Udi Hrant, is one of those artists whose influence and importance in Armenian culture is difficult to overstate. The irony is that this influence, though incredibly profound, has mostly been felt in the Western Armenian Diaspora and especially in the United States, while in Armenia his name is hardly known. The reason for this is undoubtedly the fact that he lived and worked for most of his life in Republican Turkey. Despite that fact, he became a model for progressive developments in oud technique. He was known for his inimitable soulful, intimate style of playing and singing, and especially his mastery of taksim, or solo modal improvisation. For Armenian oudists, in the Diaspora but also in Soviet and modern-day Armenia, he has been the primary model. He has been hailed as a legend in oud music and the greatest Armenian oud player of all time.

On April 2, 2025, Governor Maura Healey declared April as Armenian American Heritage Month in Massachusetts. To honor this, the Sound Archive is spotlighting Gomidas Vartabed through a special song selection and a rare archival discovery that raises the question: what might have changed in his life and Armenian music if a missed opportunity had been realized?

Armenians began settling in the U.S. in small numbers by the mid-19th century, with Worcester, Massachusetts, becoming the first organized community. In 1891, Worcester's Armenians founded the first Armenian Apostolic church in America. Some, like Moses Gulesian—a key figure in preserving the USS Constitution—later moved to Boston. Gulesian also worked on the 1901 renovation of Boston’s Old State House, where a time capsule was placed in a copper lion. When opened in the 2010s, it revealed a U.S. diplomatic report from 1897 documenting the Ottoman Empire’s massacres of Armenians, a striking historical connection uncovered by architect Don Tellalian.

The art song Անուշ Գարուն (EA: Anush Garun; WA: Anoush Karoun) was composed by Daniel Ghazarian (1883–1958) in Soviet Armenia, likely in the late 1920s. Ghazarian, initially a shoemaker, was encouraged by his teacher and fellow composer Grikor Suni to pursue music. He moved to Baku in 1907, then Tbilisi, where he graduated from the Tbilisi Music College in 1911. After surviving WWI and the Russian Revolution, he graduated from the Tbilisi Conservatory in 1921. Ghazarian became a key figure in modern classical music education in Armenia and the Caucasus.

Our primary focus has been on commercially-released recordings, lacquer/home recordings, and re-issued records. While we’ve discussed Armenian films previously, with this article we shift our attention to an experimental recording: not quite a soundtrack but a medley of film music from the 1935 movie Pepo, the first Armenian language sound film produced in Soviet Armenia.