Gomidas Vartabed / Soghomon Soghomonian

Born: October 8, 1869, Kütahya, Ottoman Empire
Death: October 22, 1935, Paris, France

On April 2, 2025, the Governor of Massachusetts, Maura Healey, proclaimed April as Armenian American Heritage Month. The Sound Archive wishes to contribute to this heritage month by remembering Gomidas Vartabed through a unique selection of songs and a little-known archival find regarding the history of the fledgling Armenian community of early 20th century Boston. It’s a find that leaves a lingering question of “what if…?” What might have changed in the life of Gomidas Vartabed and the course of Armenian music history if this unfulfilled opportunity was in fact realized? 

By the mid-19th century, there were scatterings of Armenian individuals throughout the United States, such as the few Armenians who joined the Union Army during the American Civil War (most as field doctors). The established communities didn’t start developing until the last quarter of the 19th century. The industrial town of Worcester can be considered the first Armenian community in Massachusetts. When in 1891 the Worcester community established the first Armenian Apostolic church in the US, The Church of Our Savior, it is rumored that Khrimian Hayrig recorded a congratulatory message on an Edison wax cylinder. Some of the Armenian residents of Worcester would later resettle in Boston, including figures such as Moses Gulesian, who led the efforts to save the USS Constitution, the US Naval vessel named by George Washington that later earned the nickname of “Old Ironsides.” Gulesian, a native of Marash, was also involved in 1901 renovations conducted at Boston's Old State House. During this construction, a time-capsule was placed in the head of the copper lion atop the Old State House. When the shoebox-sized capsule was discovered in the early 2010s, the first item uncovered was a leather bound book titled “Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, with the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 7, 1896, and the Annual Report of the Secretary of State (Washington, 1897).” When Boston architect Don Tellalian further investigated, it was discovered that the content of the book was official US diplomatic correspondence; the section marked by the fold described the Ottoman oppressions of Armenians during the Hamidian massacres of 1895-6. 

While there are many stories and histories documenting the Armenian experience in Boston, this article will highlight a short report published on May 18, 1907 in the Hairenik Daily newspaper. The headline reads, “The Parish Council of Boston and Its Decisions.”

The brief but informative article laid out a four-point agenda for the community. The parish priest Sarkis Tashjian presided over the meeting. Of the four decisions announced that day, one bullet point stands out more than the rest. It reads: “It was decided to find a way to bring Gomidas Vartabed here from Europe in order to introduce Armenian music, whether to Armenians or to foreigners, just as he has successfully done in Paris recently.”

While the attempt to bring Gomidas Vartabed to the US did not occur, within two years of that parish meeting (in 1909), the priest’s oldest son, Mardiros Der Sarkis Tashjian recorded a set of six songs on the Columbia Records label. He became the first to record Armenian language music in America. The same year in Gyumri(then Alexandropol), Gomidas Vartabed was recorded by the Gramophone record company. The Gyumri recording sessions are the only known recordings of Gomidas’ voice. Later in 1914, for recording sessions with the Blumenthal-run Orfeon records, Gomidas accompanied vocalist Armenag Shah-Mouradian on the piano.

Our musical selections return us to these 1914 recording sessions in Constantinople featuring Gantche Groung and Yes Lessetzi. The next two songs we present were a part of a recording session that remains somewhat unclear. The session was organized in 1927 under the name Gomidas Choir of Constantinople directed by Mr. Z. Sarian. This set of 10 songs were recorded by the British His Master’s Voice label. According to an announcement published in the 1928 almanac of Istanbul’s Surp Prgich Armenian Hospital, the proceeds from the record sales would help with the costs of Gomidas’ rehabilitation in France. Only one of the five discs was reissued by Armen-Vahe’s The Orient label in the 1930s, featuring the compositions by Gomidas Vartabed, Sareri Vrov Gnats and Andzrev Egav. 

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.