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. 

When most people hear the name Richard Hagopian, they might think of the master oud player and singer who has made an immeasurable impact on the modern history of Armenian music in America. While his work and impact deserves the fullest exploration, here we take a look at a lesser known musician by the same name. 

Richard G. Hagopian carved a unique path with his musical and educational career, stradling the worlds of the concert hall, Armenian music, and music education. Within this career he left us with only one commercially produced 78rpm record from 1949, but within the Museum’s collection, two unreleased lacquer records from 1951 have recently surfaced, bringing his known recorded output to a total of six songs.

As we close out the fourth year of the Sound Archive project here at the Armenian Museum of America, we are thrilled to have compiled 40 presentations in that time. Each has been dedicated to a different story of Armenian artists who made an impact on the musical and cultural heritage through the legacy of their audio recordings. Across those 40 articles, we have shared 156 different recordings, all digitized and restored from the Museum's expansive collection of early to mid-20th century 78rpm records. Presented here are some highlights from this year's selections.

Megerditch Douzjian, born in Dikranagerd in 1896, arrived in the U.S. in 1921 after surviving the Genocide and World War I in hiding. He settled in New Jersey, where he became involved in the Hunchakian party and the Paramaz Dramatic Association. His success on stage led to a recording career, beginning in 1925, where he recorded numerous songs for various labels and he continued performing with the Paramaz troupe until his last performance in 1947.

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.