Sound Archive
The following are selections from the museum's roughly 3,000 disc collection of early Armenian recordings and musical ephemera. Explore the links below to listen to songs, learn about pivotal musicians and see images of original records.
A special thanks to Jesse Kenas Collins, Harry Kezelian, and Harout Arakelian whose ongoing contributions of research and consultation have been critical to assembling the writings presented here.
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.
The Tashjian Brothers
In 1909, Mardiros Der Sarkis Tashjian recorded six songs for the Columbia Phonograph Company. The following year he returned to record again, this time, with his two younger brothers Nishan and Levon recording a total of twenty-eight songs. These recordings not only represent the first recording artists of Armenian descent in the United States, they are also the first in the Armenian language.