As a recurring theme here on the Sound Archive, we've explored the cultural preservation undertaken by Armenians from Kharpert who built new lives in and around the Northeast in the early 20th century. Before arriving in the United States, these individuals were first driven from their homeland in Kharpert during the massacres of 1895-96, and ultimately deported during the Genocide of 1915.

Those who did survive and seek refuge abroad understood the acute vulnerability and preciousness of their cultural heritage. So It’s no accident that in the 1920s, several of these individuals personally invested in recording and publishing folk songs from the Kharpert region. We’ve discussed the most prolific of these musicians, Vartan Margosian. But here we would like to introduce the recordings of Kaspar Janjanian, who recorded on the Boston-based Yeprad Record Company, a label with only three known discs in its catalog.

Over the past year, the Sound Archive project has taken a step forward. In addition to the monthly posts here on the webpage, the Museum hosted two listening events under the Sound Archive umbrella this fall. Meanwhile, our web features are covering the full range of our collection. Along with more "conventional" musical recordings, we've highlighted sound recordings that touch on Armenian cultural, political, and educational history, as well as the history of recording technologies.

This month the Sound Archive turns to another canonical figure in the history of 20th century Armenian American recordings, Yetvart “Edward” Bogosian, affectionately referred to by friends as "Maestro Yetvart". His work is as comic, playful, and bawdy as it is profound and impactful. Like several of the post-war bands we’ve discussed before, Bogosian's music is often mentioned in reference to the modern Armenian American music known as Kef. But artists like Bogosian and his peer Hovsep Shamlian predate and exceed this classification.

NBC Radio of San Francisco produced a captivating 20-minute segment about Armenia in 1945, on the sidelines of the UN meeting of 50 Allied nations. It highlights the Armenian National Chorus and advocacy in pursuit of the Armenian Question led by celebrity chef George Mardikian and attorney Souren Saroyan of the Armenian National Committee.

As the “back to school” season begins, the Museum’s emphasis on language preservation and education continues. For this Sound Archive edition, we are sharing a recording not by a professional musician, but rather by a schoolteacher and community servant who only recorded one single disc. This unusual, one-of-a-kind record is a celebration of educators, and serves as an instructional resource for the Armenian language teacher.

Today, we’re revisiting Soviet Armenian recordings through discs produced by the Armenian Progressive League of America, headquartered in New York City. Active from 1938 to 1990, the League was one of many political organizations formed by Soviet-aligned Armenian Americans in the years after 1920, when the First Republic of Armenia fell. In addition to publishing Lraper (The Herald), which reported on news from Armenia, the League distributed reissued material originally recorded in Yerevan. The recordings presented here were published on a label called Yerker Hayastanen (Songs from Armenia). The League ran advertisements for these discs from 1949 into the 1960s, making these titles available to Armenians in the United States. The Armenian Museum of America is fortunate to have a nearly complete collection of the records produced on Yerker Hayastanen. Four songs from that collection are presented here.

This month the Museum is exhibiting two watercolors by the award-winning novelist and playwright, William Saroyan.To accompany these pieces, we are also highlighting sound clips from a homemade lacquer record featuring the iconic writer. In the 1930s and 1940s, we witnessed an explosion of people documenting all kinds of events using commercially available record lathes.These suitcase-sized machines were turntables with a steel needle that instead of playing back a record, etched sound onto a blank disc covered in a lacquer material. The sound quality was often poor but the technology was revolutionary in making home recording accessible for the first time.

Our Sound Archive series often celebrates the work of the early 20th century folk musicians who documented the music of their homeland upon arriving in America, as well as the music of their children, who we might think of as the post-WWII “Kef generation.” While shaped by the musical path between these generations, the singer and songwriter Hovsep Shamlian is key to that development. Many songs that Hovsep Shamlian wrote and recorded in 1927 are staples of the Armenian-American musical repertoire, particularly songs like Sheg Mazerov and Hasaguet Partzer (now known as Kale Kale). Another notable Shamlian composition which is still heard from “kef” bands today is Gamavor Zinvor, recognized as a historic testament to the Armenian Legionnaires who fought in WWI under the French flag.

In this Sound Archive edition, we are featuring four songs by Vanetsi folk musician and artist Yenovk Der Hagopian. As 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 back 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 the 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.

Given the Museum’s location in the US, many of the recordings we have discussed in the Sound Archive represent the output of the Armenian American diaspora, but the nature of diaspora is inherently global and the unifying aspect of a common culture means that sometimes documents end up far from their place of origin. Today we present one such record that provides a window into the Armenian Argentine diaspora, as well as a special subcollection of non-commercial lacquer discs. 

The post-WWII Armenian-American bands have been a recurring theme here at the Sound Archive. These sons of immigrants gave new impetus to the Armenian dance culture in the Diaspora by blending their Anatolian roots with the brash sounds of American jazz, giving rise to “kef music.” 

This history is intertwined with the story of the Gomidas Band — which is largely the story of Henry “Hank” Mardigian. Mardigian was born and raised in Philadelphia to a family from Malatia. He first apprenticed under musician Sam Vosbikian as a fill-in banjo player and then saxophone player in the Vosbikian Band, while two of the members were off fighting in WWII. In 1949, he was approached by Johnny Kitabjian, a friend from AYF, to help him with a band he was forming. This band became the Gomidas Band.

The Armenian Museum of America’s Sound Archive begins 2023 with a celebration of Guy Chookoorian’s fascinating and humorous musical contributions. Guy was a musician, singer, comedian, and actor. Proudly American, Guy served in World War II as a member of the 331st Bomb Squadron of the 94th Bomb Group, flying 32 missions over Europe. He was the son of heroic Genocide survivors from Yerzinga. Along with his sister Sue, Guy cofounded the Armenian-American Theater Group in Fresno in the mid-1940s. Even as he thrived in Hollywood, Guy would never forget his heritage. Celebrating Armenian culture throughout his entire career, he helped to preserve the folk songs of his native region.

As we enter the New Year, we’re taking a look back at the artists and topics covered in the Sound Archive posts since they began two years ago!  We hope this overview helps emphasize the depth and richness of Armenian musical history encompassed in the collection. For half a century now, the Museum’s collection of 78rpm records has grown, thanks to generous donors who have been entrusting us with their personal collections. The diverse histories, taste, and experience of those donors is reflected in the recordings found in the collection, providing a rich pool of music to share and a wide range of stories through which we can explore Armenian culture and music.

We hope you enjoy the selections that we're shared so far. For those of you who may have missed previous posts or are just discovering the series, we encourage you to take a look back and explore previous sounds from our archives!

The Sound Archive presents digitized versions of 78 rpm records from our collection. This month we are featuring record distributor Hrand Markar Tashjian. Tashjian was a trailblazer, taking matters into his own hands when Armenian music was almost impossible to get your hands on in the 1940s and 50s. He reissued out of print recordings from major labels on a series of his own imprints.

This month's post includes four digitized and restored songs: Yaylouges Gorav, Siroung Groung, Amen Hayr Sourp, and Vart. Special thanks to the SJS Charitable Foundation for their generous support of our work to digitize and share our collection of 78 rpm records.

This Sound Archive highlights one of the most influential bands in the history of the Armenian community in America. Known and beloved by fans on the East Coast for generations, the Vosbikian Band was the first American-born Armenian dance band, raised outside of their parents’ historic homeland in Armenia and Asia Minor.

The Vosbikian Band started with three brothers, Sam (Sahag) Vosbikian (1919-2012), Mike (Manuel) Vosbikian (1921-2019), and Joe (Hovsep) Vosbikian (1924-2012). They were born in Philadelphia to Bedros and Vartanoush Vosbikian, who were natives of Malatia. Bedros was a clarinet player who performed with his brother Thomas on violin, with other friends and cousins providing vocals and dumbeg (hand drum) beats.

In this 18th Sound Archive post, we feature four songs by two highly accomplished musicians. Born in Shushi, Arev Baghdasaryan studied dance and music in Baku during the 1930’s. The arrangements of the folk songs “Garunkner'' and “Hayots Ashkharh'' feature her distinctive sound. The other two pieces, “Akh, Im Champen” (Ah, My road) and “Shirakskii Tanets” (Dance of Shirak) showcase an iconic Armenian instrument. On this Soviet 78 rpm record manufactured in Moscow, we hear the highly accomplished duduk player Levon Madoyan. 

In post-World War II America, a generation of American born Armenians began recording music. In 1949, the Vosbikians and the Nor-Ikes would redefine Armenian music and create a cultural phenomenon. Other bands followed including the Gomidas Band, Aramite Band, the Orientals, the Ararat Band, and the Barsamian Orchestra. This profile of Souren Baronian is the beginning of a series of posts related to the young Armenian-American musicians.  

With a short yet colorful career in the United States of America, Torcom Bézazian can be considered the most prolific Armenian recording artist of the early 78 rpm era and the only Armenian to record with the three major labels of the era, Columbia, Victor and Edison. Born in Constantinople on September 23, 1889, Bezazian fled the Ottoman Empire and pursued an education in France where he graduated with a degree in engineering from the University of Nancy. Bezazian forsook his career in engineering, and began a serious study of music. Like Armenag Shah-Mouradian and Krikor Proff-Kalfaian, Bezazian studied with Vincent D’Indy. Torcom arrived in the United States in 1913 and over the next decade and a half the baritone enjoyed a successful career on the opera and vaudeville stages. 

The three songs presented today all feature the master clarinetist Mesrob Takakjian. The first, titled Yes Sirer Em (I Have Loved), is a clarinet solo and a clear display of Takakjian’s skill. Also included are Gigo, a song including a strong introductory clarinet solo and March of Antranig, a well known patriotic ballad which is interpreted by Takakjian in a 10/8 rhythmic style.

Born in Palu, clarinetist Mesrob Takakjian arrived in the United States in 1912 as a teenager; he would resettle in Fresno, California in the early 1920s. While living in Providence, Rhode Island, Takakjian began his music career. His name is first seen on a record in 1924/5 on the Margosian Records label, though it is presumed he was recorded earlier in the late 1910s. His promising music career in the New York area was cut short when he contracted tuberculosis after he allowed a fellow musician to use one of his reeds, thus leading to his migration to California for healthier weather. He would appear on two discs recorded for Columbia Records in Los Angeles in 1929, accompanying Oscar Kevorkian.

Today's post features the stunning voice of Zabelle Panosian, an Armenian soprano and recording star of the early 20th century. Once a household name for Armenians in the 1910s and 1920s, the recent publication of Zabelle Panosian: I am Servant of Your Voice, a book and CD compilation by Canary Records, has taken great effort to bring Zabelle back into focus and let her voice be heard and celebrated again in the 21st century.