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. 

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.