Armenian Music Podcast with Raffi Meneshian

S1S9 Music in a Time of War: Armenia Vibes

Born out of the COVID crisis of 2020, a team of Armenian professionals created a cultural media platform called Armenia Vibes to showcase creative talent in Armenia. When a war broke out that saw many of their compatriots go to the front line, they quickly pivoted by leveraging their platform to raise money towards relieve efforts currently being undertaken in Artsakh and Armenia. 

In this episode meet some of the Armenia Vibes team members, including The Bambir lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Narek Barseghyan, graphic designer and photographer Arsineh Valladian, and entrepreneur Zak Valladian. We will feature live performance highlights from recent Armenia Vibes broadcasts as well as studio selections from The Bambir and System of a Down. 

Armenia Vibes live curated tracks are performed by the Artsakh Band, Aveluk, and Shushi Qouchi Band. The Bambir studio track "Gzhi Harsaniq" and System of a Down studio track "Protect the Land" are also showcased on this episode. 

For more information on Armenia Vibes and the artists they have broadcast, please go to ArmeniaVibes.com. Donations can be made through their site. 

For alternative ways to support humanitarian efforts in Artsakh and Armenia, please visit ArmeniaFund.org

S1E8 Sylvia Alajaji: Of Memory, Music, and the Armenian Diaspora

Ethnomusicologist and author Dr. Alajaji joins the podcast to discuss the connection between memory and music as it relates to maintaining ethnic identity. Alajaji recounts her own personal experiences being raised as an Armenian in Tulsa, Oklahoma while listening to mix tapes, Adiss Harmandian, and Harout Pamboukjian. She also touches on the  “estradayin”, Ottoman influenced “kef”, and pop genres of music produced and consumed within Diasporan Armenian communities.

Guest Biography

Sylvia Angelique Alajaji is an Associate Professor of Music at Franklin & Marshall College, where she also teaches in the International Studies program. She is the author of “Music and the Armenian Diaspora: Searching for Home in Exile” (Indiana University Press, 2015), a multi-sited work that examines the construction of diasporic Armenian subjectivity in the years since the Armenian genocide (recently published in Turkish translation). Her published work centers on the relationship between music and exilic identity, focusing primarily on Armenian diasporic communities in Lebanon and the United States. In the spring of 2021, she will serve as the Dumanian Visiting Professor of Armenian Studies at the University of Chicago.

Featured Music

Adiss Harmandian- “Nune” (1988, Voice of Stars CD, Greatest Hits- Grand Success)

Adiss Harmandian- “Karoun, Karoun” (1972, A Disc 45)

Richard Hagopian and the Kef Time Band- “Konyali” (1968, Saha LP, Kef Time Las Vegas)

Harout Pamboukjian- “Ghapama” (1983, Pe-Ko CD, Heratsadz Engerner)

Joe Bedrosian- “Yankee Doodle” (1939, Library of Congress, field recordings by Sidney Robertson Cowell)

All songs featured on this podcast are either public domain, by express permission by the label, and/or licensed for the express use on this podcast episode.

S1E7 John Hodian: Meditations on Naghash and New Classical Music. Composer and musician John Hodian joins the podcast to discuss his career, newest recording, The Naghash Ensemble Live Volume 1 and Armenian Medieval mystical poet & priest Mkrtich Naghash.  Featured Music John Hodian and Bet Williams (The Epiphany Project)- "Ararat {Arto's Song}" (Hin Dagh, 2008, Epiphany Records) The Naghash Ensemble- "Meditations on Greed and Poverty" (The Naghash Ensemble Live, Volume 1, Epiphany Records, 2020) John Hodian Biography John Hodian is a composer, conductor, and pianist who has worked in a wide variety of idioms—from classical to jazz, rock to rap, and traditional to avant-garde theater. Hodian's music conveys emotions ranging from profound melancholy to bold exuberance. His hauntingly beautiful melodies, intricate rhythms and soulful intensity reflect both his Armenian roots and his formal classical training, as well as his years spent as a cutting edge jazz improviser. Hodian received Masters degrees in composition and conducting at The Philadelphia College for the Performing Arts. John also spent several summers at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado where he studied piano and improvisation with Art Lande, Ralph Towner as well as literature and poetry with Allen Ginsburg and William Burroughs. While teaching composition and music theory at the University of the Arts, John was conductor of the Philadelphia New Music Ensemble and associate conductor of The Philadelphia Youth Orchestra.  John went on to found the first fully digital music studio in Philadelphia where he began his career in film and television scoring. Over the past 15 years he has scored over 250 documentary films and won the New York Emmy Award for "Best Music for a Documentary". John’s music has been heard in numerous feature films,   dance pieces, chamber music ensembles, stage dramas, music-theater pieces and over 300 documentaries. His music-theater piece, “Sweet Theresiendstadt”, produced by En Garde Arts and Theater Archa, played for a year in Prague before touring to Warsaw and Berlin. In addition to being selected as resident composer for the Sundance Theater Institute, John has collaborated with leading theater figures such as Anne Bogart and Israel Horowitz. John was a two time winner of the New Dramatist Frederick Lowe award for music theater.

S1E6 Andre Simonian: Full Circle

Andre Simonian is an artist, musician, and producer based in both London and Yerevan. Since 2006, he has fronted the English language rock band The Beautified Project, which has become one of the most popular bands in Armenia. In addition to his work with The Beautified Project, Andre has done high profile collaborations with the likes of Nemra, Sevak Amroyan, Adana Project, Sibil, Melody for Harmony, Sona Rubenyan, Mick Moss as well as others. Deeply committed to his homeland, Andre has had a major impact on the development of new artists- in both music and the visual arts. 

Featured Songs:

Beautified Project- "Lost Innocence" (Andre S.S Simonian, 2016)

Beautified Project- "Kilikia" (St. Mongoose Entertainment, 2012)

All songs featured on this podcast episode are with express permission from the recording artist. 

S1E5 Ian Nagoski: Resurrecting Ghosts, Part 2

Ian Nagoski is a researcher and record producer from the Baltimore, MD area who specializes in music of the early 20th century in languages other than English. In the finale of a two part episode, Nagoski describes the detective work involved in piecing together a narrative for each recording he comes across. Artist/recording highlights including Edward Bogosian ("Soode Soode") , the curious case of Dr J.K. Sutherland, and the majestic beauty of the recording "Groung" by Zabelle Panossian. 

This two part episode focuses on the beginning of the recorded music industry in the United States, with particular attention toward ethnic Armenians recording music in the early 20th century in the languages of Armenian and Turkish. 

Music Featured

Komitas Vartabed- "Hov Arek" (Orfeon, 1912)

Zabelle Panossian- "Groung" (Columbia, 1917)

All music presented in this podcast is shared with the permission of Canary Records. Please go to https://canary-records.bandcamp.com/music for more information on these and other reissue recordings produced by Ian Nagoski.

Ian Nagoski Biography: Ian Nagoski is a music researcher and record producer in Baltimore, Maryland. For more than a decade, he has produced dozens of reissues of early 20th century recordings in languages other than English for labels including Dust-to-Digital, Tompkins Square, his own Canary Records, and others. His enthusiastic talks have been hosted at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., the Onassis Cultural Center in Athens Greece, the University of Chicago, University of California Los Angeles and Santa Barbara and New York University, and he has presented his work in installation at the Museum fur Naturkunde in Berlin Germany, the Wellcome Center in London England, and the Peale Center in Baltimore Maryland. A fragment of his work is included on the MoonkArk, the first object to be permanently installed on the moon, in 2020.

S1E4 Ian Nagoski: Resurrecting Ghosts, Part 1

Ian Nagoski is a researcher and record producer from the Baltimore, MD area who specializes in music of the early 20th century in languages other than English. In the first of a two part episode, Nagoski takes us from the beginnings of the recording industry in America (late 1800's) into the 78rpm record era (early 1900's) focusing on the recordings of Armenian immigrants from the Ottoman Empire sung in both Turkish and Armenian. Ian's ability to bring recordings to life by giving us detailed backstories on the artist, the song, and the era with which they were recorded provides the listener with a captivating look at recordings otherwise neglected for decades. In this episode, Nagoski describes "Eghin Havasi (Melody of Eghin) by the mysterious Kemany Minas in what is perhaps a reference to the 1894-1896 Hamidian Massacres. A brief overview of Udi Hrant Kenkulian, the blind oud master from Istanbul is also discussed. His version of "Agin", sung in Armenian (which was rare), is also also featured. 

Music Featured

Udi Hrant Kenkulian (oud/voice)- "Anush Yarin" (Smyrnaphone OH-3, 1950's)

Kemany Minas (voice)- "Eghin Havasi" (Columbia, 1917)

Udi Hrant Kenkulian (oud/voice)- "Agin" (Smyrnaphon OH-4, 1950's)

All music presented in this podcast is shared with the permission of Canary Records. Please go to https://canary-records.bandcamp.com/music for more information on these and other reissue recordings produced by Ian Nagoski. 

Ian Nagoski Biography: Ian Nagoski is a music researcher and record producer in Baltimore, Maryland. For more than a decade, he has produced dozens of reissues of early 20th century recordings in languages other than English for labels including Dust-to-Digital, Tompkins Square, his own Canary Records, and others. His enthusiastic talks have been hosted at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., the Onassis Cultural Center in Athens Greece, the University of Chicago, University of California Los Angeles and Santa Barbara and New York University, and he has presented his work in installation at the Museum fur Naturkunde in Berlin Germany, the Wellcome Center in London England, and the Peale Center in Baltimore Maryland. A fragment of his work is included on the MoonkArk, the first object to be permanently installed on the moon, in 2020.

S1E3 Ara Dinkjian, Part 3- An Armenian In America

The conclusion of my conversation with composer/musician Ara Dinkjian. In this third and final part, Ara discusses his multiple performances in Jerusalem, his unique relationship with Turkey, and a brief but poignant account of his performance in Armenia in the 1990's. Ara also keeps us up to date on his newest project, The Secret Trio. 

Night Ark- "Fly Away" (Emarcy, 1999)

Ara Dinkjian Quartet- "In Wolf's Clothing" (Krikor Music, 2013)

All music featured on this program is done with permission from the sound copyright owner and publisher (Krikor Music). 

S1E2- Ara Dinkjian: An Armenian In American, Part 2. 

Considered one of the foremost proponents of the oud, composer/musician Ara Dinkjian shares the events leading up to, and including, the Night Ark years in the 1980's. Additionally, Ara describes his meteoric rise in Greece during the 1990's with his collaboration with Eleftheria Arvanitaki, whose rendition of "Homecoming" called, "Dinata" becomes an international hit. 

Featured Songs

Night Ark- "Going with Abandon" (Emarcy 1997)

Ara Dinkjian w/The Secret Trio & The New York Gypsy All Stars- "Common Spirit" (Krikor Music, 2020) 

All Songs Published by Krikor Music. Song selections broadcast with permission form the sound copyright holder and music publisher. 

S1E1- Ara Dinkjian: An Armenian In American, Part 1 The Armenian Music Podcast with Raffi Meneshian debuts with the first of a special three part interview with renown composer and musician Ara Dinkjian. Considered one of the foremost proponents of the oud, Dinkjian shares his experience growing up the son of a famous singer in Onnik DInkjian, his record collection, and how his album "Conversations with Manol" came to be.  Featured Songs: Night Ark- "Homecoming" (RCA Novus, 1986) Ara Dinkjian w/The Secret Trio & The New York Gypsy All Stars- "Pilaf" (Krikor Music, 2020) All Songs Published by Krikor Music