Karekin Proodian, Gamavor Zinvor/Ouy Janem
Name/Title
Karekin Proodian, Gamavor Zinvor/Ouy JanemDescription
In the early 1920s, Parsekian leveraged expiring disc recording patents to establish a recording label and manufacturing facility in West Hoboken (now Union City), NJ. Between 1923 and 1926, the label produced around 40 discs, with the first 30 recorded acoustically, without electricity or microphones. Karekin Proodian, born around 1884 in Diyarbakir, became the flagship artist for Parsekian’s label, recording nearly half of its catalog. After immigrating to the U.S. in 1903, he settled in West Hoboken, NJ, a community of fellow Dikranagerd natives, including Parsekian. Initially a photoengraver, he became a U.S. citizen in 1910, married Haiganoush Akmakjian, and returned to the U.S. with their son in 1912. The couple later had two more children, including Setrag, a future musician. Between February and December 1916, Proodian recorded 18 Turkish songs and one Armenian ballad for Columbia and Victor Records. In the 1920s, he adopted Hovsep Shamlian’s vision of presenting Anatolian music in Armenian, recording 18 Armenian and four Turkish songs for Parsekian. Proodian, Parsekian, and Shamlian formed a collaborative musical ecosystem: Parsekian managed production, Proodian provided vocals, and Shamlian composed. Most of Proodian's Armenian recordings featured Shamlian's compositions, with accompaniment from renowned musicians Harry Hasekian on violin and Edward Bashian on oud, both of whom are present on these tracks. The A-side of this record, Ouy Janem, is a traditional love song from Dikranagerd, also known in its Kharpert version as 'Հիւսէյնիկի սազերը (Husenigi sazere)' – named after a small Armenian town in the Kharpert region, which was forcefully depopulated during the genocide of 1915. Gamazor Zinvor is a patriotic song dedicated to the fighters in the French Armenian volunteer unit, during the Cilicia Campaign in the aftermath of WWI. These soldiers were mostly recruited from exiled Armenian communities and camps of survivors from Musa Ler. It is sung from the impassioned perspective of an anonymous soldier's fiancée.Audio Format
78 RPM RecordRecording Type
MusicCategory
Vinyl Record