Category: Armenian

Vartan Margosian was born in an Armenian village in the region of Kharpert in what was then the Ottoman Empire. He immigrated to the United States in 1908 and settled in New York City.

Margosian’s was Vartan’s record label that recorded and pressed Armenian and Turkish folk music on 78 rpm shellac records in the early 1920s.

Acoustically recorded in the New York City area circa 1923.
Released as Margosian’s No. 3.

This scarce copy is a bit worn, and some blasting is audible during louder vocal passages at first – it improves after 30-40 seconds. I also left the brief announcement in at the beginning of the record – which I cannot quite decipher.

Credits:
Vartan Margosian – vocals
D. Perperian – clarinet
B. Boghosian – kanon
H. Karagosian – dumback

The flip side (no. 00) find the same musical ensemble recording a dance tune without Vartan’s vocals:
https://youtu.be/f0MvHsyNulE

Vartan Margosian was born in an Armenian village in the region of Kharpert in what was then the Ottoman Empire. He immigrated to the United States in 1908 and settled in New York City.

Margosian’s was Vartan’s record label that recorded and pressed Armenian and Turkish folk music on 78 rpm shellac records in the early 1920s.

This instrumental features a clarinet and kanon (a type of large zither) with rhythm provided by a dumback (a goblet-shaped drum).

Acoustically recorded in the New York City area circa 1923.
Released as Margosian’s No. 00.

Credits:
D. Perperian – clarinet
B. Boghosian – kanon
H. Karagosian – dumback

The flip side (Margosian No. 3) contains this same musical ensemble with Vartan Margosian on vocals.
https://youtu.be/tD5VEvcVy5U