Western Armenian Music: From Asia Minor to the United States

By Hachig Kazarian

Silenced for over one hundred years, the Western Armenian music brought to America by the first Armenian immigrants has become an integral part of Armenian culture in the United States. Western Armenian Music: From Asia Minor to the United States examines the many facets of Western Armenian music, and how it has been neglected due to the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and the deleterious feelings left upon the Armenian people. The author discusses such topics as: the Modal System used in Armenian folk and sacred music since the 8th century; traits and characteristic elements of Armenian music; the 19th century Armenian musical notation created by Hampartsoum Limonjian; and the two opposing styles of Western Armenian music performed in the United States. Western Armenian Music also describes how the children of the first-generation Armenian immigrants started Armenian bands as an effort to keep Armenian culture alive in the United States. As a way to preserve the music of the first immigrants to the United States, this volume also includes over 100 Armenian dance songs with notations.

The Press at Californian State University, Fresno (2023)