[78-L] Armenian records (or Outlook is acting odd

[Eòin f]

Just read my own post. Came out all smooshed and weird. Didn't type it that way. Also Harout's post somehow got listed before Ron's, or I would have followed up on his. Aaargh.

> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Date: Sat, 28 Mar 2015 03:12:49 -0500
> From: jfleming63 at msn.com.invalid
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Armenian records
>
>
How odd you should bring up Armenian Records. Last week I picked up ten at a resale shop, including Chah-Mouradian's Columbia E-4009.Six of them are on the Sarafian Sohag label. Odd label, can't track down anything higher than matrix 16 (My find was 2,3,5,9,&11). One site says the label ran from 1907 - 1915, but I'm suspicious. They're all "Perfect" pink, and I've never found records records in that material from before the 20's. There is a trademark application for Sarkis Sarafian dba Sarafian Sohag Record Co., NY, NY on Sept. 2, 1924. Census records from 1940 show a Sarkis Sarafian born about 1886 in Smyrna. The Great Fire of Smyrna in 1922 resulted in tens to hundreds of thousands of Greek and Armenian refugees. Could the record company owner have been one of them?

I'm having a terrible time with the translations. Google translate (I know, not the best translator) won't translate from Latin characters. For instance, the other Columbia acoustical, Zabella Panosian's "Groung ", is an alternate take of of a recording available on CD and YouTube (Ian Nagoski has the version I have, or one very similar, posted at http://canaryrecords.tumblr.com/post/3908130693/panosiangroung ), so I know it should translate as "Crane". When I enter the Armenian characters in Google, however, it comes back with the word "hinge". In spite of search engines that think "groung crane" means I'm looking for "ground crane" and give me information on high-rise construction equipment (I suppose I should be thankful there are no Chinese remedies involving pulverized wetland fowl), I've managed to track down what I think may be the text of the song. Again, it's in Latin characters and even the ISMA translator on an Armenian website just comes back with the same words I've pasted in.

I could, of course, contact the local Armenian parish, one of whose late members I suspect may be the source of this find. The Armenian community is relatively small, however, and I'm a bit apprehensive at the prospect of encountering relatives of the person who once owned these discs. "Wait! Uncle Ashot gave away Great-Aunt Gohar's priceless antique records? I can't believe it! They must have been worth thousands of dollars." or "Oh, so you like Armenian music? Here have some harissa. I'll fix you a nice khash while you talk to my unmarried daughter. Later on we can watch reruns of 'Mannix'."

Now, the question I was originally to post: Why would an electrical recording have an announcement of the the company name at the beginning? Odeon ES 1248 and its other side ES 1249, titles in Armenian, with the name "Mr. Mardiros Kaprielian" in English, both begin "Odeon Record" (intoned in a manner that sounds both solemn and suspicious, like a person who's just spotted a scorpion, and which I find somehow humorous). The label and the sound quality make me think these must be electrical recordings. Could the "E" in "ES" stand for "electric"? Was Odeon concerned about someone stealing their pressings, and if so, why these and not others?

What I should be asking is how a trip to a charity shop to drop off some books and eight-track tapes has resulted in spending hours on the internet looking at census records, reading about dragomans, and trying to match up different typefaces in an unfamiliar alphabet. Can anyone assuage my inquisition?

Jim

>> Date: Sat, 21 Mar 2015 17:35:46 -0400
>> From: lherault at verizon.net.invalid
>> Subject: [78-L] Armenian records
>>
>> Any collectors of Chah-Mouradian? I just picked up Columbia E-4201 and
>> want to find someone who will appreciate it.
>>
>> Ron L'Herault