Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections, 2015.196.829c, Connecticut Historical S…

Armenian Remembrance Day, 88th Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, 2003

PerformerPerformed by Sarkis Shahrigian American, 1928 - 2012

PerformerPerformed by Roger K. Derderian 1944 - 2011

Date2003 April 24

Mediumreformatted digital file from audio cassette

DimensionsDuration (side 1): 45 Minutes, 35 Seconds
Duration (side 2): 42 Minutes, 32 Seconds
Duration (total runtime): 1 Hour, 28 Minutes, 15 Seconds

ClassificationsInformation Artifacts

Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections

DescriptionAudio cassette tape recording from Armenian Remembrance Day held at the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford on April 23, 2003. It was a program for the 88th Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. The event featured a required public presentation of the Southern New England Apprenticeship Program team in Armenian kamancha playing with teaching artist David Ayriyan and apprentice Sarkis “Jimmy King” Shahrigian.

Side 1 features a performance by Jimmy Shahrigian on the kamanche and an ensemble including Gary Hovhanessian and Roger Derderian. The Armenian National Anthem is performed at the end of this side. Side 2 begins with a spoken poem accompanied by an ensemble.

A program from this event is in the Connecticut Museum collection (2015.196.75).

Object number2015.196.829a-d

CopyrightIn Copyright

NotesSubject Note: The Armenian Genocide Commemoration Committee of Connecticut organizes an annual Remembrance Day event at the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford in April to mark the anniversary of the 1905 and 1915 genocide, displacement, and exile of Armenians in Turkey in the early 20th century. Connecticut residents who survived the genocide are honored. Speakers, poets, musicians, political, and cultural leaders give presentations. In 2015, the program introduced the Martyrs’ Service, on the occasion of the centennial of the Genocide and the canonization of the Martyrs. On April 24, 2003, Sarkis “Jimmy” Shahrigian led an ensemble playing an Armenian folk song on the kamancha at Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day at Hartford’s State Capitol, in the presence of the Armenian Ambassador and several survivors of the 1905 genocide. Jimmy had learned the instrument and its repertoire during his apprenticeship with renowned musician David Ayriyan, as part of CCHAP’s Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program.

Subject Note: In Years 5 (2003) and 6 (2004) of the Southern New England Apprenticeship Program, CCHAP supported an apprenticeship in Armenian kamancha playing, with master kamancha musician David Ayriyan teaching the instrument to Jimmy Shahrigian, a Connecticut-based Armenian musician and band leader who often performed at Kef Time, the long-running Armenian music festival held in Connecticut. The Armenian three-stringed upright fiddle known as the kamancheh is extremely difficult to play but has featured in both folk and classical Armenian music repertoires. David Ayriyan mastered the kamancha as a boy in Baku, Azerbaijan, and continued to play it (and other instruments) in traditional Armenian settings as well as philharmonic concerts internationally. He immigrated to Rhode Island in 1991, escaping political turmoil and a devastating earthquake in Baku, and performed in New England often with his sons accompanying him. David searched for a long time to find a student willing to learn the kamancha and be taught in Armenian. Sarkis “Jimmy” Shahrigian’s long career as a musician playing upright bass and oud in both popular and traditional Armenian bands gave him experience with stringed instruments. He performed regularly in the lively Armenian music scene in New England, and after learning with David Ayriyan, worked to introduce the kamancha to his other audiences. On April 24, 2003, Jimmy played an Armenian folk song on the kamancha at Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day at Hartford’s State Capitol, in the presence of the Armenian Ambassador and several survivors of the 1905 genocide.

In their second year of the apprenticeship, the pair enjoyed their work together so much that they met regularly beyond the project dates. During the training, Jimmy progressed enough with the kamancha to be able to perform six Armenian folk songs well. Jimmy was a regular performer in the lively Armenian music scene in New England, and involved David in more Connecticut music events. In addition to playing at Kef Time in 2004, Jimmy and David played together in July 2004 at Jimmy’s regular Thursday session at the Vernon Diner outside of Hartford, introducing the kamancha to an entirely new audience. They also performed at the Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program showcase Festival in 2005.

Subject Note: The Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program is a CCHAP initiative since 1997 that fosters the sharing of community-based traditional (folk) artistic skills through the apprenticeship learning model of regular, intensive, one-on-one teaching by a skilled mentor artist to a student/apprentice. The program pairs master artists from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, or Connecticut with apprentices from one of the other states, as a way to knit together members of the same community or group across state lines. Teaching and learning traditional arts help to sustain cultural expressions that are central to a community, while also strengthening festivals, arts activities and events when master/apprentice artists perform or demonstrate results of their cooperative learning to public audiences. The Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program at the Connecticut Historical Society manages the program in collaboration with the Folk Arts Program at the Massachusetts Cultural Council and independent folklorist Winifred Lambrecht who has a deep knowledge of the folk arts landscape of Rhode Island. Primary funding for the program comes from the National Endowment for the Arts, with support also from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, the Institute for Community Research, and the Connecticut Historical Society.

Additional materials exist in the CCHAP archive for this event and these artists.

Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.

Subject Terms