The Story of an Armenian Songbook

 Vahe H. Apelian

There was a time I had made a hobby to look for rare Armenian books on eBay that were printed by Armenian printing houses in Constantinople before 1915. It was through that endeavor  that years ago, I came across an Armenian song book and purchased it from a seller in Turkey. A few days ago I saw the soft cover of the sane songbook, see the picture below, put on sale for a considerable sum of money. 

The title of the song book is  “Hayoun Yerkaraneh” (The Armenian’s Songbook) by Hmayag Aramiants.  The hard-cover hymnal I purchased was printed in Constantinople in 1911. I wrote an article about the song book and had it published in Keghartdotcom on May 9, 2011. Recently I reproduced that article in my blog.

I donated the book to NAASR in memory of the late musicologist  Bedros Alahaidoyan with whom I had shared the book. He published his review of the book in Asbarez Daily.

Those who are interested about the song book, and about the person who compiled the song book and his betraying may read the blogs below. 

 1. A Tale of Armenian Hymnal (1/2): Compiling a Songbook:

http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2017/04/tale-of-armenian-hymnal.html 

2. A Tale of Armenian Hymnal (2/2): Betrayal and Revenge:

http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2020/04/tale-of-armenian-hymnal-22-betrayal-and.html

All those who are may be interested about the late eminent musicologist Bedros Alahaidoyan, who reviewed the songbook in Asbarez daily,  may read the links below.

A Rebel With a Cause: Bedros Alahaidoyan

http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2019/10/a-rebel-with-cause_9.html

Updated on February 7, 2023