The 1909 April 23 Sack of Kessab: The Attack (1/2)

HHistorians have not studied the 1909 sack of Kessab. However American missionaries, among them Ms. Effie M. Chambers, who acted as the secretary of the post sacking relief committee wrote extensively about the catastrophic event in her correspondence with the board of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (ABCFM) on whose behalf she devoted 19 years of her life doing mission work among the Armenians in the Ottomoan Empire, the last nine years being in Kessab. Stephen Van Rensselaer Trowbridge, who appears to have been in the region on behalf of a charitable organization, also wrote a detailed report on the sacking in “The American Red Cross Bulletin (1909)”, pages 29-39:. Major American newspapers also reported on the sacking of Kessab as well. The following can be ascertained from such reports.  For part 2/2, click: http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2017/07/after-massacre-at-kessab-1909.html) Vahe H. Apelian

When did the attack on Kessab occur?

The attack on Kessab happened on the wee hours of Friday April 23, 1909. Miss Effie Chambers was not present in Kessab during the attack. She had gone to Adana to attend an annual meeting, presumably the same meeting Armenian Evangelical pastors were heading to when they were ambushed and killed. In her report, she mistakenly notes of “that awful Tuesday, April 23rd (1909)”. April 23, 1909 is in fact a Friday.

Where the Kessabtsis caught by surprise?

No, the Kessabtsis were not caught by surprise. The news of the Adana tragedy had reached them and they had raised their concerns for their safety to the local authorities who, naturally were Turks.

Stephen Van Rensselaer Trowbridge reported the following: “On Thursday, April 22, serious alarm reached the people of Kessab. It was known that a massacre of the Armenians had taken place in Antioch, 36 miles to the north and that attacks were being planned on the Christian villages of the mountains. A parley was arranged with the Mudir (magistrate) of the Ordou, the nearest seat of government, and a telegram asking for military protection was dispatched to the Governor of Aleppo. The Mudir, whose name is Hassein Hassan Agha, met the Kessab delegation halfway down the mountainside and assured them that he had already scattered the mobs that had gathered with evil intention.”

What happened on Thursday April 22,1909?

 Stephen V. R. Trowbridge continued his reporting about the pledge of the Mudir (the Magistrate) Hassein Hessan Agha and noted the following; “But his pledges soon proved to be idle tales, because that very Thursday evening he permitted crowds of armed Moslems to come to Ordou from Jissr Shoughr, Kusayr, Antioch, and even from Idlib far to the east.” Moreover, the Mudir “detained the eleven gendarmes which were ordered by the Aleppo government to protect American and Italian interests in Kessab The Mudir instructed the gendarmes that they should remain in Ordou”.

How did the attack on Kessab commence?

Stephen V. R. Trowbridge reported that the next day, on Friday April 23, 1909, “Early the morning, after entertaining the raiders overnight, he (the Mudir) sent them on their way to sack Kessab.” Stephen W.R. Trowbridge's report ascertains that the sacking of Kessab was sanctioned by the Ottoman state.Surely the maginstrate could not have given such a permission without overt approval by his superiors in Constantinople, especially that the news of the Adana massacre had by then become widely known.

The Kessabtsis meanwhile also had not remained idle relying solely on the promise the Mudir had made to them during their parley..

Stephen V. R. Trowbridge reported; “Thursday evening Kessab scouts brought word into the town that great crowds of armed Turks and Arabs had gathered in the nearest Moslem village. 

It was an anxious night.

Before daylight, Friday morning, rifle shots told of the enemy’s advance. By three separate mountain trails, from the north, northeast and east, thousands of armed Moslems came pouring on the valley. Their Martini rifles sent the bullets whizzing into the Kessab house, while the shotguns of the 300 Christians who were posted on the fence could not cover the range”.

How did Kessabtsis manage to brave the attack with relatively little loss of lives?

The members and adherents of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation of Kessab were the Kessabtsi combatants who defended Kessab against the onslaught.

Stephen V. R. Trowbridge reported: “ It was a desperate struggle, and the Kessab men realized their straits. The plan, which they thereupon made is to their honor and credit. They resolved to hold out as many hours as possible, so as to furnish time for the women and children to escape into the clefts and caves of the mountains to the south. For five hours the fusillade continued with fierce determination. By mid afternoon Turks from the Antioch village had circled around Jebel Akra (mount Gassios of Kessab) so to command a position above Kessab. The Arabs had flanked the town on the southeast. Meanwhile the vanguard of the Ordou Moslems had captured and burned the adjacent villages just below Kessab, and had set fire to three of the houses at that end of the town (Note: presumably Nergi Kyugh). Their cries and frantic threats could be heard distinctly. The women and girls gathered up the little children on their backs and in their arms, hastened along the west trail over the ridge toward Kaladouran, and clambered up into the cliffs and crevices which overlook the sea at an altitude of 5,000 feet. Some in small groups, others entirely alone, hid themselves underneath the thorny underbrush or in the natural caves. Toward the evening the men had been compelled by the overwhelming odds to give up the defense. They fell back without any panic or noise. And the Turks and Arabs who rushed into the streets of the town were so seized with the lust of plunder that they did not pursue the rear guard of the Christians. Angry must have the scenes as the plunderers fought with one another over the stores of raw silk, the chief product of Kessab. Cattle, mules, copper, kettles, bedding, clothing, and rugs were carried out by the Turks in feverish haste, as one after another the houses were set on fire.”

Miss Effie Chambers is more specific in reporting that the Kessabtsis mostly fled towards Kaladouran, their coastal village.

In 1912, three years after the sack of Kessab, the battle hardened Kessab Armenian Revolutionary Federation had their gratitude embroidered in blue thread and gifted it as a memento to their beloved missionary, Miss Effie M. Chambers noting in Armenian the following: “From grateful Armenian Revolutionary Federation of Kessab” (ԵՐԱԽՏԱՊԱՐՏ ՔԵՍԱՊԻ Հ.Յ. ԴԱՇՆԱԿՑՈՒԹԻՒՆԷՆ). The embroidery in blue thread read also the follwing in English “ TO E.M. CHAMBERS, IN ABIDING GRATITUDE. WE WILL NEVER FORGET”. The Chambers family still retains this embroidery in Iowa.

How many Kessabtsis died in the carnage as "Axes and knives finished up what rifles had spared" ?

Stephen V. R. Trowbridge reports that “Some of the aged (Kessabtsi) Armenians, who had not the strength to flee, were caught in their houses and were barbarously put to death. Others, who had delayed the flight in order to gather up and rescue a few valuable, were likewise put to the sword. Axes and knives finished up what rifles had spared. But the instinct to escape had been so strong among the Christians, and the greed of plunder so absorbing among the Mohammedans, that in all the day’s fray only 153 Armenians and a handful of Turks were killed”.

Subsequent reports by Miss Effie M. Chambers who acted as the secretary of the post sack Kessab relief committee, details the human cost as follows:

Villages receiving aid 11 

Number at present on relief lists 5251

Burned Houses 516

Burned Shops 62

Number killed 153

Widows 79

Orphans not over 15 years old 64

How were the fleeing Kessabtsis rescued?

Hiding in cliffs, crevices, underbrush on the surrounding mountain would have amounted to eventual death either by exposure to the elements or hunger for the more than 6000 Kessabtsis who had fled the scene of sacking and carnage with nothing other than the clothes they were wearing. Their rescue came about thanks to the determined leaders of Kessab who were able to secure help  the very next day, on April 24, and had rescue boats come to the shore of Kaladouran and had the people move to Latakia where they were provided shelter and sustenance..

The efforts of these Kessab leaders to save the people are for historians to study and will make for a fascinating study. Suffice to say here that the representatives of Kessabtsi leaders managed to reach Latakia, after negotiating  with the local Turkic people for their passage south to Latakia and even secured their help to reach Latakia by the next day, some 35 miles south of Kessab where they contacted the consular offices of the European powers who provided boats and other means and had the fleeing Kessabtis transported to Latakia.

By April 26, major American newspapers, such as New York Times, along other major newspapers reported the catastrophic event. The New York Times on Monday April 26, 1909 reported the following: “Constantinople, April 25 - Dispatches reaching here from points in Asiatic Turkey bring tidings of Armenian and Turkish conflicts all over the country. Dr.JM Balph, who is in charge of the missions at Latakia, Syria, telegraphs that the refugees are arriving there from outlying parts of the district who report massacres and the burning of towns. He also reports that there are the gravest apprehensions concerning the conditions at Kessab where Miss Chambers is one of the missionaries".  

Dr. Albert Apelian in his book "The Antiochians” described the rescue operation. He also attributed it to the serendipitous turn of events in Constantinople that facilitated the French and the British to send ship for the rescue on the Kessabtsi Armenians. Had Abdul Hamid not dethroned these consular offices might have dared to send rescue boat. Dr. Albert wrote (page 114): "word came from the capital (Constantinople) that Abdul Hamid had been dethroned and Sultan Reshad had ascended the throne (April 27, 1909). The new ruler has proclaimed that none of his subjects should be molested".

The Aftermath of the 1909 Sack of  Kessab

A few days after the sacking and destruction of Kessab, the suriving refugees returned in mass. They attended an open-air service in memory of their brethren who were killed during the mayhem. Subsequently they embarked to rebuild their lives anew. Under pressure from the foreign powers, the Ottoman authorities promised to punish the “unruly” perpetrators of the sacking. Some of the loot was returned. The Ottoman authorities, in their conning ways to placate Western powers, also allocated money towards the reconstruction. The American charitable organizations extended much needed help.

Their next year – 1910 - proved to be that for Kessab “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. In the words of Charles Dickens’ in the “Tales of Two Cities”. Theirs also “ was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair” because the Kessabtsis not only engaged with an inspiring single-mindedness in rebuilding their lives anew, they also founded the Kessab Education Association with the purpose of rendering Kessab a center for learning and enlightenment in the region for the  Cilician Armenians who had survived the 1909 massacres commonly known as the Adana Massacre although the widespread killing and looting was not confined to that city alone.

Of course they could not realize their dreams. The 1915 Genocide befell upon the Armenians altering forever the course of the Armenian history. But surviving Kessabtsis toiled along and almost a century later, made Kessab a touristic destination for peoples of all faiths to enjoy its hospitality matched only by its superb weather and nature that had the crusaders call the region  “Casa Bella”, the beautiful home, after which Kessab is thought to have evolved.

Unfortunately, that also was not to last, an onslaught by another marauding and armed crowd attacked Kessab on March 21, 2014. Kessabtis for a third time hurried to their safety with nothing but their clothes on charting yet a new course in its long but determined history to overcome the odds stocked against it.

Pa

See:  http://vhapelian.blogspot.com/2017/07/after-massacre-at-kessab-1909.html

The 1909 April 23 Sack of Kessab: The Aftermath (2/2)

The American missionaries reported about the 1909 sacking of Kesssab that took place in the immediate aftermath of the Adana massacre that decimated the Cilician Armenia as the lyrics of the folk song known as the “the lament of Adana” (Voghb Anadanayi) poignantly notes. 

Stephen Van R. Trowbridge detailed the sacking of Kessab in his report titled “The Sack of Kessab” in the  “The American Red Cross Bulletin” (1909).  But Miss Effie M. Chambers’ report about the sacking of Kessab, stands apart. She was engaged in mission work in Kessab and lived the ordeal with the people, although she was not in Kessab when the sacking took place. She reported that she had gone to attend an annual meeting in Adana, presumably the same meeting that the Armenian evangelical pastors where heading when they were ambushed and massacred. She returned to Kessab and reported her eyewitness account in the 1909 issue of “Life and Light for Women” Journal by The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (ABCFM), which arguably was the first and the largest American missionary organization on whose behalf Miss Chambers spent 19 years among the Armenians, the last 9 years in Kessab. Stephen Van R. Trowbridge stated that she acted as the secretary of the Kessab Relief Committee.

I have reproduced her report as it appeared in the “Life and Light for Women” Journal.

AFTER THE MASSACRE AT KESSAB

BY MISS EFFIE M. CHAMBERS

KESSAB, July 10, 1909

"OH, if you could only know what an awful thing this has been, and what our dear women have suffered and our brave young men – who defended the village for six or seven hours, and kept the murderers back, giving the women and girls a chance to escape to the mountains and hide in the caves and clefts and underbrush, from where they slowly and fearfully made their way down to the seashore – the young men and when they could held out no longer, retreating slowly and forming a rear guard as it were for the fleeing women as they went, carrying their children in their arms or on their backs with older ones clinging to their skirts. In this way the escape was affected on that awful Tuesday, April 23^rd. (Note: In actuality it was a Friday, rendering the sacking of Kessab religiously sanctioned for the Muslims)

I was absent from Kessab, as you already know, but my schoolgirls fled with others and were taken into the Presbyterian School in Latakia, where I found them on my return from the scenes of carnage in Adana. They were all safe, not one of them missing, and I was glad and thankful for that at least, but like the rest of us they have lost all, except what they wore. We are all alike in Kessab these days. There are no rich or poor, but we are all one. Sometimes the thought comes to me, if they had not burned my house and the girls’ school, I might have given shelter to many, but I am glad on the other hand that I can suffer with them and suffer as they do. It is different from other relief work I have done, but I am not sorry to have it on. It brings us so near together and gives me such an opportunity to help them.

More than 500 families are homeless and we have 5,500 people on our relief list for bread, clothing, household utensils, farming implements and tools, also bedding  and mats – for everything went, we had not even needles and thread, thimbles and scissors.  We have distributed about 1,000 quilts and blankets, cotton and a few mattresses and pillows, but need still 4,000 more that everyone may have a mattress, and 700 more covers are needed. For clothing to given each person on suit so he may have a change, we need, aside from that we have already distributed, 100,000 yards of cloth.

It is no small  problem to plan to house, clothe, feed and find bedding for ten villages, containing in all 8,000 people or more, but it is what must be done before winter or all our people will die of hunger and exposure and we can’t have that. These people must be saved and encouraged and started again. I must do it, as you will excuse me from a vacation this year,  won’t you, as they cannot be left alone.

We are having our preaching services out of doors in girls’ school yard and under a big walnut tree for the present, but we are trying o get a floor in the big new school building we made since I can here (it was burned), and if we can do it, we can use the upper story of it for chapel and the lower for schools.

An now you want to know about me, you say. Well, my history during these past weeks can be told in few words. I went to Adana for annual meeting, reaching there on Tuesday evening just before the beginning of that awful time. I stayed there ten days, leaving on April 24^th for Tarsus, where I stayed a day or two waiting for the roads to open a bit, then made my way back to Kessab where I have been ever since, except for a brief tour through the outside villages and a short stay in Antioch. I am in a native house, and if you ask bout my circumstances, I am more comfortable than anyone else in the village, and glad to be here and do what I can for these poor people. When court-martial proceedings are over, and a few at least of guilty ones punished, we hope the people will gather some courage. But it is scarcely to be expected they will be very confident until something is done.

I am in a native house since my return – one of the few not burned – but Mr. Gracey has just been down and we have planned a few changes in the former stable in the mission yard which we think will make it inhabitable, and we hope to begin to do it soon. I can have here, at a very small expense, bedroom, sitting room, kitchen and small storeroom; all ground floor to be sure, but better than I now have and quite good enough for me until the people get something.”

Later on, in her unpublished autobiography, Miss Effie M. Chambers reminisced noting: “Upon my arrival [to Kessab] the people, those who could get around, were assembled in the yard of the Mission House to greet me.

"Their first question was 'Will you stay with us and help us start again?'

"I said: 'That is what I came for, to stay and help you get on your feet again. If you want to stay we'll do it and God will help us rebuild our homes, shops, and churches and reclaim your land.'

"Is it a promise?" They asked.

"I said: "Yes, on my part it is.'

"On ours also," was the reply. 

"'I can't tell you how we did it", she elaborated, "just step by step, one day at a time, and by the autumn of 1911, before the rains set in, those who had stayed in Kessab and lived through the horrible ordeal, were back in their rebuilt houses, with their schools and churches going."

The Schools of Kessab (1906)

Miss Effie M. Chambers’ report about Kessab, not necessarily only about its schools, may be one of the earliest reports about Kessab by a missionary. It was published in “Life and Light for Women” Journal in volume 37, pages 190-192, dated 1907.  The journal was published by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM), which was among the first American Christian missionary organizations and arguably was the largest and most important of American missionary organizations. The editors note on page 175 that: ““Miss Chambers is this year in Kessab, where she is building up the girls’ school and working among the women. She has no associate at this place, and especially needs the divine companionship”. The report that Miss Chambers wrote in that journal is reproduced here for archiving. Vahe H. Apelian

The Schools of Kessab

By Miss Effie M. Chambers

Kessab, October 20, 1906

“I will begin this letter while waiting for my teachers to come for a teachers’ meeting, our first one, and write until they come. As my mind is on school more than anything else this afternoon I will write about that. I think you know in a new place one has to choose.

First, the opportunities here for schools to be built up seem unlimited and the desire of the people is great, and they seem as far as they know willing to help in all ways they can, but they are still like most places in Turkey, poor, and while there is not actual starving, it is all most of them can do to live. The women and girls her are more backward than nay other place I know in our field They are perfect drudgers, carrying immense loads of wood, heavy jars of water, or baskets of vineyard or garden products on their backs for long distances. The hardest work done in the hardest possible way seems to fit the situation perfectly.

Here in Kessab we have, including our own girls’ school, six school in all, four entirely supported by the people, one by us, and in one other, our new high school preparatory, we share with them. In all there are about 250 pupils. We start them in the primary, and if they graduate they are ready for Aintab College preparatory, or if girls, for the third class in Aintab Seminary. They are village children, and have grown up with a wild, free life, so they do not submit easily to authority, but hey have good minds and seem to me worth training. The schools here have not been well graded heretofore; in fact, they have been divided more on the basis of numbers than according to grade. This year, beginning with the primary, we are trying to adopt a uniform course of study, so much work done each year until they finish the high school.

The short length of the school year (we have only eight and a half months, and for the first part of the term is generally interrupted by gathering in the vineyard product for making molasses, which is a sort of general good time for everybody). Make it difficult.

In all the schools except the girls’ high school, each child was allowed to be excused two days, the only condition being that they should come to me and ask to be excused Those who went without excuse were punished, and made to recite the lesson they had missed. All say it is good, a great improvement on other years, when they went without permission and stayed as long they wished. It is something to have them obey.

Our girls’ high school is going through a needed course of repairs, given us an enlarge schoolroom and two recitation rooms. We also have some good windows (glass ones), which give us plenty of light, and lots of good blackboards, but we still are sitting on mats on the floor, and have almost no apparatus except a few maps. Our needs are many, but we shall try to be patient. The girls and I are thinking of raising silkworms, and applying the profits towards some seats. If they do this I shall try to find someone to help us with the rest, for I feel I must get them up off the floor.

The people want a good deal of manual training in the schools, and the children need it. In all schools we are trying to introduce gymnastics and singing lessons.  The church made our girls’ school a present of nice Singer sewing machine last year, and this year our first class girls are to take lessons in dressmaking, i.e., learning to cut and fit simple dresses.

Their dresses are funny, old-fashioned things, infant waists, long, full skirts, no collars, plain, ill-fitting sleeves. Over this dress they wear a short, round jacked, trimmed on all the seams with a kind of braid of different color from the goods. Around their waists they wear shawls or pieces of cloth folded diagonally, on the wide part being at the back, and knotted tight front.  When not entirely bare-footed, they wear a kind of red slipper with pointed toes and without heels, but no stockings. A gaily-flowered handkerchief covers the head and our Kessab girl or women stands before you, for there is almost no difference in the dress of girls and women. There being no Moslems here, the women do not veil as they do in other places, but are perfectly free in many ways, where their sisters in other cities are bound to custom. The people here, as a whole, seem to cling less tenaciously to custom than in other cites and are thus in many a way more open to receive good – and bad, too, I am afraid.  I don’t know of nay place where work is needed more. Pray for us that we shall do all we can and be all we can here.

There being no regular post, one is likely to be caught, as I am now, only held ready when a chance to send arrives.  I resolve every week to get certain letters ready and have them ready to send as soon as chance offers, but some resolves are vain, and in the midst of looking after school here and outside, training teachers, superintending primary Sunday school and looking after its teachers, playing for teachers’ meetings and educational club meeting, teaching Sunday school lessons to a class of twenty-five young women and girls, leading women’s meeting where the attendance is from one hundred and fifty to two hundred (women hungry for the truth), cleaning house, getting winter supplies, overseeing workmen who are loth to be told what to do by a woman, training  new cook and washerwoman being my own scrub and ironing woman, besides looking after my family of seven – about whom I hope to write you sometimes letters don’t get written, I am sure God want me here this year, for he had let me succeed in everything I have undertaken for these people yet. The boarding department is open with three borders, one from Antioch, Vieda, and hope for another.”

Armenian Pop Music Spring

Armenian Pop Music Spring

Colored revolution is a term often used to describe  the social movments that took place in the former Soviet Union. Arab Spring is a term  given to a series of anti-government protests that spread across the Middle East in early 2011. Both of these term are often used liberally to address social upheavals. The Armenian Diaspora pop music had also its own spring and it was a sort of colored revolution that broke the bond with the traditional Armenian music that was brought and perpetuated by the survivors of the Armenian Genocide. The lyrics of some of these songs at times even inclued Turkish words.

Those who came of age in 1960’s in Lebanon, the cradle of the Armenian Diaspora then, remember the Armenian diaspora pop music spring. It was when Adiss Harmandian, out of blue, burst onto the Armenian music scene fittingly with a song called Ծաղիկներ (Dzaghigner-Flowers).  The song ushered a new era of Armenian pop music. The song is readily available on Youtube.

Boghos Shahmelikian, a musican and a bass quitar player, became part of that movement.  In his book titled «Յիշատակներ Անցած Օրեր» (Memoris and Bygone Days), Boghos narrates the the musical phenomenon if not a revolution of sort. With his permission and with the able assistance of my cousin, Jack Chelebian, MD, I have translated and expanded the book that awaits publication.

Below is a segment of the book that relates the behind the scene events that lead into the recording of that song ushering the era of the Armenian diaspora pop music.

  

“Among Armenians who are interested in the theater, Calouste Jansezian is well-known stage actor. He has successfully played different roles in the Hamazkayin Armenian Cultural Association’s Kaspar Ipekian Theater Group in Lebanon. He also loved to sing and wanted to produce Ծաղիկներ (Dzaghigner). He approached Daniel Der Sahakian, a successful producer of records. Daniel saw a business opportunity in Calouste’s proposal and financed the orchestration of the song with Reddy Bobbio, who was a well-known musician in Lebanon and played in prestigious nightclubs such as Phoenicia and Paon Rouge. The recording of the orchestration went smoothly. It was time to produce the record.

Any song that is produced on a record has its orchestration done ahead of time. Later it is played in the studio as the vocalist sings the song. The situation was no different when Calouste attempted to record the song. But alas, he did not succeed. His repeated attempts to record the song ended in failure. It became obvious that he did not possess that particular talent.

Daniel Der Sakakian, who had invested a lot of money in the orchestration of the song, naturally did not want to give up on his investment. He looked for singers to record the song. He approached Eddy Kev (Kevork Khacherian) and Manuel Menengichian. The two were notable singers with national acclaim. Both had won first prize in successive years in Pêle-Mêle, the Lebanese national television talent competition. They sang European songs and both refused to sing Dzaghigner. 

Daniel then approached Ara Guiragossian who sang Armenian classical songs and exuded opera influences whereas the orchestration and the lyrics of Dzaghigner were of the popular genre. They agreed the song was not a good fit for the singer.

Daniel then approached Ara Kekedjian who had established a reputation as singer of Armenian children’s songs. His records for more mature audiences had not been well received. After further consideration neither one found the song to be a good fit for Kekedjian.

Daniel was close to giving up on his investment when Antranig Mardirossian, who ran Lebanon’s first record store, suggested a young singer he knew from the Bourj-Hammoud neighborhood. “He sings well. He has already produced a record in French,” said Mardirossian and asked whether Daniel would like to try him. The young singer’s name was Adiss Harman. Having produced a record, Adiss had acquired experience in recording in a studio. His voice proved to be a natural fit for the song. They recorded the song and produced it under Daniel Der Sakakian’s label, VOS (Voice of the Stars). To promote the record, Adiss dropped his adopted surname, Harmand, in favor of his family name but retained his adopted artistic name.  The rest is Armenian musical history.

Ծաղիկներ (Dzaghigner) became an instant hit with demand for more. The Armenian community seemed to have been craving for lighthearted songs and had finally found one. There was no time to waste. Soon after, they recorded other songs that proved to be no less popular: Մանուշակ  (Manooshag), Մթնշաղ (Mntshagh), Ծաղիկներս ում Նուիրեմ (Dzaghigners Oum Nvirem), Այլ Աչեր Կան Իմ Սրտում (Ayl Acher Gan Im Srdoum). The songs were simple, easily understood. Hasmig Manasserian, a self-educated composer in Armenia, had composed the songs.

After Reddy Robio left Lebanon following his orchestration of the Ծաղիկներ (Dzaghigner), Jacques Kodjian took over and worked with Adiss for many years. Overnight, an Armenian pop--estradayin’--star was born. Adiss gave concerts in many countries. He even toured the United States--some fifty years ago no small feat. It was unprecedented for an Armenian singer to travel so far to give a concert. For a while I accompanied Adiss. It is hard to fathom that an Armenian singer could have mustered such popularity in the Armenian Diaspora or that the Armenian community could bestow such adulation on one of them, as they did on Adiss.

Adiss was 20-years-old when he burst on the Armenian pop music scene. He had good looks. His overnight rise from obscurity to national fame arguably remains unprecedented in Armenian Diaspora music. Calouste Jansezian was the catalyst of Armenian pop music in the Diaspora. A catalyst accelerates the rate of a happening without itself undergoing any permanent change. He remained the notable stage actor but Adiss emerged as the undisputed pioneer and idol of Armenian Diaspora pop music.

Adiss’ baptismal name is Avedis. His name means someone who brings good tidings. Indeed, he brought good tidings to Armenian culture by popularizing Armenian music. Thanks to his stamina, good looks, drive, likeable personality on and off the stage, Adiss remains an undisputed leader of Armenian pop music. His contribution to Armenian culture was formally recognized when Catholicos Aram I bestowed upon him the Order of Saint Mesrob Mashtots in 2005. Adiss Harmandyan, the first Armenian pop music singer is also the first modern Armenian pop music star to be bestowed with an ecclesiastical order.”

Vahe H. Apelian

ՔԵՍՊԸՑԷՆ

ՔԵՍՊԸՑԷՆ
(The Kessabtsis)

Գըրից Քեսպըցա,  Ստեփան Ունպաշա (1)

(Written by Kessabtsi Stepan 'Onbashi')

Ճուպրագլու տէքէն, միր Քեսպու գըղիէն (From the foot hill of Mount Jabal Akra, from our Kessab village)

իլան գըղընտիէն, ճաղպիցուն գեցէն, (and from the other villages, they were scattered and went away)

Չմնուոց տիէղ մը եաշշխերհէն ըրվան (There remained no place on this world,)

Չհեսուով Քէսպըցէն (where Kessabtsis did not reach).

Քեսպըզէն հենից, աշխերհէն բիժնից (Kessabtsis gave and shared with the world)

Մինծ, մինծ տէոքթըրնա, էնճէրնիորնա, (Great, great medical doctors, engineers,)

Քենը իրիեց, քենը պատուելա, (How many priests, how many pastors,)

Գարեցին Բ. Կաթաքկիւս, Եպիսկուպուսնա։ (Karekin II Catholicos, and many archbishops)

Քեսպըցէն գընուոց հեր եօրը մնուոց,  (Kessabtis went and wherever they settled)

Ի տիոց վարժապիտ,  շըրքէթը գործիչ, (Gave educators, industrialists,)

Սիրից զկարդիլը, վարժատուն հիմնիլը, (Loved education, founded schools,)

Մառցուով երաժիշտ, գրագէտ դառնիլը (Neglected to be musicians, and men of letters)

Քեսպըցէն Ուսումնասիրաց Միւթիւն կիւնա (Kessabtsis have Educational Association)

Ըղուոժ է քառսուն – յիսոն տարա, (Its been since forty – fifty years,)

Պէորուտու բռնի դըգը եամերգա, (From Beirut, all the way to America)

Դըգը Լօս-Անճելըս Քալիֆորնիա։ (All the way to Los Angeles, California.)

Էսունք Քալիֆորնեա, Քեսպըցէն կիւնա, (Let’s say California, Kessabtsis have)

Թէօղթ մը ըլլայք հասցէնա, (A book full of addresses,)

Ծըննուէող, խիսուղնա, պըսեկւուղնա, ( Notices of births, deaths, marriages)

Տարեդարձ տօնուող, վարժատուն խելըսուղնա։(Those who celebrated anniversaries, graduated from schools.)

Քեսպըցէք իլիէք, քուով-քիւվա էրկիէք, (Kessabtsis get up and come together,)

Զառ-ձառա տըւիէք, Քեսպընուոք շերեցիէք, (Extend helping hands, sing in Kessabtsi dialect)

Նատուոր Կարնաք մեր լիզէոն զիւրցիցէք, (As much as you can, converse in Kessab language)

Մեր պեպկըններէնն իսկըրւունը խընտեցուցէք։ (Bring laughter to the bones of our ancestors.)

Իս էլի Քեսպըցա,  Ստեփան Ունպաշա (I am also a Kessabtsi, Stepan ‘Onbashi’)¹

Հա ուգում էսիլ Շընիֆիւր Նիւ Տարա, (I want to say, Happy New Year)

Բերը Զետէկ ըննիւ ալըննէդ, (May it be a good Christmas for all of you,)

Եէօրը կիւ Քեսպըցա, եէօրը կիւ Քեսպըցա։ (Wherever there are Kessabtsis.)

Note (1): Written by Stepan Panossian, the father of Dr. Razmig, the Director of the Armenian Department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, in Lisbon, Portugal.  He inherited his ‘Onbashi’ monicker from his father who became a commissioned military officer in the French foreign legion and took part in the famed Arara battle. The poem was posted in 28^th edition of the Kessab Yearbook (1988) and was posted by Shoghag Apelian-Ayanian