Ara Lezk, the Village Named After a Legend.

Vahe H. Apelian

The village that is all but forgotten. 

The story of the Assyrian Queen Shamiram's infatuation with the most handsome Armenian King Ara the Beautiful is a commonly known legend. The Armenian King Ara, loyal to his wife Queen Nvart, had refused the powerful Assyrian Queen's advances enraging her and risking Armenia. I had thought that the legend of the most handsome Armenian king Ara and the Assyrian queen Shamiram, had  persisted only in our history books  until I stumbled upon a book in my late uncle Dr. Antranig Chalabian's extensive library, a few years ago.

 The books is titled "From Van to Detroit: Surviving the Armenian Genocide" and is authored by Souren Aprahamian. It turns out an Armenian village had sprung around that small hill on top of which, tradition held that queen Shamiram placed Ara's body so that the gods would come and lick his wounds and bring him to life. The Armenians called these gods, which were thought to be in the form of dogs, haralez (հարալեզ). 

After accepting Christianity as their state religion, the Armenians erected a chapel on that very hilltop, where pagan gods once supposedly descended. The village that has sprung around that hill was called Ara Lezk which, literally means Ara Lick, much like the legend claimed.

I quote the following passage from the book: 

"I was born in 1897 in all Armenian village named Lezk, which is a couple of miles north of the city of Van and an equal distance east of Lake Van. Lezk is at a higher elevation than the city and the lake. Present day geography places this area in Eastern Turkey, just west of the Iranian border.

Ara Lezk acquired its name as a result of historical as well as legendary events. In the ninth century B.C., Queen Sameramis of Assyria, following the death of her husband, King Ninos, offered marriage and joint rule to the young King of Armenia, Ara. Because of his beauty, he was called Ara Keghetsik (Ara the beautiful). King Ara rejected the queen's offer, saying he was already married to his beautiful Queen Nvart, and it was not the customs of his people to have more than one wife. Monogamy was prevalent not only among the royal family but throughout the pagan Armenia of those days.

Following Ara's refusal, Sameramis invaded Armenia. In the battle that followed, Ara was killed. The Armenians fought valiantly even after their kind fell. Sameramis to discourage the Armenians had one of her soldiers wear Ara's armor. She then declared that she captured the Armenian king and that resistance was futile. The Armenian army was scattered, and Samiramis placed Ara's body on the altar atop the citadel of solid rock, now known Amenaperkitch, so that her sacred dogs could lick him and restore life in him. The word lick in Armenian is lizel, thus the name Ara Lezk, the licking of Ara. The village has carried this name for centuries, to this day. We left it for the last time in 1918.

Leak/Kalajek, a panoramic picture. On the rock is Saint All Savior chapel, a pilgrimage
site (Source: Mkhitarian, Saint Lazaro, Venice)

The citadel Amernaperkitch is a solid rock formation, above three hundred feet high, perpendicular on three sides –north, east, and south. An earthen ramp on the west side comes close to the summit. From there, steps carved in the rock make it possible to reach the top and the ruins of the castle that once adorned it. A long time ago, a small chapel consisting of a single room, approximately twelve by twelve feet had been built. Turkish law forbade building places of worship, but once built, they were not destroyed. The villagers had built this chapel in one night. It was called Amenaperkitch, the Savior of All, and this was the name given the citadel. The neighboring villages participated in its annual feast day. The southern face of the citadel rock served as the northern wall of the village's main church."

Gravure: The Lezk (current Kalecik) village (Source: Jean Marie Chopin, César Famin, Eugène Boré, L'univers, vol. 2, 1838) (Houshamadyan)

The Armenian legend  of the Assyrian queen Sameramis, who is mostly known in Armenian history as queen Shamiram, persisted. The eminent poet Roupen Sevag named his younger child and only daughter after her. Shamiram Sevag passed away in France on October 17, 2016, at the ripe age of 102. 

The late Simon Simonian speculated on King Ara rejecting the Assyrian queen's infatuation if nor her love, in his book titled "Ge Khntrvi Khachatsevel", which literally means, "Please Overlap". In that book, Simon Simonian had luminaries of the Armenian history come on stage to a full capacity filled audience and dwell upon what the course of our history could or would have been, if only their actions were heeded. Simon Simonian had queen Shamiram appear on stage. She stated the following:

"Ara refused my love. I had promised him my kingdom along with my heart. He would have become the king of two countries, the kingdom of Ararat and Assyria because these two countries would have ceased fighting each other to extinction. Handsome Ara rejected both the throne and my heart. Had Ara joined me, the great majority of the oil wells of Mosul, some 95%, would have belonged to the Armenians. With Calouste Gulbenkian's 5%, the Armenians would have owned all. Just for the sake of Nvart khanoum (lady), Ara lost two kingdoms and the oil wells of Mosul"

I leave upon the readers to contemplate as to what could have been the course of our history if  King Ara would not have been faithful to his wife queen Nvart to a “fault”.

The location of the once Armenian village next to 
Lake Van and its current designation.

Simon Vratsian’s Intuition: Vartan Gregorian and Richard Hovannisian

Simon Vratsian’s Intuition

Vahe H. Apelian

Two prominent Diaspora Armenians, Vartan Gregorian and Richard Hovannisian reflected on Simon Vratsian extensively. Let me qualify my statement and state that it is Garin K Hovannisian, the grandson of Richard, who mentioned Simon Vratsian many times as he narrated the story of his prominent family in his book titled “Family of Shadows”.

Garin K. Hovannisian’s book does not have an index and therefore it is not possible to quantify the number of pages where Vratsian is mentioned unless one painstakingly notes the pages upon reading. Vartan Gregorian, on the other hand, in his book titled “The Road to Home” mentioned Simon Vratsian extensively listing seventeen (17) separate pages and a section of four pages, 76-79, out of the 338 pages long text. No other name in the index has these many pages listed.

Vartan Gregorian’s book makes for a fascinating reading and engulfs the reader and at times raises a reader’s ire over the treatment this young man received in the early days of his arrival to Beirut from his home town in Iran to continue his studies in the famed Jemaran. Levon Shant was its principal when he started attending the school. After Levon Shant's death, on November 29, 1951, Simon Vratsian was invited to fill the vacated seat. Vartan Gregorian’s apprehension as to how the new principal would treat him soon gave way to a close relationship as Vartan became Vratsian’s “eyes” as the latter chose Vartan as his trusted aid to read him the letters he received and copy his writing because Vratsian’s penmanship started losing its legibility due to his deteriorating eyesight. “Within a span of four years,” wrote Vartan Gregorian, Simon Vratsian, “had become a surrogate father to me, as well as a teacher, mentor, and friend.”

After graduation and having formed a family of his own, Vartan Gregorian returned to Lebanon in 1965, noting that he was happy that he could do his research and work again with Mr. Vratsian. His stay did not last long and he returned to the United States the following year after taking an emotional leave from Mr. Vratsian who passed away three years later. “He died in 1969,” wrote Vartan, “and was given a national funeral. He never saw Armenia again. I hoped that Soviet Armenia would welcome the remains of the last prime minister of Independent Armenia (1918-1920), but they did not. I hope the government of the newly independent Armenia will do that someday in the near future, for Mr. Vratsian belongs to Armenia. And without him, I would not be where I am and remain who I am.”

Richard Hovanissian’s life was altogether different from Vartan Gregorian’s. Richard’s parents were financially well off. He was living the American dream of a first-post genocide generation Armenian American, who did not speak Armenian but was involved in Armenian affairs through his association with Armenian Youth Federation (AYF). He was also attending Berkeley where he had met a girl, in her first year of medical school, named Vartiter.

Right after his appointment as the principal of the Hamazgayin Nshan Palanjian Jemaran, where Vartan Gregorian was already a student, Vratsian arrived in San Francisco, in early 1952, touring the Armenian American communities for the cause of Armenian education. It is there that Richard Hovannisian attended his lecture and "afterward, approached the prime minister for a few words. Instead, he received the offer of a lifetime.” Mr. Vratsian suggested Richard should spend a year at the Jemaran to learn Armenian.

Three years later, on September 20, 1955, Richard arrived in Beirut. At the request of Mr. Vratsian, Antoine Keheyan, who taught English in Jemaran and was more known by his endearing moniker, “Sir” than his name, and medical student Hrayr Kabakian, met him at the airport. “At the first sight of that clumsy American,” wrote Garin about his grandfather, both “wondered what the prime minister has seen in him?” Incidentally, in time Hrayr Kabakian would emerge as a prominent A.R.F. leader.

During Richard’s study in Jemaran, Mr. Vratsian prophetically confided to Sir that Richard, whom he called Dikran, would one day serve Armenian history and to Richard, he noted that upon his return he would marry Vartiter, with whom Mr. Vratsian was corresponding and had written to her to alleviate her concern whether she would be doing the right thing, to which Vratsian had written to her that saluting the host country’s flag is one of respect and not necessarily a principled support of the country’s policies. The present days’ athletes should heed the advice of “the unofficial warden of Armenia Diaspora”, Mr. Simon Vratsian, according to Garine Hovanissian.

What drove Vratsian to suggest the eager young man Richard Hovannisian was, to spend time in Jemaran? His motive has long been buried with him. Why did Mr. Vratsian take Vartan, the young student from Iran, under his wings? That also is a mystery. “I have wondered during the past forty years”, wrote Vartan Gregorian, “why I was chosen by Mr. Vratsian to be ‘a pair of his eyes’, or his ‘eyeglasses’. Was it due to the fact that I was alone in Beirut? That I had no family obligations, and practically no social life, and hence could spend inordinate hours with him?  That I was from Iran and spoke eastern Armenian, his maternal language? That he knew first hand that I wrote well? That he trusted me and knew that I would never divulge his confidences? That he wanted to help me survive and help educate me? Or was it perhaps that I reminded him occasionally of his late young son, who had died during the 1921 exodus of the anti-Bolshevik Armenians from Armenia to Iran? Maybe it was a combination of all these things.”

Vartan Gregorian surely and rightfully ponders to find an answer for his unique relationship with Mr. Vratsian. But it appears that there was more to it. All the possibilities Vartan lists could have been legitimate reasons for Mr. Vratsian to treat Vartan as a son but cannot possibly explain why the other young man, Richard Hovannisian, had also caught Mr. Vratsian’s attention. Mr. Vratsian had no real reasons to bestow upon Richard the same attention, care and concern he bestowed upon Vartan Gregorian because unlike Vartan, Richard came from America and was independently well off financially and did not need to accompany Mr. Vratsian accepting invitations for dinner just to help him fill up his belly.

The reasons must lay elsewhere. In both of them, the last prime minister of the First Republic of Armenia must have seen a potential to fill, in a way, his shoes as servants of the Armenian cause and Armenian history.

 During their youth, Vartan Gregorian and Richard Hovannisian became Simon Vratsian’s protégés because Simon Vratsian must have intuitively noted a promising potential in both. The prominence of these two eminent individuals over the subsequent decades attests to Simon Vratsian’s intuitive understanding and appreciation of men, in the genderless sense of the word.

Vartan Gregorian remembers Hotel Lux

My father knew Vartan Gregorian and met him in the hotel when young Vartan had just arrived in Beirut from Iran on his way to continue his studies in Jemaran. Later on, as a student in Jemarant, Vartan lived with an Armenian family in a building next to the one we lived with my uncle's family in Zokak-El-Blat neighborhood in West Beirut, a few blocks away from Jemaran.

Hotel Lux was in downtown Beirut, not far from the parliament building. My father worked in the hotel when he left his native village Keurkune, Kessab in mid to late 1930;s when he was still in his later teens. Many Kessabtsi young men who left Kessab for Lebanon to escape possible  conscription in the Turkish army  had not learned any trade, as there were few such as tailoring the late Catholicos Karekin I/II had apprenticed in his youth. Thus, most of them  worked as waiters and made their living by serving.  Later on he ran that Armenian landmark inn, having added another floor, until its demise in 1976 because of the civil war in Lebanon. 

The star marked on the picture above depicts the entrance of Hotel Lux, from Allenby Street but the main entrance of the hotel or rather the inn, was from the side street. Customers would be lifted to the upper floors of the building with an old-fashioned elevator, which constituted the famed Hotel Lux. Many in the close-knit Armenian community knew it as Tourig’s hotel. Mehran Tourigian had started it in late 1920’s or early 1930’s.

 It would not surprise me that the white colored Volkswagen Beetle in the attached picture was actually the VW we owned. As to that corner store,  it is from there that my father and later on I, bought the newly issued stamps for  my Lebanese stamps collection, I still have. Along with the stamps, Chiclets gum, two in a small package and Cadbury chocolate bars, we fondly remember purchasing from that store. Regretfully downtown Lebanon became a casualty of the Lebanese civil war and was eventually bought by a company that the late PM Hariri owned or was its major stockholder. Visitors claim that t downtown Beirut has become an upper scale but a stale neighborhood as it has lost its charm.

The quotation below is from Vartan Gregorian's book "The Road to Home" (pages 65 and 66, 2003), where he describes his first day in Beirut having just arrived from Iran. I remember meeting him and his wife while we, as a family were taking a promenade along the coast, not far from the hotel. I remember Vartan and my parents speaking. Vartan was with his wife. That must have been when he returned to Beirut after receiving his PhD to teach and do research. I met Vartan the last time a few year's ago at the gala for the opening of the NAASR's new wing named after him.  During the gala he stopped at each table. When I introduced myself, he remembered my father who  had passed away in 2007.

This is how Vartan Gregorian's recalls his first day in Beirut ("The Road to Home", pages 65,66, 2003)

“Once in Beirut, I had stage fright. My Persian, Armenian, Turkish, even some Russian, proved insufficient as a means of communication. One of my companions on the IranAir flight came to my assistance. He helped me change Iranian rials to Lebanese pounds, negotiated the cab fare for me, and gave the driver the address of my destination in Beirut: Hotel Luxe. “Which one?” the driver asked. I said, “The one, the famous one. It is a well-known hotel.” The driver shook his head. “I know about the location,” he said, “but I have never heard about Hotel Lux.”

After a wild taxicab ride and an inquiry or two, the driver located the Hotel Luxe. It was in one of the busiest sections of the business district. Buried among a myriad of signs was a discreet, small sign indicating the exact location of the hotel. It was on the fifth floor of a building and was reached by a crude elevator. The hotel had six or seven rooms and a nice, large, airy rooftop terrace. The owner, Mr. Toorigian, and his family lived on the top floor. The kitchen served the family as well as the guests. It was a lively Armenian hotel. In the evenings, it served as a gathering place for several writers, or backgammon players, and discuss a variety of pressing national and international issues. It was sort of a modern-day salon.

The hotel’s rooms were occupied by visiting writers, teachers, and businessmen from Syria, Egypt, and Iraq. I was the first guest from Iran. I handed Mr. Maloyan’s letter to Mr. Toorigian. He extended a warm welcome and gave me a room, and asked me to join him, his family, and guests for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The guests, all Armenians, spoke the western Armenian dialect. I spoke the eastern one, but we understood each other. My first night in Beirut was depressing. All of a sudden, I felt alone in the world. I was in a faraway place, in a strange city and strange hotel and bed, uprooted and transplanted to follow the unknown. I had neither friends nor acquaintances.

My first two weeks in Beirut were memorable even though I was alone and lonely. I found the city intoxicating. It was my first encounter with a foreign metropolis, a seaport, and ships. I experienced, for the first time, the distinctive smell of the sea, and the oppressive late summer heat and humidity of the city. This was offset by the clean air and gentle breeze of its beautiful nights.”

On the veranda of Hotel Lux in 1963, your humble blogger Vahe H. Apelian

Revised on  4/15/2021 

 

 

 

ARMENIAN EVANGELICAL SCHOOLS OF CALIFORNIA, INC. The Founding of the First School

ARMENIAN EVANGELICAL SCHOOLS OF CALIFORNIA, INC.

The Founding of the First School

Author: Unknown

I came across these three unsighned typewritten and stapled pages in my mother’s archives. I could not trash them without reproducing it here. It narrates the chronology of the founding of the CHARLOTTE and ELISE MERDINIAN ARMENIAN EVANGELICAL SCHOOL and in doing so, illustrates the community-wide efforts that were vested in the founding of the school that had its start with thirteen students.

February, 1980

Rev. Vartkes Kassouni convened a group of thirty-five members of the United Armenian Congregational Church (UACC) to discuss the possibility of the founding of an Armenian Evangelical School. He was responding to the many requests from recent Armenian immigrants.

After a comprehensive discussion of the subject, the group decided to form an ad hoc committee to investigate the possibilities in a systematic way and to report the findings. Seven persons volunteered to serve on such a committee. Rev. Kassouni then assigned specific areas to four Members: 

o     Hrant Agbabian (facilities)

o     George Guldalian (finances)

o     Alice Haig (curriculum)

o     Hagop Loussararian (enrollment)

Missak Abdulian was asked to serve as convener for subsequent meetings. Hrair Atikian and Eva Shahinian were to cover assignments as needed. Later Berta Bilezikian agreed to serve as an educational consultant. By the end of 1980, the committee reported that.

o     there is a need for such a school,

o     sufficient enrollment seems assured, and

o     the resources can be found.

The committee recommended, however, that the project be sponsored not by UACC alone but by the whole Armenian Evangelical community, led by the Armenian Evangelical Union of North America (AEUNA), the Armenian Missionary Association of America  (AMAA), and the local churches.

January, 1981

After reviewing the report of the UACC ad hoc committee, Rev. Kassouni referred the matter to the executive committee of AEUNA, and Rev. Dr. Giragos Chopourian, Executive Director of the AMAA, brought the subject to the attention of the board of director of the AMAA. Those two bodies the appointed a Joint Investigative Committee to study the feasibility of Armenian Evangelical schools in the United States. Although the consideration was nationwide, committee members were selected from the West Coast and they were asked to make a pilot study in the Los Angeles area, which has the largest Armenian population. The committee consisted of :

o     Dr. Mihran Agbabian

o     Alice Haig, Chairman

o     Roy Kaprielian

o     Rev. Vartkes Kassouni

o     Edward Maljanian

o     Arthur Arutian served as a consultant.

Rev. Dr. Chopurian was designated an ex-officio member. 

To receive input from the East, two additional members were selected as advisors Rev. Vahan Toutikian and Nazar Daghlian.

At the end of 1981, the Investigative Committee reported that a school would be feasible if a suitable location could be found.

October, 1981

The AMAA offered seed money ($25,000 to $40,000) to start the school.

January, 1982

The AEUNA and the AMAA gave the investigating committee a new name and mission—“site Search Committee”. Two new members were added: Hrant Agbabian and Creg Hekimian. Luther Eskijian agreed to serve as advisor.

April, 1982

Within three months, site possibilities were identified, and a target date of September 1982, to start the school seemed to be realistic. A new committee was selected—“Interim Organizing Committee”. Members of this committee included.

o   Aram Garabedian

o   Alice Haig, Chairman

o   Greg Hekimian

o   Roy Kaprielian

o   Zaven Khanjian

o   Dr. Pepronia Merjanian

o   George Phillips, Esq.

Consultants were: Hrant Agbabian and Edward Maljanian. The pastors of the four local churches were designated as ex-officio members:

o     Rev. Abraham Chaparian (Armenian Evangelical Church of Hollywood)

o     Rev. Vartkes Kassouni (United Armenian Congregational Church)

o     Rev. Norair Melidonian (Armenian Cilicia Congregational Church)

o     Rev. Edward Tovmassian (Immanuel Armenian Congregational Church)

This committee took the necessary preliminary steps for opening the school.

June, 1982

School bylaws and Articles of Incorporation were completed, and the school obtained its state charter. (To avoid the need to draw up new charters if additional Armenian Evangelical schools are founded in California in the future, a plural name was chosen for the corporation.) Official signatories were the four local pastors named above and the committee chairman, Alice Haig.

At this point, the Interim Committee was replaced by an actual Board of Directors of the school, selected according to the bylaws. The initial board consisted of ten members representing the sponsoring groups:

o     Hrant Agbabian (AEUNA)

o     Vahe Ashkarian (Immanuel Armenian Congregational Church)

o     Aram Garabedian (Armenian Evangelical Church of Hollywood)

o     Alice Haig (AMAA)

o     Greg Hekimian (AEUNA)

o     Roy Kaprielian (Armenian Cilicia Congregational Church)

o     Zaven Khanjian (AEUNA)

o     Hagop Loussararian (United Armenian Congregational Church)

o     Dr. Pepronia Merjanian (AMAA)

o     George Phillips, Esq. (AMAA)

The four pastors named above were designated “advisory members”.

The eleventh space on the board was reserved for the representative of the Parent-Teacher Organization when established.

Four standing committee chairmen were appointed:

o     Curriculum: Anahid Terjimanian

o     Finance: George Guldalian

o     Personnel: Hagop Loussararian

o     Public Relations: Hratch Baliozian

July 1982

Officers of the board were elected:

o   Chairman: Alice Haig

o   Vice-Chairman: Hrant Agbabian

o   Corresponding Secretary:  Dr Pepronia Merjanian

o   Recording Secretary/Treasurer: Zaven Khanjian

o   Associate Treasurer: Vahe Ashkarian

At this time, Rev. Dr. Chopourian approached Elise Merdinian, an AMAA supporter. He was aware of her wish to make a major donation if she could find a permanent memorial that could bear the family name. The school project appealed to her. She agreed to make some initial donations and more later, if the school could be called CHARLOTTE (her sister) and ELISE MERDINIAN ARMENIAN EVANGELICAL SCHOOL and if certain other stipulations could be made.

September, 1982

The school opened with thirteen students; by the end of the year, enrollment reached twenty-eight. Daniel Albarian, a ministerial candidate at the Fuller Theological Seminary, was designated Administrator/Chaplain. Two teachers were selected:

o     Kindergarten (four and five years old): Mrs. Vergine Mitilian

o     Grades 1 to 3: Mrs. Gilda Nargizian.

The UACC agreed to rent out three Sunday school rooms for the use of the day school, on the condition that the school would move as soon as a promised site became available at the First Presbyterian Church of North Hollywood. 

February, 1983

After detailed negotiators, the legal documentation for the first phase of Elise Merdinian’s pledge was completed.

September, 1983

The school moved to larger quarters at the First Presbyterian Church.

Health Secrets from the Caucasus for 100 Healthy Happy Years

Health Secrets from the Caucasus for 100 Healthy Happy Years

A book review by Vahe H. Apelian

A few decades ago, late 1970's, my late brother-in-law Krikor had bought a countryside property in Monroe, NY. The house sat on a 35 acres wilderness. The alleyway that led to his house reminded me of Keurkune than anywhere else. The house became a weekend refuge for the family, especially for my father. My mother-in-law and Krikor commuted to work every day while my father-in-law stayed there and attended to his chores, chopped wood, raised vegetable garden, built a chicken coop and for sometime took care of Krikor’s horse.

The downtown Monroe was a few miles from the house. For all practical purposes, it was a dormant town, a far cry from the NY City, mere 50 miles away via Route 71. Krikor worked in the city as a jeweler with the famous Tiffany's. Somehow Krikor had gotten to know of an Armenian couple that ran a restaurant called West Point Farms, in Central Valley. Wikipedia tells me "Central Valley is a hamlet in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 1,857 at the 2000 census." The restaurant that seemed also a family farm of sorts, was located some five miles from Krikor's house. One weekend we paid a visit. The owners gifted me a book titled "A Diet For 100 Healthy Happy Years-Health Secrets from the Caucasus" by Morvyth McQueen-Williams, M.D. and Barbara Apisson, edited by Norman Ober. The book is copyrighted to the Barbara Apisson and Norman Ober and is dated 1977.

In the Foreword, the editor noted that he had been frequenting the restaurant from Manhattan for the over twenty years. Collaborating with the medical doctor Morvyth and the chef Barbara, the editor Norman Ober came with the understanding for writing the book. "Dr. Williams would practice the medicine and that Barbara would assist with the view-point, Caucasus data and the recipes" that are included in the book. The "final language and format were my responsibility", understandably noted the editor in his foreword.

Morvyth McQueen-Williams had "received a B.A. at the University of California and with it the University Gold Medal as the ‘the most distinguished student in the capacity of the University to award'

After seven years of straight A grades, Dr. Williams won her M.D. degree from Yale University and later her M.A. and Ph.D." She married Kegan Sarkissian who was "a research physiologist and inventor in the developmental physiology and nutritional sciences."

“Kegan came to the United States in 1919. He spent four years at the University of New Hampshire, specializing in genetic research in agriculture” where he introduced beekeeping by "the methods of his ancestors". In this period, he was also involved with the development of the New Hampshire Red, a superior hen species.”

During her tenure at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Williams was repeatedly exposed to radiation. She credited fighting off the ravages of cancer for more than thirty years to her work with her husband in botanicals. The Sarkissians and the Apissons were friends.

Barbara  ‘was born in Erzurum, Armenia, now part of Turkey. This mountainous Caucasus region, noted for the longevity of its inhabitants, kept the imprint on Barbara after she and her mother fled Turkey and settled in Massachusetts following World War I, keeping the traditions intact – and their recipes." She "met Armenian-born Henri Apisson in New York in 1935. Henri's parent escaped with him to Marseilles, France, in the postwar period of Turkish extermination of Armenians. In 1930, graduating college in Berlin, he followed his three brothers and two sisters and parents to the United States." In 1947 the Apissons fulfilled a dream they had been pursuing when they purchased a property that became the West Point Farms eatery.

The book is 217 pages long and consists of eleven chapters. The first chapters explain the effects of nutritionals, including vitamins, minerals, and botanicals, on a perosn's health including the person's lifestyle. The beneficial effects of walking and gardening and weight control are explained with a listing of weighted menus to regulate food intake. The last chapter is a listing of recipes. Some are commonly known Armenian recipes with madzoon (Yogurt), beureks, plaki, pilafs, midia dolma, kufteh, shish kebab, lavash, anoushabour, petmez pudding, mahalebi, bourma. There was a recipe titled "Armenian Soul Food" which is explained to be ‘a high-protein "pastry" base.

The West Pont Farms seemed to have left its heydays long behind when we got there. The owners, Henri and Barbara Apissons had remained as the only link to its past.  What fascinated me more than the recipes or the nutritional advice, was the serendipitous turn of events that had brought these Armenians from their historic homeland, one being from Erzerum to the hamlet known as Central Valley. 

I searched for the restaurant on the Internet today when I came across the book as I sort my books and put them in order. The only thing that I found was a mention of a vintage postcard, the one I have attached.

The book retails for $10 on the Internet.

Three Tenors

Three Tenors

Vahe H. Apelian

Let me first note that I used the word "tenor" in the title of this blog  for trained voices. I am not a connoisseur of voice.

Some time ago, on YouTube, I came across songs by Armen Guirag. Some of the songs were “viewed” a few times. Others had no views. I became reflective. Artists, such as Armen Guirag, entertain us with their songs, uplift our spirits and make our lives more pleasurable and then, much like old warriors, fade away. In its unmistakable forward march, time brings with it new norms, attitudes and likes and new artists come for a new generation who in turn experiences the same cycle of life. 

Along with Armen Guirag, the voices of Ara Guiragossian  and Kevork Gagossian have remained etched in my memory and I listen to them also, every now and then.

ARA GUIRAGOSSIAN. I have not met him in person. He remains in my mind as a tall and robust man. I have attended his performance on stage with my parents. He also used to sing in “Sayat Nova” restaurant in Beirut. Recently I translated Boghos Shahmelikian’s book that narrates Diaspora Armenian pop music. In it Boghos notes that Ara Guiragossian was the first to record an album of Armenian revolutionary songs. But he never caught the people’s fancy as a singer of such songs. I guess his voice was too trained, too structured for opera than for such songs on popular stage.

Recently I came across the following comments on YouTube that best summarizes Ara Guiragossian as a singer of revolutionary songs and also validates my memory of hearing him in the “Sayat Nova” restaurant. These two comments read as follows:

“When I was a young kid my parents used to take the family to Sayat Nova restaurant in Beirut Lebanon where Ara used to sing. Great memories” (Harout Hamassian).

“Once my mum went to a record shop to buy the disc of "Antranig" sung by Levon Katerdjian. There was a man in the shop, whom my mother didn't recognize. The shopkeeper tried to persuade my mother to buy Ara Guiragossian's version of that song, but mother said that she didn't like Ara's voice very much. Once she said this, she noticed that the man got emotional & hid his face in his hands. My mother then realized that the man was Ara Guiragossian. She felt very ashamed & bought both records.” (arayvaz6).

In vain, I searched for Ara Guiragossian’s biography on the Internet search engines. I do not know when and where he was born and when and where did he pass away. But surely his memory and his singing linger on. He can be heard on YouTube.

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KEVORK GAGOSSIAN. I knew Alex Mnagian as a famous accordion player. Again, thanks to Boghos Shahmelikian I found out that he was more than a famous accordion player and that he was an artist of the highest caliber and has had his input in the artistic life in Lebanon be it as an Armenian and as Lebanese through his association with the famous Rahbani brothers.

Mnagian brothers had a music store next to Sourp (Saint) Nshan Church and it's one-time namesake school I attended. The neighborhood was an Armenian hub. Next, to the Mnagian’s store, my friend Garbis Baghdassarian’s brother Zareh, had a bookstore. On that very stretch of the street my classmate Haroutiun Hadsagortzian’s father had a barber shop who spoke with a distinct Dikranagerd accent and would attentively follow us students wondering how well we were doing in our studies and would encourage us to study hard. There was also a gun store whose owner married one of my classmates in Sourp Nshan. We lived a short walking distance from the church and that neighborhood was a hangout for us boys. Alex was a short and stocky guy. Another short and stocky young man would be in the store every now and then. His name was Kevork Gagossian. The community was shocked to hear that he passed away after his concert in Cairo at the age of 27.

 I pieced together the following about Kevork Gagossian from an article penned by Hagop Mardirossian that appeared in Hairenik Weekly on July 17, 2014, forty-five years after his untimely death as a testament of the enduring legacy of this gifted but short-lived young man.

Kevork Gagossian was born on July 9, 1942, and passed away in Cairo, Egypt on November 25, 1969, a day after his concert. After finishing his studies in the Lebanese Conservatory, he had continued his studies in Italy. He had not yet produced any recording letting his friends know that a singer’s voice matures after the age of 35 and that he is yet too young to record for posterity. After his untimely death, his friends produced a record from the recordings of his concerts. He was deemed to be an unusually gifted bass tenor. His teachers, friends, and classmates from Lebanon, Italy, England and Japan mourned his death. His Japanese colleague Takao Okamura held a memorial concert in Beirut and ended his repertoire by signing in Armenian “I heard a sweet voice”  (Ես Լսեցի Մի ԱՆուշ Զայն) dedicating it in memory of Kevork Gagossian.

Kevork Gagossian's rendition of Kamar Katiba's Lerets Ambere - The Clouds Went Silent.

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ARMEN GUIRAG My parents had forged a friendship with him during his stay in Hotel Lux, the inn my father ran in Beirut. For many and many years, every Sunday morning my father would play his recording of Armenian Holy Mass, which is regarded one of the best rendition of the Holy Mass by a singer. For all, I recall he was from Latin America. My mother introduced him to her friend Rahel Chilinguirian and they got married and moved to the United States. In late 1960’s my mother visited her relatives in the United States and spent time with Armen and Rahel Guirag. I often wondered what happened to him.

A few years ago I read the following about Armen Guirag in an article the late Tom Vartabedian wrote in Armenian Weekly titled “Three Tenors Strike A Different Tune” (March 24, 2009).

“He (Armen Guirag) was Armenian and ran a record shop in New York City that doubled as his home. He would sell his music in front and sleep out back with a tiny refrigerator, table, and a couple chairs.

Armen Guirag lived from hand to mouth and was in no hurry to move his records. He once told me that everyone he sold was like “selling a child.” But did he ever have a voice, and became the greatest Armenian tenor of his generation back in the 1950’s.

He was recognized as a classic concert and opera singer, produced a number of recordings, and performed near and far, including an appearance at Carnegie Hall that gained rave reviews in the New York papers.

I met him during the tail end of his career when he gradually began to mellow and lived like a recluse. The last concert I attended of his was a pity.

He appeared in Boston, well into his 70s by now, and sang like he never sang before. His voice carried to the very last row of seats as people were on their feet applauding his every note.

And then, the unsuspected occurred. The record he had spinning in the background got stuck while the audience sat mortified. Even before lip-syncing became popular, Armen Guirag appeared well before his time.

He dashed off stage humiliated, never to appear again. Last I heard, he died in that little record store with hardly a whisper from the scores who embraced his music.”

Surely, it is a sad ending for such a talented singer. I hear his singing every now and then and find his voice unusually clear, crisp. It is said that the Armenian community does not appreciate its artists the way it should. I often wonder if our artists are victims of our gene pool. This may be true because we are unusually rich in talents be it singers or players of different classical instruments for the community to support all, the way it should. 

 We surely owe them a debt of gratitude for enriching our lives.

With Mr and Mrs. Armen and Rahel Guirag

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