The story of jazz in Armenia

Published July, 2025
by Lucia Kagramanyan

I am Lucia Kagramanyan, host of the NTS show Panorama Yerevan that showcases Armenian music in its huge variety. I am a DJ and selector, and now also a sound researcher and artist. My research into Armenian music started with my family ties and the Public Radio Archives. I got obsessed when I heard compositions that I had never heard before, and I thought I would put up a one-hour show, showing the beauty of Armenian music. It was not so popular back then when I started, and I am happy that Panorama Yerevan has become a beloved show.  

Introduction

The lush, the bright, the outstanding, an emblem of Armenian music. The improvisation tradition long adored in the Armenian history of music, by the most rebellious ashoughs or troubadours that eschewed the canons of religious music, yet possessing the enchanting folk motives, and indisputable affinity with classical tradition, in love with every aspect of Armenian culture – Armenian jazz is all about Armenian culture, an ordinary Armenian who walks the streets of the cities, and sings, through the saxophone solos of Alex Zakaryan, through tender folk tunes composed by Artemiy Ayvazyan, through the celestial shine of Orbelyan’s works. 

Armenian jazz appeared for a reason and had to go through a lot to become the iconic hidden umbrella term for most of the Soviet Armenian pop music from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. I love Armenian jazz more than anything else. Regardless of my personal connection through my family musicians and founders of Armenian jazz, and even though I study and compile tons of Armenian music, I have a special place in my heart for this music. Anyways, put a Panorama Yerevan Armenian Jazz Special episode on and let’s go…

The beginnings

1936. Four young Armenian musicians are wandering around the center of Yerevan. They are walking towards the Moscow Cinema, where they give concerts as one of the first jazz bands in the history of Armenian jazz. One of them, the founder, is my great-grandfather, composer and trumpeter Tsolak Vardazaryan. His band was one of a few emerging jazz collective ensembles performing around the city that were inspired by the strikingly new eccentric genre brought by Valentin Parnakh and his first jazz band in the 20s that shook the Soviet music community. While their contributions, experimentations, and curiosity have become a substantial part of Armenian lifestyle and music, once a niche underground genre, was brought to the forefront in just a few years.

In 1938, the first Armenian State Jazz orchestra was born, directed by Artemiy Ayvazyan and Tsolak Vardazaryan, created by the initiative of the state of the Armenian Republic, making it the first jazz band of the Caucasus. Recording their first bits in 1939 in Moscow, on Melodiya. 

In a short time, the orchestra gained popularity throughout the Union and was recognized as one of the best Soviet ensembles. It was a creative community of people who had a lot of trust in each other and their directors. The Orchestra had its big Soviet premiere at the Decade of Armenian Art in 1939 in Moscow. The main difference between this orchestra and all the others that existed at that time was the primacy of national melodies in the music it performed. The orchestra presented unique and clever arrangements of urban folklore and Armenian folk songs, as well as works by contemporary Armenian composers, which became its trademark. The orchestra’s unique call sign, opening all concerts, was the famous “Armenian Rhapsody” by Ayvazyan.

Many collectives across the Soviet Union were inspired by the examples of Armenian jazz, and other republics got their own jazz bands. The pace of development was skyrocketing, even during wartime – the Armenian State Jazz Orchestra toured around hospitals and frontiers, performing concerts for the Red Army and bringing rejuvenating sound of Armenian jazz to the devastated public. The orchestra performed both Armenian compositions as well as foreign hits. One of the medics noted that she had never seen soldiers singing “Jan Yerevan” while marching towards the front lines. Composed by Artemiy Ayvazyan, the “Jan Yerevan” sustained an iconic warm and joyous place in everyone’s heart. A strange note, some of the other jazz hits by Ayvazyan migrated to the Fedayi movement and were reinterpreted as war songs. 

Repression

There is a reason why the term “Estrada” came into use: abruptly, elegantly, strategically. 

During Stalin’s reign, the Western influence was taboo, and jazz was no exception to that. Even though during the fight against servility to the West, jazz in Armenia has endured a little less struggle, (Armenian Jazz Orchestra was the only one not disbanded during Stalin’s reign), it did affect the development and the name.  The orchestra rebranded itself as the State Estrada (pop) Orchestra, making it seem more relevant for the proletariat public taste. The core stayed the same, and even allowed more focus on ethnic/folk research. Interestingly enough, this was the time of the start of field research and folk music research in Armenia, the crosspatch seemed to be on point, and the composers and musicians used it with elegance.

Of course, it was not a jazz orchestra in the modern sense of the word, but rather it reflected the modern music of Armenia. The orchestra presented the Armenian melodic and rhythmic principles by the means of jazz, which made it highly admired by the Soviet public across the Union. It’s about the time Ayvazyan leaves the orchestra, as his mission seemed to be completed.

The Renaissance of Armenian Jazz 

The movement forward, the development of musical thought and creative growth, stalled, and after the second Decade of Armenian Art in Moscow in 1956, a decision was made to bring a fresh stream into the group’s activities. Konstantin Orbelyan, took the position as the band leader and the orchestra’s director. He was not an alien to the orchestra; Orbelyan is known to have already been part of it and worked for years as a pianist, making his own jazz arrangements of folk songs for the orchestra. To me, the 60s of the Armenian State Jazz Orchestra were the heyday – full of cross-genre experimentation and very personal touch of composers, a spectrum of attitudes and improvisations made this time very distinct. That is much due to Orbelyan’s work – he was the first to realize the principles of fusion of modern jazz and national melodies. Armenian jazz began to appear on the international arena, and so in 1966, the first trip abroad took place as part of the cultural program of the Days of the Soviet Union in Czechoslovakia. In 1975, the orchestra was THE FIRST Soviet jazz Orchestra that was invited to perform in the United States. I mean, you judge! But it must have been huge. They gave 25 concerts across the country, the final one at Lincoln Center in New York. The repertoire comprised recent songs from Armenia as well as American jazz classics like Count Basie, Stan Canton etc.

And Beyond

The Armenian State Jazz Orchestra was not the only music group to exist. Thanks to Orbelyan’s approach with cross-mixing genres and adding influences, the path for experimentation and musical development became huge, and many talents emerged. We hear the iconic voices of Raisa Mkrhian, Tatevik Hovhannesian, Bella Darbinyan emerge, which allow them to get prominent also in the diaspora scene overseas. Orbelyan also had a quintet that served as the basis for the creation of the pop-symphony orchestra of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, now the Public Television and Radio of Armenia. Between 1966 and 1972, the orchestra was led by the son of one of the founders of the jazz movement in Armenia, the author of many pop works, pianist, now arranger and consultant-conductor of the same orchestra, composer Martin Vartazarian, my grandfather. He also played accordion! 

Melik Mavisakalyan took over the orchestra after him for many years and has been renowned for many arrangement works and compositions. Since 1986, the artistic director and chief conductor of the orchestra has been the veteran of Armenian jazz, Yervand Yerznkyan, who used to be a bass player in the rock band Erazoghner (the Dreamers), which I featured on Panorama Yerevan Rock Special. Everything is somehow interconnected.

That period sounded very cozy and full of life and hope and very carefree. My grandfather, Martin Vardazaryan, was telling me anecdotes from his tours around the world, and his time together with Armenian musicians, and also many insider jokes about many celebrities. He also told me how they were gathering to listen to jazz on the radio, as the Western radio frequencies were banned and could only be heard after 11 pm. That’s exactly when the time for jazz started on Voice of America…

I also think that the 80s is a very particular period for Armenian pop/jazz music, especially works of Axel Bakunts and his Serpantine Ensemble. It sounded very Quincy Jonesy, boogie, it had something very different and contemporary in it. Among my favorite musicians are David Azaryan and Artashes Karatalyan, who performed with their trio, which is virtuoso to me.

Levon Malkhasyan, has become a jazz legend in the city circles and has opened his own jazz club, frequented by many international jazz stars from all around the globe in downtown Yerevan.

The 90s

The end of the Soviet Union, the ruins, poverty, crime, hunger, and war. 

Not a time for jazz. Many musicians left in search of a better life abroad, many to the States, like Konstantin Orbelyan himself. Same for Tatevik Hovhanessian, a star of Armenian jazz vocal, who started singing in the orchestra at the age of 11, orchestra’s soloist at 17, left to seek a career abroad. My grandfather remembers how she first came to the studio, a very little girl who had an absolutely magical voice. 

Many had to stay despite the difficulties, which may have pressured the revolutionary sound of the underground jazz bands of the late 90s. Some venues and cafes like Poplavok in Isahakyan Street were spots for jamming and jazz concerts. My mom, Anna Vartazaryan, with her lifelong passion for jazz vocals and singing, used to perform there along with other prominent musicians in the contemporary jazz scene of Yerevan. The 90s saw the emergence of such legendary contemporary bands as Armenian Navy Band, led by its founder Arto Tunçboyacıyan, with Vahagn Hayrapetyan on piano and Armen Huysnunts on saxophone, with its members changing over time. The band’s revolutionary avant-garde sound mixed with ethnic motives and the voice of Tuncboyajian paved the way to international fame. In 2004 Vahagn Hayrapetyan created his own band “Katuner” (the “Cats”). There were figures so important to Armenian jazz scene at the time like Armen Tutunjyan, or Chico, an honorable and irreplaceable member of the Armenian jazz community, professor of Yerevan State Conservatory and a jazz drummer, who had written a book on Armenian jazz that I am referring to a lot and which inspired many young Armenian jazz musicians of today.

Where do I hear jazz in Armenia today?

With such a great legacy of composers, musicians, and the history of jazz, there is a marvelous scene for you to explore with a multitude of projects and bands. You probably know Tigran Hamasyan, who has gained international recognition and is a world touring musician with his unique approach to Armenian tradition and contemporary jazz with classical elements. 

Discover the beautiful voice of Lusine Yeghyazaryan and her nonconformist approach to vocals and arrangements, and if you’re lucky, catch her performing in Yerevan.

Many musicians active in the jazz scene in Armenia are descendants of the musicians of the older era. David Melkonian, today’s director of the Armenian State Jazz orchestra, would surely invite you to listen to Armenian jazz at the House of Architects in Yerevan, where the orchestra holds its concerts. He also formed music groups, sextets, and quintets, and is performing in jazz clubs in Armenia and abroad, and is the grandson of Yuri Harutyunyan, who did the sound design for Parajanov’s Colour of Pomegranate. 

Check Ulikhanyan club and its extended program (jazz almost every day), seeking musicians like Artyom Manukyan, Daniel Melkonyan, Arman Mnatskanyan, Dave Geodakian, among many, many others, the style ranging from bebop and post bop to experimental and contemporary. There is also an International Jazz Festival held in Yerevan and the International Jazz Day is loudly celebrated on the 30th of April every year at Yerevan’s Casde Complex. 

Ending my family

What happens after is tremendous, but sadly, my great-grandfather, Tsolak Vardazaryan, a founding member of Armenian jazz, could not celebrate its further triumph. He passed away at a very young age, after some years following the establishment of the orchestra.

Text by Lucia Kagramanyan
Photos: the first Armenian jazz bands and my great grandfather Tsolak Vardazaryan as the leader/founder and trumpet player. Photos courtesy of family archive and “Jazz in Armenia” in Eastern Armenian by Aremn Chico Tutunjian.

This article is brought to you as part of the EM GUIDE project – an initiative dedicated to empowering independent music magazines and strengthen the underground music scene in Europe. Read more about the project at emgui.de.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.