Armenian Folk Music History
Gomidas Vartabed created the 300-member “Kusan” Choir and gave concerts in various places in the Ottoman Empire and Egypt. Five of its members (Parsegh Ganatchian, Mihran Toumajan, Vartan Sarxian, Vagharshag Servantsdiantz, and Haig Semerjian)
took classes of music theory and musicology with him and came to be known as the “Gomidas Five.”
Ganatchian, Toumajan, and Sarxian are probably better known among Armenians than Servantsdiantz. But, take a look at a music program that took place in Cormano, Italy on Oct. 23, 2009, reproduced below:
What’s in a Name?
Servantsdian(tz): Persian in derivation, identified as a descriptive term, the name is defined as contemporary, up-to-date.
Source: Armenian Weekly
Link: Uncle Garabed’s Notebook (Nov. 12, 2016)
