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Harout Pamboukjian

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  • Harout Pamboukjian

    Harout Pamboukjian



    "The Armenian Wedding Singer"

    Born in 1950 in Yerevan . His mother was a singer, and he took up the guitar — he also plays the bouzouki and saz (stringed instruments), dhol (drums) and piano — in his early teens, later forming a band called Erebouni. “My mother had a beautiful voice,” he says, “And I heard all those old folk songs in my house at an early age.” His band went from village to village playing, surprisingly, covers of everything from Charles Aznavour to Deep Purple and Elvis, at weddings and universities.

    Due to restrictions under the Soviet Union, Harout and most of his family left Soviet Armenia in 1975. After a year in Lebanon, he came to L.A. and took up residence in Hollywood.

    In the late ’70s and early ’80s, there were only a few thousand Armenians in L.A., most of whom were centered in East Hollywood. There were two local cable programs on the weekend that featured news and music, and nearly all the businesses — Parseghian Records, Arka Photo, Panos Pastry, Carousel, King Arshag, etc. — were on Hollywood or Santa Monica boulevards.

    Only two months after his arrival here, Harout put together a studio band and recorded his first album, Our Eyir Astvats (Where Were You, God? - in reference to the Armenian Genocide ) at the Quad Teck studio on Western and Sixth in Koreatown. He got on the nightclub circuit, doing his first gigs on Sundays at a Beverly Hills tennis club owned by an Armenian.

    That first album, now considered a classic, barely resembles the trademark sound he’s become known for since then. Instead of the usual weepy duduk (a double-reed often called “the saddest instrument in the world”) or synths, you get clarinet, organ and a lot of bass. Listen closer and you’ll hear some funky wah-wah guitar too, though only a few of the songs are dance-oriented, certainly different from the material that later made him so popular at weddings.

    Most bands and singers pay their dues in smoky nightclubs, bars and coffee shops. Harout honed his skills at Armenian engagement parties, baptisms, fairs and dinner dances, where one expects five to six hours of music (a DJ and a couple of singers) and an obscene amount of food. Fathers-of-the-bride in places as far away as France have typically shelled out a couple of thousand bucks for just an hour of Harout’s time.

    He’s played the Rose Bowl, the Shrine and the Palladium, too. But it’s at all those banquet halls, whatever the occasion, where fans get the best sense of what Harout’s music is about. An amalgamation of contemporary, folk and patriotic musics, at times it may sound like flashy pop, but with an inescapable earthiness that seems to emanate from the very soul of his people. Harout interprets songs by fellow artists including Rouben Hakhverdian, Robert Amirkhanian, Arthur Meschian and others who write for him. But it’s the centuries-old sacred and grandiose folk tunes about protecting the soil and fighting in the highlands — "Antranik Pasha," "Sassouni Orore," "Msho Aghchig" — that really get the blood stirring with nationalistic pride.

    Among Harout’s favorites is Nuné, who’s doing the modern thing and still keeping the tradition alive. But he's most fond of Rouben Hakhverdian , a "real troubadour" who has a wonderfully biting way of spouting Dylanesque ramblings like they’re the Gospel. His collaboration with Harout on the 1996 almost all-acoustic Yerke Nayev Aghotk Eh (Songs Are Also Prayers) is somber, intimate and filled with the kind of dirt-under-the-fingernails grit one must listen to, not dance to. Just two men with their guitars.

    Harout has no family left in Armenia. He lives comfortably in North Hollywood with his son, Isay, and his wife, Rose, who does all the backup vocals on his records.

    A year after the 1988 earthquake in Armenia that killed 25,000 people and left more than 500,000 homeless, hundreds of thousands of fans looking for some kind of temporary diversion from the devastation packed the Hrazdan stadium and Hamalir Demirchian Arena to hear 28 concerts by their favorite singer. Then–Minister of Culture Yuri Melik-Ohanjanian remarked these were the highest-attended performances in the history of Armenia.

    Today, there are over 20 Harout albums and counting.
    Անտարբեր Մի Եղիր Հայ Ազգի Համար, Վերկաց Գերեզմանից ԱՆԴՐԱՆԻԿ ՓԱ ՇԱ

  • #2
    Harout Pamboukjian

    Gifted with an ultra-smooth vocal range, Harout Pamboukjian has taken the music of Armenia to the international stage. According to the L.A. Weekly, Pamboukjian's "husky tenor has a softness that coos and quivers when he does the syrupy love songs with sweeping keyboards that sound as if they're aching along with him."

    The son of a vocalist, Pamboukjian studied guitar, bouzouki, saz, dhol, and piano as a teen. As the leader of a band, Erebouni, he traveled throughout his homeland performing pop tunes at weddings and universities. The struggles of living under communist rule, however, resulted in Pamboukjian leaving Armenia in 1975. After residing in Lebanon for a year, he continued to the United States and settled in Los Angeles. It took little time for him to resume his career. Within two months, he had recorded his debut album, Our Eyir Asivats (Where Were You, God?).

    Pamboukjian has been embraced by Los Angeles' Armenian community, the largest Armenian diaspora in the world. After building an audience with his weekly performances at the Beverly Hills Tennis Club, he continued to hone his skills at Armenian engagement parties, baptism, weddings, and dinner dances.

    While the traditional music of Armenia continues to be the foundation for his repertoire, Pamboukjian has taken a modern approach to his music. Instead of the somber tones of the double reed duduk, he's framed his music in a swirl of clarinets, organ, and bass. In a mid-'90s interview, he explained, "The real sound is lost. If you're going to do something Armenian, do it right. Our music and poetry are so rich; there are songs written hundreds of years ago that are still untouched. Go and find them, take them, and make them your own." ~ Craig Harris, All Music Guide
    Անտարբեր Մի Եղիր Հայ Ազգի Համար, Վերկաց Գերեզմանից ԱՆԴՐԱՆԻԿ ՓԱ ՇԱ

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    • #3
      Picture of the King

      Անտարբեր Մի Եղիր Հայ Ազգի Համար, Վերկաց Գերեզմանից ԱՆԴՐԱՆԻԿ ՓԱ ՇԱ

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      • #4
        Lol. He's a little strange.

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        • #5
          uhhh, in what respect? do you mean the crazy stuff he does on stage? that's all part of the show. He entertains people, thats his job.
          Անտարբեր Մի Եղիր Հայ Ազգի Համար, Վերկաց Գերեզմանից ԱՆԴՐԱՆԻԿ ՓԱ ՇԱ

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          • #6
            He seems interesting.

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            • #7
              ladysilver, he "seems" interesting? doesn't sound like you know him. He's a legend of Armenian music, what "seems interesting"? geez!!!!!
              Անտարբեր Մի Եղիր Հայ Ազգի Համար, Վերկաց Գերեզմանից ԱՆԴՐԱՆԻԿ ՓԱ ՇԱ

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              • #8
                Chill out, man. He IS weird. I've known him for years (not personally) and he's just, weird. What you call "entertaining the audience" - I call "acting like an idiot".

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                • #9
                  well thats nice but keep your idiotic comments to yourself. You obviously do not appreciate his work, and for which I feel very sorry for you. Or maybe you're just jealous. What are you, 6 years old? This thread is for fans of the greatest singer ever, if you don't like him you can go stuff yourself, ok?
                  Անտարբեր Մի Եղիր Հայ Ազգի Համար, Վերկաց Գերեզմանից ԱՆԴՐԱՆԻԿ ՓԱ ՇԱ

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                  • #10
                    Andranik don't attack members of this forum again please.
                    Welcome to the forum, but please read the rules and try to abide by them. Here's a link to them
                    Thank you.
                    [COLOR=#4b0082][B][SIZE=4][FONT=trebuchet ms]“If you think you can, or you can’t, you’re right.”
                    -Henry Ford[/FONT][/SIZE][/B][/COLOR]

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