S1E4 Ian Nagoski: Resurrecting Ghosts, Part 1

Ian Nagoski is a researcher and record producer from the Baltimore, MD area who specializes in music of the early 20th century in languages other than English. In the first of a two part episode, Nagoski takes us from the beginnings of the recording industry in America (late 1800's) into the 78rpm record era (early 1900's) focusing on the recordings of Armenian immigrants from the Ottoman Empire sung in both Turkish and Armenian. Ian's ability to bring recordings to life by giving us detailed backstories on the artist, the song, and the era with which they were recorded provides the listener with a captivating look at recordings otherwise neglected for decades. In this episode, Nagoski describes "Eghin Havasi (Melody of Eghin) by the mysterious Kemany Minas in what is perhaps a reference to the 1894-1896 Hamidian Massacres. A brief overview of Udi Hrant Kenkulian, the blind oud master from Istanbul is also discussed. His version of "Agin", sung in Armenian (which was rare), is also also featured. 

Music Featured

Udi Hrant Kenkulian (oud/voice)- "Anush Yarin" (Smyrnaphone OH-3, 1950's)

Kemany Minas (voice)- "Eghin Havasi" (Columbia, 1917)

Udi Hrant Kenkulian (oud/voice)- "Agin" (Smyrnaphon OH-4, 1950's)

All music presented in this podcast is shared with the permission of Canary Records. Please go to https://canary-records.bandcamp.com/music for more information on these and other reissue recordings produced by Ian Nagoski. 

Ian Nagoski Biography: Ian Nagoski is a music researcher and record producer in Baltimore, Maryland. For more than a decade, he has produced dozens of reissues of early 20th century recordings in languages other than English for labels including Dust-to-Digital, Tompkins Square, his own Canary Records, and others. His enthusiastic talks have been hosted at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., the Onassis Cultural Center in Athens Greece, the University of Chicago, University of California Los Angeles and Santa Barbara and New York University, and he has presented his work in installation at the Museum fur Naturkunde in Berlin Germany, the Wellcome Center in London England, and the Peale Center in Baltimore Maryland. A fragment of his work is included on the MoonkArk, the first object to be permanently installed on the moon, in 2020.