Andrew Hagopian to Speak at Fresno State On Preserving Identity Through Sound: Armenians in California from 1900 to 1960

Andrew Hagopian will speak on “Preserving Identity Through Sound: Armenians in California from 1900 to 1960” at 7:00PM on Thursday, September 25, 2025, in the University Business Center (5245 N. Backer Ave.), Alice Peters Auditorium, on the Fresno State campus.

Hagopian’s presentation is part of the Armenian Studies Program Fall 2025 Lecture Series and is supported by the Florence Elaine Hamparson Armenian Memorial Fund.

In his presentation, Hagopian will examine how Armenian immigrants and their descendants safeguarded and reshaped their musical heritage in the diaspora. Drawing from his recently completed Master’s thesis at Fresno State, Hagopian explores the critical role that music played in preserving Armenian identity in California, particularly in the Central Valley, where Armenian communities flourished after the genocide of 1915. His research relies on oral histories, rare private recordings, community archives, and published works to demonstrate how musicians and entrepreneurs kept Armenian song and dance traditions alive while adapting them to their new environment.

Hagopian documents this cultural legacy through the lives of musicians, entrepreneurs, and community leaders who not only performed and recorded music but also created spaces, picnics, nightclubs, and coffeehouses, where Armenian sound became central to communal identity. Inspired in part by his own grandfather, the renowned oud master Richard Hagopian, Andrew situates his family’s story within the broader narrative of Armenian survival and creativity in the diaspora. His grandfather’s career, rooted in the music of the first generation of survivors, served as the inspiration for Andrew’s thesis and he himself reflects intergenerational preservation of Armenian music his research documents.

Hagopian’s lecture will feature rare photographs and original sound clips from the period 1900-1960, offering the audience a chance to hear and see the cultural torchbearers whose efforts bridged Old World traditions with New World experiences. Through this work, Hagopian contributes to the growing field of diaspora and ethnomusicology studies by showing that Armenians in California did not merely preserve their heritage, they actively reshaped it, creating a unique Armenian-American sound that continues to resonate across generations.

Raised in the Fresno Armenian community, Hagopian has been immersed in the traditions he now studies, giving him a rare insider’s perspective. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Middle Eastern and Armenian Studies and a Master of Arts in History from Fresno State, dedicating the latter part of his undergraduate and all of his graduate research to understanding the preservation of Armenian music in California.

The lecture is free and open to the public. Parking is available in Fresno State Lot P6, near the University Business Center. Permits are required for Thursday night lectures and a free permit and directions can be accessed at this link: bit.ly/hagopianparking.

The presentation will also be live-streamed on YouTube at: https://bit.ly/armenianstudiesyoutube.