Cleveland Armenian Festival a Hit

One of the most aspects of the festival is the large amount of non-Armenians in attendance. Karoghlanian estimates that a quarter of festival attendees are non-Armenian neighbors, friends, and colleagues. In particular, community members invite their co-workers or supervisors, and folks who live in the residential area adjacent to the church walk over to enjoy Armenian hospitality. The “guests” are excited to try Armenian foods and some of them stated that they make it a point to come each year. Beef shish kebab, chicken kebab, rice and bulghur pilaf, cheese beoreg, eetch, and other delicacies were for sale along with deserts like pakhlava, khadayif, and ghourabia. The ganach fasoulya (Armenian green bean stew) was particularly well-received. Just as with many other Armenian festivals in the US this year, lamb was not on the menu, seemingly because shortages due to Covid have driven up the price. Instead, the special offering of the day was a version of lule kebab (“kyabab,” as it’s called in Yerevan) made from ground pork and chicken, popular in today’s Armenia.

Deacon Serop Demirjian, the ever-smiling and friendly pillar of the community who was born in the mountains of Sasoun, Eastern Turkey, long after 1915, and has served as deacon-in-charge during the absence of a priest, manned the beer station. It is difficult to think of something more “Midwest Armenian” than a church food festival commissioning a custom microbrew for their event. The concept, which was the brainchild of church member Peter Zahirsky, was carried out by local brewer Karl Spiesman. This is the fourth year the Festival has had a custom beer; previous renditions have emphasized Armenian fruits such as pomegranate (unsuccessful) and two varieties of apricot (highly successful). This year’s was “Hye Hefeweizen grapefruit Armenian citrus witbeir.” Grapefruit is Armenian? Zahirsky admits it’s a stretch, but justifies the choice as an homage to the Armenian citrus growers of Fresno.

Zahirsky, like seemingly every community member, has an interesting story that might seem atypical to the rest of “Armenian America.” Raised in southern Ohio as the son of a Russian Orthodox priest, his mother is Armenian – and the daughter of the St. Gregory of Narek parish’s original godfather. Moving back to Cleveland as an adult, he re-immersed himself in community and Armenian Church life and is a staunch supporter of Armenia. And he views St. Gregory of Narek parish as his grandfather’s legacy of survival from Ottoman brutality.

Little (Eastern) Armenia

Connection to the homeland runs deep in Cleveland, which is known for its high percentage of relatively recent Armenian immigrants from Yerevan and Baku. But the Midwestern atmosphere makes some aspects of community life feel more like a transported Armenian village in Lori or Artsakh than like the streets of Glendale. During the festival, the men congregated around their kebab grills and sipped vodka while preparing the meat. Women danced to the music of the three-piece band, comprised of Boston’s Mher Mnatsakanyan (duduk, clarinet) and Markos Shahbazyan (vocal, drum) with Cleveland’s own Grigor “Gokor” Galstyan on accordion. Galstyan is an old hand at this — he is prepared for almost any kind of Armenian song and harmonizes with vigor. And perhaps unexpectedly, he enjoys the music performed on oud by American-born Armenians. “When I was a young man in Yerevan, I played in a group with myself, a duduk player, an oud player, and a kamancha player,” he states, “what a sound!”

The band performed a genre not heard very often in the Eastern US, at least not live — authentic contemporary Eastern Armenian folk music. This music, which features the clarinet backed by heavy accordion and the rhythmic dhol drum, is the type played by villagers or at outdoor picnics in Armenia. Listeners of Anatolian-Armenian folk music can readily relate to the soulful strains of clarinet and the heavy minor-key melodies. Those who have visited Armenia will recall this music from madagh picnics and similar events. For natives of the Republic, it is the sound of home. Well known songs such as Yarn-Anush, Sareri Hovin Mernem, and others followed in succession. The Hayastantsi women danced in their Armenian solo naz bar style, and as the music picked up, the American Armenians led their sprightly shourch bars which the others joined in. The scene was a true mélange of the different regions and backgrounds of Armenian culture as shouts of “aman!” were heard from one direction and “tsavet danem!” from the other.