Nondas
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New info on Udi Xrant
Hello all, well, bouzouki virtuoso Jack Halikias and his friend, business partner, and amateur, but talented oud player Tom Kokotas "Laxanara" had a
record machine in the 40's and early 50's, and among the records were 2 home recordings of Hrant. Another fact, is that Halikias Jr. remembers his
mother saying that Laxanara was the wealthy Greek American who brought Hrant to the U.S. Now that raises a question, I don't believe either Laxanara
or Halikias spoke Turkish or Armenian, did Hrant speak Greek?
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Bodhi
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I wonder if Bob Marley spoke Greek? would that make any difeerence to anyone or his music? strange topic... sorry if i don't get it but this seems
really an unnecesary piece of information in more ways than i can shake a <b>shoot</b>ty stick at! I read a few musicians biographys in my
time and they are all like this... full of junk about which jeans they wear and other pointless life stories... are we interested in music or
celebrities?
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David Parfitt
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Quote: Originally posted by Nondas  | | Hello all, well, bouzouki virtuoso Jack Halikias and his friend, business partner, and amateur, but talented oud player Tom Kokotas "Laxanara" had a
record machine in the 40's and early 50's, and among the records were 2 home recordings of Hrant. Another fact, is that Halikias Jr. remembers his
mother saying that Laxanara was the wealthy Greek American who brought Hrant to the U.S. Now that raises a question, I don't believe either Laxanara
or Halikias spoke Turkish or Armenian, did Hrant speak Greek? |
Maybe Hrant spoke English? Presumably the other guys did if they were living in the U.S.
David
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Jody Stecher
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Thanks for this, Nondas. Do you know what was recorded? Another recording of Hrant singing in Armenian would be an amazing discovery.
Have you heard the recordings? Are they available for listening anywhere? Jack Halkias! I never would have guessed the connection, but sure, why
not?
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Nondas
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You're welcome, I don't yet know, I only heard them over the phone from Jr. from a record player with rather poor speakers. They aren't yet available,
but sometime hopefully.
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hartun
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I would guess hrant knew some Greek phrases but I seriously doubt he spoke greek. Lets compare him to marko melkon who did speak greek. Both were born
in Armenian families but melkon was born in SMYRNA in 1895 and grew up there long before the population exchange moreover he lived in Athens from 1912
to 1921 while hrant was born in 1901 in adapazar (were there Greeks there?) and lived in Konya from 1915 to 1918 and only then went to Istanbul so I
question where he would have picked up greek. I'm guessing that he knew some English since he came to the us so many times and I know that he spoke
French so I'm guessing they had a translator who spoke some combination of these languages including turkish.....and I don't think it's irrelevant
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hartun
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Guys I have recently come across Hrants autobiography written in Armenian. It seems Laxanara (who is not mentioned by name) had a Turkish friend named
Alaeddin Bey. This mysterious person acted as translator for Hrant. Hrant spoke to him in Turkish and he translated presumably in English as Hrant
says "my Greek was very weak and the gentleman (Laxanara) did not know Turkish at all" Hrant did know some Greek songs that he could sing but
primarily his languages were Armenian, Turkish, and French.
Once Hrant came to America he had numerous Armenian-American friends who may have acted as translator, again the common language must have been
English. Notably Hrant Nishanian in New York who was a childhood friend that had emigrated to the U.S., and Jimmy Nazaretian in Massachusetts a fellow
musician who would travel with Hrant on his performing tours. He seems to have been surrounded by an entourage of Armenians wherever he went, so
finding an interpreter was not an issue.
Can you give some further information about Laxanara, who he was etc.? This is the person who brought Hrant to the US in 1950 correct?
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