Richard Hagopian

Richard Avedis Hagopian (born April 3, 1937) is an Armenian-American oud player and a traditional Armenian musician. Hagopian achieved popularity in the 1960s and 70s as a member of the Kef Time Band, performing kef music, a dance-oriented style of Armenian folk music popular with diaspora communities.

Early life

Hagopian was born in Fowler, California to Armenian parents. He has been a musician since childhood, learning to play the violin and clarinet at nine years old. He started playing the oud at age of 11. At first he was self-taught, and then by invitation he studied Eastern (Ottoman Classical) music theory and oud under the Armenian kanun player Kanuni Garbis Bakirgian. Hagopian also took lessons by correspondence from legendary blind Armenian oudist Udi Hrant Kenkulian of Istanbul, who in 1969 gave him the title of "Udi" (oud master), being one of the few to receive this title.

His son is the violinist Harold Hagopian, also a music producer who runs the independent traditional music label Traditional Crossroads.

Discography Albums LP Karoon Hayastan, Varoujan Assadourian with Richard Hagopian and His Orchestra An Evening at the Seventh Veil, Richard Hagopian and His Orchestra (1964) Kef Time Las Vegas (with the Kef Time Band) Kef Time Fresno (with the Kef Time Band) Kef Time Detroit (with the Kef Time Band) Kef Time Hartford (with the Kef Time Band)

CD In the Kef Time series CD reissues a few of the track listings have been rearranged, while certain songs were either placed on different albums or left out altogether.

Best of Armenian Folk Music (ARC, 1992) Armenian Music Through the Ages (Smithsonian Folkways, 1993) Gypsy Fire - Richard Hagopian and Omar Faruk Tekbilek (Traditional Crossroads, 1995) Kef Time (reissue of Kef Time Las Vegas and Kef Time Fresno, 1995) Kef Time Detroit (reissue, 2002) Kef Time Hartford (reissue, 2002)