Now if you are Armenian-American like myself you probably already know what kef music is, but for the 99.9% of people who aren't, I'll explain. Kef music, in its broadest definition, is the folk music and especially dance music tradition of the "first wave" of Armenians who immigrated to the US 100 years ago. This music style was passed down through the generations to today. The main instruments are clarinet, oud (kinda like a guitar), dumbeg (a hand drum), the occasional tambourine, and American guitar. In the old days violin was more common in place of the clarinet. Sometimes the kanun, a type of zither is added to the mix, as well as extra "American" instruments.
It is usually accompanied by line dancing, where a large group of people dance on and on in a circle, joined usually by pinkies. Then we have another type of dancing which we call in English "freestyle" (tak bar), as seen in the background title picture. The freestyle dancing is done with partners, who never touch each other, they simply outstretch their arms, wave them around, snap their fingers, and in the case of the women, undulate their wrists and hands.
Many Armenians are deeply familiar with kef music but they don't necessarily call it by that name. They may just call it "Armenian music" or "Armenian dance music." The name kef music has come about more recently, since a specific name was needed to contrast this style to the newer style of Armenian dance music known as "Armenian pop music" (which was brought to America by the second wave of Armenian immigration that followed the Lebanese Civil War of 1975.) The word "kef" has several meanings; "a kef" can mean a party, as in the event itself; or "kef" can mean simply "good times," as in the expression, "we're having kef."
The Kef Time Band has been one of the most popular in the history of the genre. Their success with the albums Kef Time Las Vegas (1968), Kef Time Fresno, Kef Time Detroit, and Kef Time Hartford as well as their countless live performances set the standard for nearly every band that followed them. One of their most well-known recordings was of "Soode Soode," (pronounced "soo-deh"), one of the most popular songs in the whole kef genre. You can easily download it on itunes or watch it played live by most of the original band in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Soode Soode was originally recorded by Edward Bogosian (Yetvart Boghosian, 1900-?) an Armenian comic actor and singer who was born in Constantinople and immigrated to the US around 1920, settling in New York. Bogosian, otherwise known as "Maestro Yetvart," recorded extensively on Metropolitan, a small ethnic label, in the 40s and 50s. He claimed to have written "Sood E, Sood E" - in any case, it was his biggest hit - and the title of this post is a quote from the lyrics, which pretty much sums up the entire song. Without further ado, I present you with "Sood Eh, Sood Eh" by Maestro Yetvart himself. Click on the link below to listen to the original recording.....
Sood E, Sood E
UPDATE:
The recording of Soode Soode from "Kef Time Las Vegas" has appeared on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTIjDniUoaY
I really am grateful that you are blogging this and enjoy your blog very much! My grandfather passed away last year and his wife sent me tapes with all of these songs on them , all Kef including a live rendition of "Going to the Catskills" and some Mike Sarkissian songs from Pepper's Lounge in Las Vegas. I am also trying diligently to bring Tom Bozigian to Austin , Texas so we can learn and transmit many of the folk dances from Historic Western Armenia.I try to teach myself doumbek, based on the rhythms I heard from my favorite songs of the Kef trad.I plan to teach my two young sons these, and keep these songs in our house and part of their lives also. I am inspired to continue by what you post here! Please keep posting!
ReplyDeleteI'm a fan of kef, and especially the Kef time band, who are simply terrific. And if I had to pick one song, it would be Soode soode! cheers!
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