An Armenian Case

Adrina Otero/Zabelle Panosian

Zabelle Panosian was a Armenian-American soprano born in Turkey in 1891. She recorded eleven songs in 1917 and 1918 that have recently been reissued together with a book titled I am a Servant of Your Voice. The CD has 21 tracks, I don't own it (just bought the one track in my Top 100, Groung, from bandcamp), which means the authors probably found some alternate takes from the Colombia sessions. The song Groung (meaning 'crane') is reputedly a secret song more than 400 years old and sounds truly mesmerizing. Zabelle Panosian, the Armenian refugee from Turkey, continued through her long life (she died in 1986), supporting the Armenian case, and at the end of her life, left a significant amount to the Amenian-American community. The left half of the painting is modeled after a publication shot of the dancer/actress Adrina Otero, daughter of Zabelle Panosian. The image depicts her as a flamenco dancer. After a twenty year hiatus there is once again flamenco music in the Top 100 (see this post from a month ago.)