Born: September 23, 1889, Constantinople
Died: Unknown
Active years (recording): 1915 - 1925
Label Association: Columbia Phonograph, Victor Records, Edison Records, Sohag Records

With a short yet colorful career in the United States of America, Torcom Bézazian can be considered the most prolific Armenian recording artist of the early 78 rpm era and the only Armenian to record with the three major labels of the era, Columbia, Victor and Edison. Born in Constantinople on September 23, 1889, Bezazian fled the Ottoman Empire and pursued an education in France where he graduated with a degree in engineering from the University of Nancy. Bezazian forsook his career in engineering, and began a serious study of music. Like Armenag Shah-Mouradian and Krikor Proff-Kalfaian, Bezazian studied with Vincent D’Indy. Torcom arrived in the United States in 1913 and over the next decade and a half the baritone enjoyed a successful career on the opera and vaudeville stages. 

Torcom’s stage career began in the early days of World War I when he was invited to sing at a Red Cross meeting in Columbus, Ohio. His performance was instrumental in raising over $60,000 for the Red Cross. While in New Orleans, Torcom was residing across the street from the famous French Opera House. On the night of December 11, 1919 a fire brought down the building. Torcom, along with French tenor Auguste Perisse, rushed into the burning building to rescue as much of the wardrobe and set pieces as possible and both were heralded in the local newspapers as heroes. 

In February 1915, Torcom’s recording career began when he recorded seven songs for Columbia Records. One of those songs, Nor-oror, is featured with this profile. The song is a lullaby composed by Krikor Proff-Kalfaian. Bezazian recorded nearly 80 songs between 1915 and 1917 while more than half were in Armenian; he also sang numerous songs in French. The trade paper Variety listed that the Victor Company paid Columbia Records $600 (the equivalent to approximately $13,000 in 2022) to secure the services of the Baritone, a document attesting to his great value in the recording industry. He returned to the recording studios between 1919 and 1920 to record another dozen songs for both Victor and Columbia. The following two years, Bezazian would record 16 songs for the Edison record label, with a final recording session for Edison taking place in 1925.

A particular recording from Bezazian’s 1916 sessions, Te Tev Ounie was arranged by trumpeter Edna White, with whom he later formed a vaudeville act, known as Bezazian & White. They headlined the Keith Albee Circuit in the New Jersey and Delaware areas. She accompanied him on his two known discs for the Armenian-owned Sokhag/Sohag Records, featuring duets from the operetta Leblebji Hor Hor Agha. One of these recordings is featured here as well.

The couple married in 1925. By the end of the decade the couple traveled to France to visit Torcom’s mother. According to Edna White’s memoir “The Night The Camel Sang”, the couple decided to part ways as Edna had more opportunities in America and Torcom needed to stay closer to his mother. Unfortunately, information on Torcom after his departure from America is scarce, to the extent that his date and place of death is at this time still unknown. Despite the unknowns surrounding the last chapter of his life, it’s certain that the mark he left on the recording history of Armenians in America in the decade between 1915 to 1925 is vast and remarkable. 

Sources: ​​https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/mastertalent/detail/200786/Bzazian_Torcom

Women Who Dared: Maud Powell and Edna White - Susan Fleet (2011)

The Night The Camel Sang - Edna White Chandler (1990)

A special thanks to the SJS Charitable Trust for their generous support of our work to digitize and share our collection of 78 rpm records.