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Ottawa Citizen, Canada
April 6, 2013 Saturday
Final Edition
Legendary cymbal-maker Zildjian left mark on modern music
Robert Zildjian, who has died at age 89, was a scion of a family whose
cymbal-making business can trace its roots back to the 17th century
Ottoman Empire.
Many of rock music's greatest drummers as well as percussionists in
leading symphony orchestras use Zildjian cymbals that bear the
company's distinctive logo in black calligraphic script. Bob Zildjian
ran the company with his elder brother until the pair fell out and he
went into business on his own.
Their father had moved to the United States from Turkey in the early
1900s, founding the Avedis Zild-jian Company in Boston in 1928. In the
big band era, working with drummers such as Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich,
he developed the modern range of cymbals - hi-hat, crash, ride, sizzle
and so on - that came to define modern drumming and percussion.
Modern cymbals are made using a closely guarded secret process
discovered by one of Zildjian's forebears, Avedis, an Armenian
alchemist in 17th-century Constantinople. He became Avedis the
Cymbal-Maker (Zildjian in Armenian), producing cymbals renowned for
their clarity, power and sustain.
Robert Zildjian was born on July 14, 1923, in Boston, the younger son
of Avedis Zildjian III and his American wife. Although descended from
10 generations of Armenian cymbal makers, Bob's father had established
a successful confectionary business before an uncle arrived from
Turkey bringing with him the secret family process in metalworking and
cymbal-making. Together, the brothers set up the Avedis Zildjian
Company.
When he was 14 Bob was apprenticed to his father and learned the
secret process. But the outbreak of war had a dramatic impact on the
business. Metal rationing almost closed the company. Bob Zildjian
enlisted in the U.S. army and served in Europe.
Returning to the family factory after the war, Zildjian developed
export sales. In 1967 Zildjian established a subsidiary called Azco.
But after the death of their father in 1979, the two Zildjian brothers
quarrelled, and it took two years to reach a settlement under which
Armand kept the Zildjian company and Bob got Azco.
In 1981 Bob Zildjian opened a new cymbal company in Meductic, N.B.,
called Sabian - an acronym formed from the first names of his children
Sally, Bill and Andy. Within a few years Sabian was had a third of the
global market.
SHARE YOUR STORY
Our weekly feature is called Life Story, and readers are invited to
submit 600-to 700-word remembrances of those lives.
These should be anecdote-laden personal stories, full of colour and
character, to inform our readers of the special memories and place the
individual had in your life.
The subject of the pieces should have local relevance to Ottawa and
should have died within the previous year. A facial photograph is
essential, as is the phone number and email address of the writer.
From: Baghdasarian
April 6, 2013 Saturday
Final Edition
Legendary cymbal-maker Zildjian left mark on modern music
Robert Zildjian, who has died at age 89, was a scion of a family whose
cymbal-making business can trace its roots back to the 17th century
Ottoman Empire.
Many of rock music's greatest drummers as well as percussionists in
leading symphony orchestras use Zildjian cymbals that bear the
company's distinctive logo in black calligraphic script. Bob Zildjian
ran the company with his elder brother until the pair fell out and he
went into business on his own.
Their father had moved to the United States from Turkey in the early
1900s, founding the Avedis Zild-jian Company in Boston in 1928. In the
big band era, working with drummers such as Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich,
he developed the modern range of cymbals - hi-hat, crash, ride, sizzle
and so on - that came to define modern drumming and percussion.
Modern cymbals are made using a closely guarded secret process
discovered by one of Zildjian's forebears, Avedis, an Armenian
alchemist in 17th-century Constantinople. He became Avedis the
Cymbal-Maker (Zildjian in Armenian), producing cymbals renowned for
their clarity, power and sustain.
Robert Zildjian was born on July 14, 1923, in Boston, the younger son
of Avedis Zildjian III and his American wife. Although descended from
10 generations of Armenian cymbal makers, Bob's father had established
a successful confectionary business before an uncle arrived from
Turkey bringing with him the secret family process in metalworking and
cymbal-making. Together, the brothers set up the Avedis Zildjian
Company.
When he was 14 Bob was apprenticed to his father and learned the
secret process. But the outbreak of war had a dramatic impact on the
business. Metal rationing almost closed the company. Bob Zildjian
enlisted in the U.S. army and served in Europe.
Returning to the family factory after the war, Zildjian developed
export sales. In 1967 Zildjian established a subsidiary called Azco.
But after the death of their father in 1979, the two Zildjian brothers
quarrelled, and it took two years to reach a settlement under which
Armand kept the Zildjian company and Bob got Azco.
In 1981 Bob Zildjian opened a new cymbal company in Meductic, N.B.,
called Sabian - an acronym formed from the first names of his children
Sally, Bill and Andy. Within a few years Sabian was had a third of the
global market.
SHARE YOUR STORY
Our weekly feature is called Life Story, and readers are invited to
submit 600-to 700-word remembrances of those lives.
These should be anecdote-laden personal stories, full of colour and
character, to inform our readers of the special memories and place the
individual had in your life.
The subject of the pieces should have local relevance to Ottawa and
should have died within the previous year. A facial photograph is
essential, as is the phone number and email address of the writer.
From: Baghdasarian