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The Avedis Zildjian Company, simply known as Zildjian (Template:IPAc-en),<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> is a musical instrument manufacturer specializing in cymbals and other percussion instruments. Founded by the ethnic Armenian Zildjian family in the 17th-century Ottoman Empire, the company relocated to the United States in the 20th century. Today, it is the largest cymbal and drumstick maker in the world.
The company was founded in Constantinople in 1623 by Avedis Zildjian, an Armenian. Zildjian is now based in Norwell, Massachusetts. Zildjian is the oldest manufacturer of musical instruments in the world as well as one of the oldest continuously operating companies in the world. Zildjian sells cymbals, drumsticks, percussion mallets and other drum accessories under the Zildjian, Vic Firth and Balter Mallet brands.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Newsweek, Volume 71, Issues 1-9, 1968, p. 71 "As the only producer of cymbals in the U.S., the Zildjian company dominates a world market rapidly expanding with the proliferation of per- cussionary rock 'n' roll bands."</ref><ref>The Music Trades, Volume 135, Issues 1-6, p. 90 "Maintaining its position as the world's largest cymbal producer, the Avedis Zildjian Company has announced an exciting joint venture with Barcus-Berry, Inc."</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="merger">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
HistoryEdit
BeginningsEdit
Template:Multiple image The first Zildjian cymbals were created in 1618 by Avedis Zildjian, an Armenian metalsmith and alchemist.<ref name=nyt>Template:Cite news</ref> Like his father, who was also a metalsmith, he worked for the court of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire in Constantinople.<ref name="Cohan 1999">Template:Cite book</ref> He made an alloy of tin, copper, and silver into a sheet of metal, which could make musical sounds without shattering.<ref name="Sharpe1999">Template:Cite book</ref> Sultan Mustafa I gave Avedis eighty gold pieces as a bequest, in addition to officially recognizing the surname Zilciyan or Zildjian, meaning "Son of a Cymbal Maker" or "Family of Cymbalsmiths" in Armenian (with zil being Turkish for "cymbal", ci meaning "maker", and ian being the Armenian suffix meaning "son of").<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1623 the Sultan granted him permission to leave the palace to start his own business in the Armenian sector of Constantinople, called Psamatia.<ref name="companyBio" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Zildjian's shop manufactured cymbals for the mehter, Ottoman military bands consisting of wind and percussion instruments, which belonged to the Janissaries. Mehter ensembles, which were known in the West primarily for playing in battle, also performed courtly music for Ottoman rulers.<ref name=nyt/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="LLC1989">Template:Cite book</ref> The Zildjians also produced instruments for Greek and Armenian churches, Sufi dervishes, and belly dancers of the Ottoman harem, who wore finger cymbals.<ref name=nyt/>
After the death of Avedis, the business, and the secret for producing the metal, was handed down to several generations of male heirs. In the early 19th century, Haroutune Zildjian passed it on to his son Avedis II.<ref name="Cohan 1999"/> In 1850, Avedis II built a 25-foot schooner, in order to sail cymbals produced in Constantinople to trade exhibitions such as the Great Exhibition in London,<ref name="nyt" /> and to supply musicians in Europe.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="PatnaikMortensen2009">Template:Cite book</ref> He died in 1865, and since his sons were too young, his brother Kerope II took over the company.<ref name="percnotes">Template:Cite book</ref> He introduced a line of instruments called K Zildjian, which are used by classical musicians to this day.<ref name=nyt/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Kerope II died in 1909 in Constantinople.<ref name="percnotes"/>
20th centuryEdit
Following Kerope’s death, the business returned to Avedis’s side of the family. The eldest, Haroutune II, had become a lawyer and held a high position in the Ottoman government, thus he was not interested, and being a bachelor, he passed it to Aram. He was involved in the Armenian nationalist movement and resistance to the atrocities of the ruling Sultan, Abdul Hamid II. This was a time of political upheaval when the Ottoman Empire was in decline.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="companyBio">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
During Aram's exile, Kerope II's daughter Victoria oversaw the Constantinople factory. There are conflicting accounts, but it is thought that Aram returned there in 1926.<ref name="Cohan 1999"/>
Haroutune II's son Avedis III had left Armenia for the United States in 1909, and settled in Boston, where he established a family and a confectionary business.<ref name="PatnaikMortensen2009"/><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In 1927, he received a letter from his uncle Aram, informing him that he was to become heir to the family business, and Aram came to the US.<ref name="PatnaikMortensen2009"/> In 1928, Avedis III, his brother Puzant, and his uncle Aram Zildjian began manufacturing cymbals in Quincy, Massachusetts,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and the Avedis Zildjian Co. was formed the following year in 1929.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Avedis III sought out jazz drummers like Gene Krupa to understand their needs.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The new cymbals he developed were widely adopted by swing and later bebop musicians, laying the foundations of the modern drum kit and playing technique.<ref name=nyt/>
Sales of Zildjian cymbals dramatically increased after Ringo Starr used the product in The Beatles' appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This created an enormous backorder situation. In 1968, in order to address this backlog, a second plant, the Azco factory, was opened in Meductic, New Brunswick, Canada.<ref name="Holland2005">Template:Cite book</ref>
In 1975, Zildjian began making K. Zildjian cymbals at the Azco plant.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> These were made until 1979. Within four years (1980), all K Cymbals were being made in the Norwell US plant, because the Ks demanded far more oversight. Armand worked with friends, the drummers Elvin Jones and Tony Williams to relaunch the K Series.
In early 1977, Armand Zildjian was appointed President of the Avedis Zildjian Company by his father.<ref name="sunsentinel"/> Soon after, Robert Zildjian split from the company amidst conflict with his brother, Armand. In 1981, Robert started making Sabian cymbals in the Canadian Azco factory.<ref name="telegraph-obit">Template:Cite news</ref>
21st centuryEdit
In 2002, Armand died at age 81. The Zildjian alloy recipe passed to his daughters, Craigie and Debbie (14th generation), both of whom continue to run the family business from the current headquarters in Norwell, Massachusetts.<ref name="sunsentinel">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2010, Zildjian acquired the Vic Firth Company and in 2018 acquired the Mike Balter Mallet company.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
See alsoEdit
- List of oldest companies
- Sabian – Cymbal maker founded by Robert Zildjian after a family/legal dispute
- List of drum makers
ReferencesEdit
Further readingEdit
External linksEdit
- Template:Official website
- Armand Zildjian Interview at NAMM Oral History Collection
- Deborah Zildjian Interview at NAMM Oral History Collection
- Craigie Zildjian Interview at NAMM Oral History Collection
Template:Percussion instruments brandsTemplate:CymbalsTemplate:Authority control Template:Coord