FRESNO — Kef! It’s Armenian for let’s party and that is exactly what about 450 people did the evening of January 25, when, after a delicious dinner prepared by the Holy Trinity Church cooks, KEF Time IV, Fresno, launched in the church social hall. This annual event has become so popular, tickets sold out in less than 15 minutes. Proceeds will benefit the Armenian Studies Program at Fresno State.
I attended this year and last as a guest of Father George Arakelian and his wife Sandra. They are gifted with a table of tickets from a major out of state sponsor of the event and enjoy a front row table at the edge of the dance floor. Their benefactor, Dean Shahinian, met Sandra when both were students at Yale University. Shahinian is a successful attorney in Washington, D.C., an insider, and member of the Washington Press Club, who has served as legal counsel for various United States Senate committees.
Event promoter Andrew Hagopian founded KEF Time Productions in 2022, but the original Kef Time began in 1974 when Andrew’s grandfather, Richard Hagopian, a Selma area farmer and nationally recognized Armenian musician, held the first Kef Time at Fresno’s Rainbow Ballroom. Thousands of young Fresnans attended events at this historical venue. In those days, the kef started at 8:30 p.m. and continued until 2 or 3 a.m. The event featured live music for Western Armenian folk dancing, all night mezzeh ( hors d’oeuvres), and bar. Rainbow Ballroom accommodated 1,500 attendees and cost of admission was only $6.50. In the mid-eighties, Kef Time moved to the Hacienda Resort and Convention Center where the last original event was held on February 15, 1986.
How fortunate we are that Richard Hagopian, celebrated master of the oud, an ancient instrument which provides the soul sound of Middle Eastern music, passed his talent to his son Armen and his grandsons Andrew and Phillip. The Hagopian brothers are continuing to celebrate and share their rich cultural heritage with traditional Armenian music and dance, performed by younger musicians as part of their Legacy Band. With electric energy, the packed house of celebrants at this year’s Kef Time flooded the dance floor with line dancers. A leader starts a line making a circle and dancers join their pinky fingers to follow steps to folk dances handed down from generation to generation.
Experienced dancers leap into the center of the circle, the young men showing off their masculine, athletic moves and the old men reliving their days of youth, often out-dancing the young. Ladies, too, enter the circle with their graceful moves, with outstretched arms swaying with the music.
About two hours into the dancing, grandfather Richard Hagopian, in his mid-80s, arose to lead one of the line dances. He was joined by Nazik Meserlian, in her mid-90s, who entered the hall using a cane, but who, with Richard, could not resist at least one line dance, a traditional folk dance from Erzeroum, the province of their ancestors in Armenia. The band plays at least one Greek folk song. And, the night is not complete without Miserlou and Hava Nagila.
Across the dance floor, I spotted a familiar figure. How could I miss the tall, bearded Scotsman dressed in his traditional Scottish regalia in a sea of whirling dancers? I recalled meeting him during the Christmas season, dressed in Scottish attire, leading a First Armenian Presbyterian Church sing along of Christmas carols at the California Armenian Home. Ron Statler is a Fresno resident, a 2004 graduate of San Joaquin College of Law, and practices law as a member of the Tulare County law firm of Herr, Petersen, and Berglund LLP. Ron is what we Armenians affectionately call an A.B.C., an Armenian by choice, whose spouse is usually of Armenian descent. Ron appreciates Armenian culture while proudly displaying and honoring his Scottish heritage.
Next year, Kef Time V will be held at a larger Clovis venue to accommodate many more people. I thank Richard Hagopian and his talented family for their commitment to preserving traditional Western Armenian music and folk dancing and for keeping our traditions alive for future generations.
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