Milwaukee’s Poon Paregentan Dance a Success

By David Luhrssen

One hundred and twenty people crowded the Culture Hall at St. John the Baptist Armenian Church for this year’s Milwaukee-area Poon Paregentan celebration. The featured attraction at the big party before the beginning of Great Lent was MidEast Beat, a band from Racine, WI. Although its members are all Armenian American, the group drew from a traditional repertoire common to Anatolia and the Eastern Mediterranean. “Sometimes the lines get blurred in this part of the world and you will find songs recorded in Greek, Armenian, Arabic, and not know where the origin is,” explained guitarist and singer Kai Kazarian. “Think about an Armenian writing a song in English in this country. Is it Armenian? We have these questions all the time.”

The band, whose core members include Jim Hardy on clarinet, Vahan Kamalian on oud and Michael Kamalian on dumbeg, picked up the music by hearing it performed at Armenian picnics and by rummaging through old 78 rpm recordings at their grandparents’ homes. There was no sheet music and no study guides when MidEast Beat first organized in the early 1980s. Discovering and learning the old music was hard work that has paid off for the band, whose Feb. 18 performance at St. John’s Poon Paregentan event filled the dance floor and entertained an appreciative audience of listeners.

A catered buffet dinner was including in the event along with desserts prepared by the members of St. John’s.