Quad City Times, IA
Oct 8 2005

Sounds of cymbals are heard in the Q-C
By Tamara Fudge

Master cymbal specialist Mark Love and other artists of a premiere
cymbal company called Sabian spent an afternoon earlier this week
under the awning of West Music’s Davenport store on Brady Street as
part of the group’s Vault tour.

Customers were able to have a cymbal custom-made, watch hand
hammering and lathing demonstrations, and test or purchase the many
cymbals on display. For a small donation to Hurricane Katrina
victims, black Sabian wristbands also were available.

`A lot of cymbals are developed working with the artists, taking a
sound or vision in their heads and turning it into an instrument,’
Love said.

Jeff Cook/QUAD-CITY TIMES Allie Cougle of Sabian, a company that
makes cymbals, uses a hammer to shape a custom cymbal during a
company tour visit this week to West Music in Davenport.
`The real secret we have at Sabian is the process added downstream
from the metallurgical process,’ said Bill Zildjian, part owner and
an executive in the company his father created. `It’s the attitude of
our people, who are willing to tinker and experiment. The
possibilities are limitless.’

He listed the number of bronze alloys, patterns of hammering,
lathing, shapes and sizes, all of which affect the cymbal’s sound.

His family’s name has been connected with cymbal making for
centuries. Zildjian said that his name is Turkish-Armenian for cymbal
(zil) – smith or maker (dj) – son (ian) and can be dated back to at
least the 1670s.

According to the Percussive Arts Society’s Web site, Bill’s father,
Robert Zildjian, worked for his father’s cymbal business. Upon the
older man’s death, Robert and his brother, Armand, shared the company
until deciding to split in 1982. Armand kept the original company’s
name, Zildjian, and younger brother Bob created his own company in
Meductic, a small village in New Brunswick, Canada.

`Sabian’ is a combination of the names of Robert’s children: `Sa’ for
Sally, `bi’ for Bill and `an’ for Andy. `We found out later that it
is actually the name of a tribe of people in Turkey,’ Zildjian said.

Sabian cymbals, carefully hand-hammered in the Turkish tradition, now
can be found all over the world, and are used by amateurs and
professionals from the Royal Opera House in London to jazzmaster Jack
deJohnette and rock star Phil Collins.

The idea of this kind of tour came because `whenever drummers make
the pilgrimage to Meductic, they have a great time seeing how cymbals
are made,’ Zildjian said. `They can select from a variety not
available in a store.’

At West’s showing, there were prototypes – unique cymbals that never
had seen store shelves.

`It’s a time-honored tradition,’ said Justin Beahm, combo manager for
West.

`It shows people how they’re made from scratch. They had some
unmarked, unique cymbals for sale that no one else in the world has.’

Why stop in Davenport?

`West Music is one of the premier percussion vendors,’ Zildjian said.
`They have high quality and an aggressive program.’

`It’s interesting to see how they craft these plates, demonstrating
this ancient method, into something that’s still integral in music
today,’ said Shawn Lafrenz, general manager of West’s Percussion
Source division. `Watching them is an amazing process, a show in
itself. The tour brings something quite special to Iowa.’

`Our real competitors are not the other cymbal companies,’ Zildjian
said. `It’s Nintendo, DVD players, and those kinds of things.’