MUSIC GEAR
MAY 20, 2021
the sabian history : from siblings to competitor
Sabian is one of the biggest names of cymbal makers in the market today. Together with Zildjian they deliver high quality cymbals for decades.
History of Sabian cymbals cannot be told without the history of Zildjian cymbals. The company owned by Zildjian family from 1618. That means 14 generations of cymbal makers and 400 years old company, making it one of the oldest company on Earth still existence.
The story began in 1618 when an alchemist named Avedis was searching a way to turn metal into gold in Constantinople, Turkey. He didn’t create gold but he created a metal mixture that sounds musical when struck while remaining durable. The Sultan Osman II granted Avedis the title “Zidljian”, from Turkish meaning “zil” (cymbal), “dji” (maker) and “-ian” (son of).
From that moment, the company started to produce high quality cymbals with secret recipe for hundred years. In 1908, Avedis III imigrated from Turkey to America. His uncle, Haram, came later on to help him operating the business in the Boston, United States. Then in 1929 just months before the Great Depression they founded Avedis Zildjian Co. in Quincy, Massachusetts.
The architects of modern Zildjian and Sabian were born in 1921 – Armand Zildjian, and 1923 – Robert Zildjian
In 1979, Avedis III passed away and his two sons, Armand and Robert had legal battle for the control of Zildjian company. Arman was the eldest son but Robert felt that he should be in the business too.
After 2 years in court, Armand retained the Zildjian factory in Quincy and Robert inherited the factory in Meductic where he founded a new factory called Sabian in 1981. The name is an acronym from the first two letters of Robert’s children : Sally, Billy and Andy.
In the first years, the company produced 45.000 cymbals. AA (Automatic Anvil) and HH (Hand Hammered) series are their first cymbal lineup and still being produced to this day. For its first year Sabian is not allowed to distribute cymbals in the United States market as per the agreement with Zildjian.
The 1990’s saw the incredible growth of Sabian cymbals worldwide. This made them expanded their factory by 5.000 square feet to meet high demands of cymbals from the market.
The first of Sabian’s Artist Cymbals was the Jack Dejohnette ride/Hi-hats in 1989, following by other great drummers such as Phil Collins, Dave Weckl and Jojo Mayer.
In 1998, Terry Bozzio comes over to Sabian and works along to create the Radia series. Later on, the late legendary Neil Peart from Rush joined the force in 2004 to produce the Paragon series.
Andy Zildjian is the president of Sabian Cymbals company today. He continues the legacy of Sabian cymbals from his father, Robert Zildjian. Sabian maintains innovations and keeping the company on the new technology of modern cymbals.
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