The Many Facets of Louis Wardiny


Elias Louis Nassour Wardiny

(Oud, Singer, Producer, Owner)
This lone image of Louis Wardini, 6 September, 1935, Indianapolis Star.

Louis Nassour Wardiny (sometimes Ilyas Wardini) was born 5 March 1894 in Beirut, Greater Syria (today Lebanon) to Nassour and Clemence Wardini. Some documents suggest he immigrated to the United States around 1904 with his family and, for part of his life, lived in Little Syria in Lower Manhattan. Other documents mark his arrival in April 1913, coming to the US from Beirut to La Harve and then New York City. Immigration documents note the change of name from Elias to Louis and give his occupation as both bookkeeper and singer at various points.

In 1917, when the Victor Talking Machine Company still expressed interest in Arab recording artists, Wardiny debuted with 12 sides on six records. While Arab immigrant market clambered to hear more from Wardiny, Victor executives soon shifted direction away from its Arabic and Greek immigrant performers toward American-born English-language market.

Victor 69469 A, "Yeka Bena Yazaman," recorded by Louis Wardiny, c. 1917. https://soundcloud.com/user-356929609-75127210/louis-wardiny-victor-69469-a-yekfa-bena-yazaman

Even as a resident of New York City, Wardiny moved between several addresses. He lived in lower Manhattan, then 279 Pacific Street in Brooklyn. In 1919, Wardiny relocated to 193 Harrison Street in Brooklyn. He left the state only to return again by 1924 when he seems to have given one of his addresses as 32 Rector Street.

 By 1921, Wardiny pops up in Louisiana, where he worked as a traveling fresh produce peddler. His notoriety outside the Arab immigrant community was virtually nonexistent and peddling kept money in his pocket and a roof over his head. Budding Arab immigrant record entrepreneurs Alexander Maloof and A.J. Macksoud had taken note of Wardiny’s talent and changes to gramophone patent law, soon opened up opportunities for these record salesmen to establish their own independent labels.Wardiny recorded prolifically on the Maloof label and became one of Maloof best sellers. A few years later he signed and recorded a number of solo projects and duets for the A.J. Macksoud Phonograph Company. Wardiny and other Syrian singers/musicians had an outlet for their creative output.  Wardiny cut 31 songs for Maloof and 15 songs on Macksoud. Wardiny’s repertoire included two renditions of “Sooria Al Watan” on Maloof #6003 (10”), #6014 (12”), and one on Macksoud #1616 “Souriya El Watan” (12”). Moreover, Macksoud Records released “Souria Ya Helwa” #1320 which offered contrast to “America Ya Hilwa” by Salim Doumani on Maloof Records. Wardiny performed live, moved around the country, and reportedly kept a scrapbook filled with newspaper clippings and articles that featured coverage of his concert and early hafla appearances. In addition to moving from New York, Louisiana, Indiana, and Michigan, Wardiny found his way to Kingston, Rio De Janeiro, Cairo, Gibraltar, and around the Mediterranean in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1950s making stops in Lebanon almost every time he crossed the Atlantic.


Wardiny on Maloof "Soorya Alwatan" #6003 AB https://soundcloud.com/user-387335530/maloof-louis-wardiny-syria-the-nation-or-soorya-al-watan-6003-ab

Wardiny on Macksoud "Souriya El Watan" #1520 - https://soundcloud.com/user-387335530/louis-wardiny-macksoud-souriya-el-watan-syria-the-nation-1520-ab

Wardiny on Macksoud "Souriya Ya Helwa" #1320 - https://soundcloud.com/user-387335530/macksoud-soyriya-ya-helwa-syria-the-beautiful-louis-wardiny-1320-ab

All discs courtesy of Richard Mz. Breaux collection.

Wardiny moved to Birmingham, Alabama, home to one of the largest Syrian Lebanese communities in the southern United States at the time where he married Minnie P. Martin in November 1925. Saint Elias Maronite Church had operated in Birmingham since 1910 and Saint George Melkite Church had been newly established in 1921. In the same year he married, Wardiny opened at Loew's Palace movie house in Memphis where he performed before the showing of "The Man Who Found Himself." He toured much of the United States in 1925 and reportedly had returned from touring in Paris, Alexandria, and Constantinople. Not long after their marriage the Wardinys moved to Detroit, Michigan. Louis and Minnie struggled through the Great Depression as opportunities for Louis to record dried up with a slumping 78 RPM industry. The couple divorced 11 April 1938.  Louis was single again and moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana.

He played the annual Daughters of Saint George Sunday Night event in 1935 as the feature of a labor day festival. Wardiny married Beulah Rubeck in 28 February 1939 in Indiana; soon after their marriage, the couple travelled to Beirut. Interestingly, Louis and Beulah returned and settled in Erwin, New York. Both owned and operated a restaurant until opportunities arose for Louis to play music and record. In 1940, Wardiny headlined with John Fayad, Wadeeh Bagdady, and  Violet Thomason, at Saint Maran’s Hall for a benefit concert to help a Syrian Girls dance troupe.  While he registered for World War II, he was too old to enlist. 

Wardiny launched a new and exciting venture in 1951 when he established his own Detroit-based label Wardatone. The company released records #1000 - #1020. Similar to the Abdelahad and Karawan Record label that primarily featured the music of their namesake musician/founders, Wardiny did most of the singing on Wardatone sides. Pressings remained limited and never reached the level of popularity or demand as his Victor, Maloof, or Macksoud recordings, yet the Wardatone sessions definitely constitute an impressive body of work.

Billboard Magazine announced the launch of Wardiny's Wardatone Record label, 14 July 1951.


"Gondola on the Nile, #1001A." The second single on Louis Wardiny's Wardatone label. https://soundcloud.com/user-356929609-75127210/louis-wardini-wardatone-gondola-on-the-nile-1001-1002

A return 17-day trip to Beirut in 1953 included additional trips to Turkey, Syria, France, Egypt, Spain, and Greece accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Wilford Todd. Life took a turn for the worse by the 1950s.  He and Beulah divorced in November 1953. Wardiny disappears from the public record between 1953 and and August 4, 1990 where he’s shown as having died in Beirut, Lebanon.

Richard M. Breaux

© Midwest Mahjar 
Location: La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA La Crosse, WI, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Alexander Maloof: Guardian and Protector of Syrian Music in America

Image
Alexander R. Maloof (1884-1956)  This photograph of Alexander Maloof appeared in his 1924 Oriental Piano Music by Alexander Maloof: Syrian Popular Folk Songs From Richard M. Breaux collection. One of the most prolific and versatile composers, producers, orchestra leaders, and business owners in the first five decades of the twentieth century was Alexander R. Maloof. Collectors of 78 rpm records have written quite a bit about Maloof. His 78 rpm records are still highly sought after. Much of what has been published about Maloof’s personal and professional life is filled with contradictions about birthdate, death date, and place of death, but it’s our hope to shed some light on the complex life of this father of Arab American music. Depending on what sources one consults, Alexander Maloof was either born in 23 January 1884 or 1885, the second of six children to Abraham and Hanna Maloof in Zahlé, Greater Syria (now Lebanon). The Maloofs immigrated to the Unite
Read more

Albert Rashid: Rashid Sales Company, Al-Chark /the Orient and the Largest Selection of Arabic Records in the United States

Image
Albert Rashid A young Albert Rashid. Southeastern High School, The Aryan Yearbook, 1930, p.61. Courtesy of Ancestry.com  Depending on whether you’re an old timer who purchased your 78 RPM Arabic music discs via mail order in the 1930s from Detroit or you visited one of the brick and mortar locations of Rashid Sales Company on E. 28 th Street in Manhattan or the 191 Atlantic Avenue site in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, or 155 Court Street store in the 1990s and 2000s, Albert Rashid became known for one of three things – Arabic-language film and soundtrack distribution, his Al-Chark or Orient Record label, or his world famous record and music store Rashid Sales Company. By World War II’s end, in Brooklyn, New York, Rashid’s Al-Chark label and Fred Alam’s Alamphon engaged in a friendly but heated competition that rivaled that of Alexander Maloof’ s Washington Street-based Maloof Records  and Albert J. Macksoud’s records in the 1920s. Based on which sources o
Read more

The Incomparable Kahraman and Naif Agby - The Sun and The Planets

Image
Kahraman and Naif Agby  Olga "Kahraman" Agby, 17 April 1958, Caravan. Naif Agby, El Debke; author's collection. The 78-RPM era overlapped with the first two waves of Arab immigrants to the United States. The first was roughly 1880 to 1944 and the second spanned approximately from 1944 to 1966. While we can situate a few of the musicians on Arab and Arab American 78 rpm records to the first wave, most first wave musicians enjoyed careers that encompassed both eras. Still others, like Sana and Amer Khadaj , Odette Kaddo , Hanaan , and Naif Agby and Kahraman, who recorded on Alamphon, Orient Records, Sun Records, and Alkawakeb, clearly make up the second wave. It is remarkable, although not surprising, that most of these musicians not only knew each other, but performed together live and on record.   Nayeh Ejbeh or Naif Agby was born in Ehden, Greater Syria (now Lebanon) to Wadah Yamin and Joseph Ejbeh on either 22 June or 27 December 1920. He bega
Read more

Hanan: “Don’t Miss Her Wherever She Will Be!!!”

Image
Hanan/ Hanaan (Jeanette Hayek Harouni) Hanan/Hanaan,  Caravan 12 January 1956. Courtesy of Newspapers.com   Only a handful of Arab or Arab American singers were known and are remembered by a single name. There was Asmahan, Karawan, Kahraman , and, of course – Hanan or Hanaan !            Hanaan or Hanan was born Jeanette Nehme Hayek on 8 November 1929 in Beirut, Lebanon. She was one of five children born to Jacob Hayek and Wadiha Atik Hayek. Ironically, the same year Jeanette’s birth the first Lebanese film, The Adventures of Mabrouk , was released. Jeanette displayed the talents of an actor and singer early on and received classical Arabic music training. Jeanette first traveled to Brazil in 1947 and again in 1948 to perform in concert with Wadih Saffi. Jeanette's mother accompanied her on the trip.  Compare and contrast two of Hanan's four identity documents for Brazil. One gives her birth year as 1922 and the other, the more
Read more

Mohamed Said ZainEldeen: Fragments in the Life of an Early Columbia Records' Tenor

Image
Mohamed Said ZainEldeen:  Fragments in the Life of an Early Columbia Records' Tenor Mohamed Said ZainEldeen. Photo Courtesy of Richard Z.  There are several early-period Arab American musicians for whom we have so little information we can hardly compose a narrative that provides anything other than the most basic biographical information. Walim Kamel and Zakia Agob are among them. For others, we have slightly more, but still incomplete information.  The tenor   M. ZainEldeen   stands out as one.   We've long had one M. ZainEldeen 78 RPM record and most recently, after we undertook piecing together scraps of his biographical information, we acquired another. As usual, we scoured over immigration documents, U.S. Census data, city directories, and three-quarters of the way through, we located and corresponded with surviving relatives - here's what we found.  Mohamed ZainEldeen was born 1 November 1892 in Homs, Syria. Originally, his name was Zain E
Read more

Fadwa Abeid: An Arab American Singer Finds a More Lucrative Career in the Arab World

Image
Fadwa Abeid or Fadwa Abed Fadwa Abed in 1954 at Fordson High School in Dearborn, Michigan. Fordson Yearbook (1954), 144. Courtesy of Ancestry.com  Since we launched Midwest Mahjar, rare has been the opportunity to speak to any of the artists who performed during the 78 RPM era. Most are no longer with us. We've communicated with the children of some musicians. Family members we've managed to track down include the grandchildren or great-grandchildren of 78-era Arab American musicians. "Fadwa Obeid" is on a Wiki-list of living Lebanese women singers, but with no birthdate or link to additional information. An Arabic-language Wikipedia entry offers information about the height of her career in the 1970s and makes vague reference to her retirement, but says nothing of her early life, early career, or life in retirement.  Imagine our surprise when researching Arab American singer Fadwa Abeid, we located contact information for her.     F
Read more

“PRINCE” Albert Joseph: An Arab American Record Shop Dealer in Western Pennsylvania Aides Palestinian Refugees

Image
  “PRINCE” Albert Joseph: An Arab American Record Shop Dealer in Western Pennsylvania Aided Palestinian Refugees Alamphon Record with Albert Joseph dealer/seller stamp. Courtesy of Frank J. Dalton. Back in November 2020, we received a generous donation of about ninety 78-rpm Arabic records from retired dentist Joe Corey, who grew up in West Virginia. Mr. Corey contacted us because his friend, fellow church member, and labor lawyer, David Khorey, came across some of our Arab American musician profiles featured on the Arab America news website. Over dinner, and pleasant discussion about Arab American history, David asked me, “Do you know how people got their records?”   I replied, “Some people ordered records from a catalogue and had them shipped from New York. Also, dealers likely sold records as vendors at regional SOYO meetings, mahrajan, hafla, and regional Syrian-Lebanese club conventions.” He then recalled a well-known vendor from his youth in western Pennsylvania who dressed in t
Read more

Odette Kaddo: Arab music, it gives me Life!

Image
Odette Kaddo Odette Kaddo, 1956. From 23 May 1957, The Caravan.   One of the major differences between first wave and second wave Arab immigrant musicians to the United States is the enormous amount of press coverage Arab expressive culture received in the Arab American press during and after World War II. This is the case for both Arab-language and English-language newspapers targeted at readers of Arab descent. Careful study of Al-Hoda newspaper in the 1910s and 1920s and The Syrian World in the 1920s and 1930s turned up very little information about Arab or Arab American record labels and musicians during this era.  Similar examination of the Arab American press during and after World War II yielded exponentially more about the haflas, mahrajans, phonograph record labels, and musicians popularly known in Arab American communities across the United States. The growth and technological developments in recorded sound after WWII meant that second-wave Ar
Read more