Emil Kasses: From the Tip of Florida All the Way Up to Canada and Various Haflis and Mahrajans Along the Way
Emil Kasses: From the Tip of Florida All the Way Up to Canada and Various Haflis and Mahrajans Along the Way Emil J. Kasses, Norwalk H.S. Yearbook, 1946. p. 64. Courtesy of Ancestry.com Some of the best known, first generation US-born, Arab American musicians of the 78 RPM era included the likes of Anton Abdelahad and Eddie Kochak . Both these musicians rose to prominence in the 1940s and 1950s – Abdelahad on his self-titled record label and Kochak on Nilephon Records- and both became extremely popular on the hafli and mahrajan circuits in the 1950s and 1960s. Emil Kasses (Kassis or Kassas) stands out as one of their less well-remembered, yet equally talented peers, whose career spanned from the 1940s well into the 1990s. Despite Emil’s popularity among Arab Americans of multiple generations, his 78 RPM disc are rare, although not considered valuable. That we can document, Kasses recorded two songs on four sides of his personal Emil Kasses record label #251 A-B “Mo’