Rev. Ilyas T. Kurban: The Recording Legacy of a Tirelessly Working Musical Metropolitan
Rev. Ilyas T. Kurban: The Recording Legacy of a Tirelessly Working Musical Metropolitan
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| Ilyas T. Kurban from the Caravan, March 21, 1957. Courtesy of Newspapers.com |
On a mild fifty-degree day in Brooklyn, New York, in December 1956, the Archdeacon Ilyas T. Kurban (Elias T. Korban) made his way to the nearest United States Post Office and mailed a handwritten addressed box to Mr. Lee Beshar Cohlmia at 1932 University Avenue in Wichita, Kansas. The parcel, marked FRAGILE BROADCAST RECORDS, contained four shellac 78 rpm phonograph discs recorded and produced by Sidney Feldman’s Mastertone Recording Studios label in their production facilities at 709 Eighth Avenue, Suite 36, in New York City. The discs contained liturgical and religious singing by Ilyas Kurban. Mastertone likely produced vanity recordings for interested parties who paid for studio time. Vanity pressing arrangements did not bind performers to long-term contracts with record companies. Those with enough money paid for their proposed time in the studio, showed up for the scheduled recording session and performed. For their parts, the recording companies provided recording time, pressing, and production access and handed the agreed upon copies of records to the patron. Antiochian Orthodox faithful interested in purchasing copies of the disc records likely ordered directly from Kurban and he packaged and sent the merchandise on its way.
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| Original Box from 1957 addressed by Rev. Ilyas Kurban to Lee B.Colhmia in Wichita, KS. Courtesy of Richard Breaux collection. |
Ilyas Toufic Kurban was born 15 October 1926 in Ain El Sindiane, Lebanon, approximately 38 kilometers east of Beirut. His widowed mother raised him and his siblings and young Ilyas attended Saint Elias Monastery in Showaia before he went on to study at the Balamand Theological Seminary just outside of Tripoli, Lebanon. Balamand had once been where the composer, teacher, and cantor Mitri el-Murr taught ecclesiastic hymns to a host of future well-known cantors and priests including Archbishop Samuel David of Toledo. Although el-Murr no longer taught at Balamand, his pedagogical influence remained at the institution through its operational ups and downs. It was reportedly here, that Ilyas Kurban developed his musical knowledge and technique mastering Byzantine music. Interested in pursuing his musical, historical, and religious interests, Kurban left Tripoli and headed to Damascus, where he earned a baccalaureate from the Asiya Orthodox School. Word that Antiochian cantor Mitri el-Murr had once visited the United States, but returned and settled in Beirut, led Kurban to serve under Archbishop Elia Saleeby while he earned a bachelor’s in 1952 and master’s degree in 1954 at the American University of Beirut. Kurban’s master’s thesis examined “the Antiochian crisis of 1898-1899.”
Within months of completing his master’s degree at the American University of Beirut, Kurban travelled to the United States in 1954, served as a deacon and then Archdeacon at Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Brooklyn, while enrolled at Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary in Yonkers, New York. At the time, Metropolitan Anthony Bashir held the position as Archbishop of New York and All North America and Fr. Wakim Dalack was Dean of Saint Nicholas Cathedral. Preceded by his reputation for singing, Kurban sang regularly at and assisted with presiding over weddings, funerals, and masses. He took special interest in working with young people after being inspired by youth movements in Lebanon and Syria. Often holidays and festival that included mass, followed by a social celebration, wedding reception, or hafla, archdeacon Kurban might perform at the mass and entertainment for events that followed included Djamal Aslan, Naim Karacand, Sana and Amer Kadaj, Hanan, or Kahraman. Three years after his arrival in the United States, Kurban graduated from Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary with a master’s in theology in May 1957.
On the morning of Sunday, March 24, 1957, approximately 400 people packed into Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Brooklyn to see Metropolitan Antony Bashir, assisted by Rt. Rev. Ananias Kassab, and Rev. Wakim Dalack, ordain Ilyas Kurban. Some in attendance at the ceremony, and the banquet/reception that followed, came from as far away as Terre Haute, Indiana, and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Speakers who honored Kurban at the banquet included As-Sayeh publisher and editor A. A. Haddad and Milhem S. Hawie. Not long after his ordination, members of Saint Nicholas Cathedral petitioned Metropolitan Bashir to have Rev. Kurban remain to assist Fr. Wakim Dalack. Many felt Dalack’s responsibilities spread him too thin and believed Kurban could continue to be of great service to the cathedral. Despite pleas to keep Rev. Kurban in Brooklyn, however, in April 1957, Metropolitan Bashir appointed Ilyas Kurban to Saint George’s Antiochian Orthodox Church in Boston.
Boston’s Saint George Syrian Orthodox Church had its beginnings in 1900 and moved over the years from Oxford Street to Edinboro Street to Hudson to Tyler streets, interestingly beginning in the 1920s, a number of its priests had direct or tangential connections to the recording industry. For instance, Father Abraham Zaine, the parish’s second priest, was the father-in-law of Maloof Records and Macksoud Records star, Salim Doumani. When Saint George’s finally secured its building, Metropolitan Germanos Shehadi helped lay the cornerstone and later consecrated Saint Georges. By the time Fr. Kurban arrived in 1957, he, too, had performed on a set of phonograph records.
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| Caravan October 4, 1956 Advertisement for Ilyas Kurban four disc set and the actual set of records. Courtesy of Richard M. Breaux collection. |
Archdeacon Ilyas Kurban "Al Yawmal Adhr Antoumoul Lazina," M-121 Side 1 https://youtu.be/LAzub6l19ag
With one of the largest Arabic-speaking populations in the United States residing in and around the Boston metropolitan area, Fr. Kurban busily pivoted between baptisms, funerals, weddings, regular services and cultural needs of Saint George’s congregants. When Saint George’s Orthodox Church hosted a program recognizing the work of the local Syrian Orthodox Youth Organization (SOYO) in September, 1957, Rev. Kurban presented a slide slow of Divine Liturgy and Baptismal services to those at the celebration. A month after the SOYO event, he aided Rev. Abdullah Shaker in officiating the marriage of Jamila Haddad and Dr. Elias R. Nawfel. Two months later, Rev. Kurban also assisted Archbishop Antony Bashir in officiating the Divine Liturgy marking the dedication of a new Parish house and Sunday School building that followed the service.
The 1960s changed Rev. Ilyas Kurban’s life forever. First as early as January, 1960, Archbishop Antony Bashir convened a meeting of 1000 priests and lay people to consider Fr. Kurban as a replacement for Archbishop Samuel David, the late Archbishop of Toledo and its Dependencies who died 12 August 1958. The proposal meant the Kurban would oversee the Syrian Antiochian Orthodox Church in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, and West Virginia. From ten names, the top vote getters included 94 for Ilyas Kurban, 81 for Anaias Kassab, 64 for Gregory Abboud, 42 for Basil Kazan, 33 for Athanasius Saliba, and 32 for Michael Sheheen. In the end, Rev. Michael Shaheen was elevated to Metropolitan Archbishop of Toledo and its Dependencies. Life carried on for Fr. Kurban in Boston, as well. There were radio broadcasts of Saint George’s Divine Liturgy in April 1960, funerals to officiate, and by November, the first meeting of the New England Deanery of Syrian Orthodox Churches in Lawrence, Massachusetts, attended by priests from cities as close as Worcester and Boston, and from as far as Pawtucket, Norwood, and Danbury. In Fr. Kuban's personal life, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States on 9 August 1960.
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| Naturalization card for Ilyas T. Kurban. Courtesy of Ancestry.com |
A dinner honoring Rev. George Khoury in Pawtucket, Rhode Island opened the New Year and funeral services dotted Fr. Kurban’s calendar beyond the regularly scheduled services. One officiated funeral service which stands out in 1961 was that of Charles Shagoury, the founder and director of Boston’s long-runnong Arabian Nights Radio Program; the show had been on WJDA rand WHIL radio since it aired in 1938. Another event included overseeing and negotiating the acquisition of land in Wrentham for a New England Council of Eastern Orthodox Churches. When King Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud visited Boston in January, 1962, a who’s who of Lebanese and Syrian Americans from Boston and surrounding areas attended. Like Um Kulthum nine years prior, the King of Saudi Arabia, accompanied by two of his son’s and his brother, visited the US for eye surgery, treatment, and therapy. While Kulthum did not need surgery, the King did; he graciously thanked an overflowing crowd at a special banquet attended by nearly one thousand guests at Boston’s Sheraton Plaza Hotel. Seated near the front of the room at table 8 were Rev. Kurban, Rev. and Mrs. Paul Moses, Rev. A.A. Shaker, Rev. and Mrs. John von Holzhausen, and Mr. Nader Haddad.
Less than two weeks after the visit from the King of Saudi Arabia, Fr. Elias Kurban left Boston via Logan International Airport to fly to Damascus, Syria, where he was elected Metropolitan of the Tripoli, al-Koura, and dependencies. The year was 1962. Excited by Kurban’s elevation, and to commemorate his work with developing and transforming the choir at Saint George Syrian Orthodox Church in Boston, Rev. Elias Kurban released a double-LP set.
The passing of Metropolitan Antony Bashir on 15 February 1966 brought Kurban back to the United States to officiate the funeral and eulogize his long-time friend at Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Brooklyn. Radio stations WHBI 105.9 FM in New York and New Jersey broadcast the service and the Arabian Night Radio Program pressed a memorial LP of the funeral narrated by Albert Maloof and Assad Moukaddem, and Nicholas Ayd. Two months later, Kuban ordained subdeacon Quistandi Naar, attended a banquet in his honor in Bergenfield, New Jersey, and baptized the son of Rev. Fr. George Rados in Terre Haute, Indiana in September. During the months after Metropolitan Bashir’s death, Kurban served as interim patriarch of New York and all North America. Rev. Philip Saliba received recommendation, was elevated to archimandrite, consecrated, and finally enthroned by October, 1966.
Metropolitan Kurban at baptism in Terre Haute, Indiana in 1965. The Terre Haute Tribune, 19 September 1965. Courtesy of Newspapers.com
Metropolitan Kurban returned to the United States a number of times in the 1970s and 1980s, often at the request of Metropolitan Philip Saliba. For example, in 1971, Metropolitan Saliba joined Kurban in Raleigh, North Carolina and Charleston, West Virginia. In Charleston, Kurban spoke at the Kfeirian Reunion banquet about the over two million Arab refugees fleeing the so-called Arab-Israeli War. A few weeks later, he administered the Divine Liturgy at Saint George in Paterson, New Jersey. This occasion marked the 50th anniversary of Saint George Antiochian Church and Eddie Kochak provided event entertainment. In 1977, the two Antiochian jurisdictions of North America merged and elected Metropolitan Philip Saliba to lead them. Metropolitans Saliba and Kurban had been and remained friends, colleagues, and sometimes collaborators for the remainder of their lives. Metropolitan Kurban recorded a 33 1/3 LP of Divine Byzantine Hymns on Albert Rashid's Ash-Shark/Orient Record Company at 191 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn also in 1977. With siblings in Pittsburgh and Boston, Rev. Kurban visited a World Council of Churches gathering in Vancouver, Canada in August, 1983, on the same trip, he returned to the United States when the press conducted an in-depth interview to try to better understand the Lebanese Civil War and the fleeing of Palestinian refugees to Lebanon. Kurban commented that “Palestinians deserve a home on the West Bank or Gaza Strip.”
Ilyas Kurban spelled "Elias Korban" on his Orient/Ash-Shark LP recorded in 1977. Courtesy of Richard M. Breaux collection.
Schools, churches, parish halls, homes for the elderly and disabled, charitable and technical institutes, and a school of music all owe their creation or renovation to Metropolitan Ilyas Kurban. Dozens of audio and video recordings posted online offer samples on Rev. Kurban’s voice and singing talents. On the 30 July 2009, Metropolitan Ilyas Kurban, known to some as the “Nightingale of Antioch,” reposed. Some of the commercial recordings linked in this post represent only a sample of the legacy he leaves behind.
Richard M. Breaux
©Midwest Mahjar
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