Philip Solomon: New England's Eminent Arab American Music Violin Virtuoso
Philip Solomon: New England's Eminent Arab American Music Violin Virtuoso Philip F. Solomon from an Alamphon Records Sleeve. Courtesy of Richard M. Breaux collections. Approximately six miles northeast of Providence, Rhode Island, where the Seekonk and Blackstone Rivers meet, rests the city of Pawtucket. Its population in 2020 was just over 75,000, but in the 1950s and 1960s when Pawtucket reached its population peak nearly 81.000 people resided there. At the same moment in the 1950s and 1960s, Pawtucket played host to the largest annual mahrajan on the East Coast – a multi-day music and cultural festival that brought Arab America’s biggest and brightest musical talent for a weekend of food, fun, dance, conversation, and cross generational socializing. Those musicians who played at the Pawtucket mahrajan over the years were a who’s who of middle period Arab American performing artists – Hanan , Kahraman, Naif Agby , Tony Abdelahad , Mohammed El-Akkad , Amer & Sana Kadaj ,