“King of the Violin”: Sami al Shawwa Visits the United States
“King of the Violin”: Sami al Shawwa Visits the United States
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| Sami Shawwa on WWRL New York Studio in 1953. Courtesy of Raymond Rashid. |
Violinist Sami al Shawwa (Sami Shawa or Sami Chawa) is a stranger to few who consider themselves students of early twentieth century Arabic music. An unparalleled musician extraordinaire whose reputation preceded him from mashriq to mahjar, east and west Africa to North and South America, Shawwa’s legendary status was only rivaled by the apocryphal stories concerning his violin’s origins and the wood out of which it was said to have been constructed. What follows is, at best, our feeble attempt to retell the story of this prince of the Arab violin. We present the story of Sami al Shawwa at Midwest Mahjar not because we believe we can relay the story any more accurately or thoroughly than anyone else before but because as a blog dedicated to Arab American music and musicians, Sami, although he never immigrated to the United States, visited on at least three occasions. His became some of most valued and popularly sold 78 rpm Arabic records in the diaspora. On violin, he is simply unmatched and unrivaled.
Louisa Shulhut Shawwa gave birth to Sami al Shawwa in 1889 in Cairo, Egypt. Louisa and Antoun al Shawwa hailed from Aleppo, Syria, and like a number of prominent families moved back and forth between Cairo and Aleppo over the years. Antoun Shawwa, too, maintained a career as a violinist although word has it, he disapproved of the profession for a young Sami. According to researchers at the Foundation for Arab Music Archiving & Research, the Shawwas descended from a well-known musical family including violinist Yusuf or Joseph (Sami’s great grandfather), a kanunist Elias (Sami’s grandfather), and a violinist Antoun (Sami’s father). Several of Sami’s great-great uncles also worked as professional musicians.
Few sources mention anything about Sami al Shawwa’s or his family’s religious faith but he, for certain, collaborated with, accompanied, and played for, people representing the spectrum of religious faiths. At least two sources, specifically pointed out that Shawwa adhered to the Catholic Melkite church.
Already on track to be an extraordinary violinist at age eight, Sami found his mother to be encouraging of his professed music interests over the discouragement of his father. Rumor has it, Antoun al Shawwa wished his son would follow more book-centered academic pursuits. In Aleppo, eleven-year-old Sami performed at private parties, bar mitzvahs, social gatherings, and a host of other events. Both Antoun and Louisa knew, however, if Sami was to become a respected professional musician the family would be compelled to return to Cairo – the capital of Arabic recorded music.
Back in Cairo those Sami al Shawwa embarked on his career joining included Yusuf al Manyalawi, Ahmad Hussein, and the elder Mohammed al-Akkad and these connections fed life-long opportunities. The Khedive of Egypt and Sudan Abbas II Helmy requested Shawwa accompany one of his daughters to Paris in 1908. In 1910, he visited Istanbul and performed for Sultan Mehmed Rashad V. During the same year, he played in a special concert in Beirut for Abd ul Aziz, the exiled Sultan of Morocco. Then, of course, there was the recital for Turkish Crown Prince, Yusuf Uz ed-Deen.
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Sami Shawwa (Chawa) Taksim Hegaz. Recorded in 1919 in Cairo. Courtesy of Richard M. Breaux collection. |
A number of Sami al Shawwa’s solo and ensemble recordings on various labels reached Arabic-speaking consumers in the United States through stores owned by A.J. Macksoud in lower Manhattan, Michael H. Ajamian’s Arax Grocery in Boston, G.S. Maloof’s in Boston, Pallas Phonograph in New York, or European Phonograph Co. in New York. Most of Shawwa’s Victor and Gramophone sides first circulating in the United States were actually recorded in Cairo in October, 1919. This includes sessions where he collaborated with Zaki Murad and Ahmad Idriss.
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| Cheik Ahmad Idriss and Sani Shawwa (Chawa), 1919. Courtesy of Richard M. Breaux collection. |
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| Sami Shawwa (Chawa) and Zaki Mourad, 1919. Courtesy of Richard M. Breaux collection. https://youtu.be/4EAvT1XMGrE |
Sami eventually visited the United States in October, 1927. Arriving via France and accompanied by Edma and Yousef Marrache on the S.S. Majestic, Sami visited Detroit and New York, including Brooklyn’s acclaimed Academy of Music one month into his tour. News sources reported Sami traveling with an assortment of Egyptian instruments and manuscripts dating back since “the days of Moses” and preceding documented European music. In its entirety, Sami’s trip lasted eight months with performances at the Egyptian Embassy as requested by Ambassador Mahmoud Pasha Sami per King Fuad I, a concert attended by members of the US Congress and an official representative of President Calvin Coolidge, and well-attended Columbia University concert. Sami returned to Egypt in June, 1928.
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| Sami Shawwa and Edma Marrache play at the Brooklyn Academt of Music 1927. Brooklyn Times 6 November 1927. Courtesy of Newspapers.com |
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| Sami Shawwa accompanied Edma Marrache on a number of her sides. They and Marrache's husband visited the US in 1927. Courtesy of Richard Breaux collection. |
Recording artist and singer Edma Marrache had a career, and identity, that continues to perplex historians and ethnomusicologists. Born around 1894 in either Beirut or Damascus (depending on the source) to an Egyptian silk merchant father and unknown mother, she married Yusuf Marrache, an Arabic and French-speaking merchant five years her senior. He was born in Damascus. When the Marraches met each other or Sami al Shawwa remains unclear but Edma later recorded with Sami. Despite the fact that Edma recorded seven songs on her personalized vanity label, four solo songs and two additional discs with Shawwa on Perfectaphone, the ships’ manifest for their US voyage only lists Marrache as a “housewife.” Only Sami was listed as a “musician.” Edma went on to give concerts in Sao Paolo, Brazil, at the Instituto Nacional de Musica, and on French radio in the 1930s. She wholly vanishes from public sources after this; never to be referenced again in contemporary or future sources.
The political and cultural climate churning in the United States when Shawwa and the Marraches visited found many Syrian Americans and immigrants still recovering from the shock of the Johnson-Reed Act’s restrictions. The trio made it clear to US officials in New York that they had no intention of remaining in the country. Few could have anticipated the stock market crash, plummet into economic depression, the record industry’s downward spiral, or the future of the mandate system back in Syria and Lebanon at the time.
The 1933 Chicago World's Fair brought Sami Shawwa back to the United States. It’s a wonder Chicago pulled off the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair: A Century of Progress International Exhibition; this was not without help from the International Bureau of Exhibitions and planning extending back nearly a decade. Fellow Syrian musician Mayer Murad travelled with others to Chicago to work in various capacities in the Fair’s Moroccan Village and Egyptian Pavilion. The Murads, like Sami al Shawwa, lived between Aleppo, Syria, and Cairo, Egypt, for a time. The brother of Zaki Murad and Nessim Murad, Mayer Murad may have well been in touch with Sami al Shawwa and encouraged him to visit or assured him the fair might be a good opportunity. Mayer’s better-known brother, Zaki Murad, recorded at least two songs on Victor (Cairo) with Sami in 1919. Some music researchers suspect Sami may have recorded his three or four rare sides on The Syrian National Record Company imprint at the World’s Fair or around the time he visited the United States to attend the World’s Fair. Whatever the case, the fair ran from 27 May 1933 until 31 October 1934.
While in Buffalo, New York, before performing at the fair, Sami told the press that he had recently performed for the King of Italy and stopped to visit friends in New York. Asked about his impression of jazz music newspapers quoted Sami’s scathing, “Jazz- it’s abominable. In ten more years, Americans will not even know what real music is if they continue to devote themselves to so-called ‘popular music.’” From Buffalo, a quick jaunt to Brooklyn brought out over 200 Syrians and Egyptians to dine with and hear Sami Shawwa at the Towers Hotel. Among those present and on the program for the night were Rev. Mansur Stephan of Our Lady of Lebanon Church, Al-Hoda newspaper’s Salloum Mokarzel, the Syrian Eagle’s Nejib Badran and Anis Bey Azer, Egyptian Consul.
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| Sami Shawwa quoted in the Buffalo Evening News on 12 September 1933, "Jazz - it's abominable." Courtesy of Newspapers.com |
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| Sami Shawwa recorded these rare sides on SNRC, like in 1933. Courtesy of Richard M. Breaux collection. https://youtu.be/JYX2DfjHSPE |
In addition to the Fair, Sami visited Brooklyn, Paterson, Scranton, and other cities. In Paterson, he attended a celebratory event hosted by the Syrian American Citizen’s Club at Nous Hall with 700 fellow attendees. Just over a month later, Shawwa was off to Scranton for a program at Saint Joseph Syrian Melkite Church where Rev. Athanasius Simon served as pastor. Joseph Salwan and Toufic Barham accompanied Shawwa and proceeds went to church’s building fund.
Fadel A. Shawwa, Sami’s younger brother, also visited Brazil and the United States several times and left his recorded-music legacy on a few records. Born in 1904, in Cairo, Fadel appears to have come to the United States 6 November 1947 accompanied by singers Sana and Amer Kadaj and kanoon player Mohammed El-Akkad. We know from his travel documents that Fadel was fifteen years Sami’s junior but two inches taller. During his time in the country, Fadel directed a few side on Albert Rashid’s Orient label featuring Little Sami Jourdak. Fadel left the United States on 29 July 1948.
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| Fadel Shawa visited the United States and directed sessions for a number of Little Sami sides on Albert Rashid's "Orient" label. Courtesy of Richard M. Breaux collection. https://soundcloud.com/profbro/little-sami-fadel-shawa-romanak-170a-170b?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing |
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| Fadel Shawwa visited to Brazil in 1961. Courtesy of Ancestry.com |
Sami Shawwa completed two tours/trips to the Americas, one of those to South America including Brazil and the other between July 1953 and 25 March 1955 to the United State. Nearly every previous trip Sami accompanied another musician and this was no exception. This time, at the invitation of Albert Rashid, Shawwa travelled with Mohamed al Bakkar. The first order of business required Sami to go to Washington, DC to check in on Egyptian mega-singer Om Kalsoum. From July to September 1953, Kalsoum visited the United States to receive eye therapy. Turns out she did not need surgery. Sami and Mohamed al Bakkar kicked off their tour with a hafla at the Hotel Saint George in July 1953. Soon, Sami flew to Los Angeles to perform August 9, 1953, in the Maronite church’s annual hafla featuring Danny Thomas. Approximately, 5,000 people attended the Saint Nicholas Orthodox mahrajan during Labor Day weekend also with Danny Thomas, Amer Kadaj, Toufic Barham and others. A private performance with Amer Kadaj proved that Sami did not limit himself to larger public appearances but played private parties as well, as was the case with the home party thrown by Mr. and Mrs. George Jebailey on 5 October 1953. Two days before, he appeared on WWRL Arabian Nights Radio Program. Mid-November matched Sami Shawwa with Djamal Aslan at Rev. Elias Sugar’s Assyrian Apostolic Church of the Virgin Mary marking the church’s twenty-fifth year. Rev. Sugar was the father of musician Joseph Sugar who later recorded with Djamal Aslan on wax. Sami closed out 1953 celebrating with Fred Alam, Djamal Aslan, Naif Agby, Milhem Hawie, and various news editors Fred Khoury, George S. Debs, Elia D. Madey, and A. A. Haddad the relocation of Alamphon Records from its 128 Court Street address to 182 Atlantic Avenue.
Sami Shawwa’s so-called “pharaonic violin” became legendary in its own right and received exhaustive attention from newspaper reporters on his return to the United States in 1953. Some news outlets noted the violin was sourced after a sixteen-year search from “3,000-year-old wood” found “in the tombs of the Valley of the Kings.” Others highlighted the “small ebony bust of Queen Nefertiti on the scroll” taken from a sarcophagus, wood from Lebanese cedar, etching of the Pyramids of Giza and a lotus, a carved back “shaped like a sphinx,” and “tuning keys” in the shape of ankhs – the ancient Egyptian symbol of life. One paper claimed Sami carved the violin himself; another reported it was made for him in 1937. Shawwa told the press when he died the violin would go to the National Museum in Cairo.
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| Danny Thomas and Sami Shawwa, 1953. Caravan 20 August 1953. |
Much of 1954 consisted of private parties, wedding receptions, and a few public concerts for Sami Shawwa. Highlights of his 1954 events included joining Naim Karacand at wedding reception held for Karacand’s goddaughter at Our Lady of Lebanon Church in Brooklyn. The bride and groom were Doris Connaughton and Alfred Brunha. A few weeks later, the Egyptian dancer Nana, or Naimah Ibraham entertained at Farid Nejame’s party with music provided by an ensemble of Naif Agby, Leon Aboud, John Hyder, Ray Beilouny, and Sami Shawwa. Within days, Sami Shawwa and Djamal Aslan played at John & Hooda Germack’s going away party in May. The Brooklyn residents took a six-week business trip to Italy and the Middle East as executives of Zenobia Pistachio Nut Company. The Germack’s flight celebrated only the second direct flight between New York City and Beirut. Soon Aslan and Sami Shawwa starred as the feature act at Hunter College as a part of the Song and Dance of Asia. Proceeds from the benefits went to the International Conference of Asian Problems for the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF). At least one other time, on June 27, 1954, Aslan and Shawwa offered their repertoire of Syrian, Turkish, and Iraqi music to attendees at Rev. Sugar’s Assyrian Apostolic Church in West New York, New Jersey. Rev. Sugar was kanunist and oudist Joseph Sugar’s father. Although he would not leave the United States for another few months, Rev. Mansour Stephen of Our Lady of Lebanon Church in Brooklyn, Fred Alam of Alamphon Records, and other leading members of Brooklyn’s Syrian communities hosted a farewell hafla for Sami al Shawwa on 10 February 1954. Hundreds reportedly attended the event to honor one of SWANA’s most-skilled violin players before his eventual return to Egypt. Perhaps Sami’s last event of 1954 came with the banquet honoring As-Sameer newspaper editor and poet, Elia D. Madey at Brooklyn’s Grand Hotel. Those in attendance were a who’s who of Arab America and Midwest Mahjar for the 1950s. Guests included Bishop Samuel David of Toledo, Emil Kasses, Naim Karacand, Elvira Halel, Sana & Amer Kadaj, and priests and pastors from Syrian Melkite and Orthodox churches all over Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York. Sami Shawa closed out 1954 with Amer Kadaj performing at the funeral of Mahjari writer and Pen League member Nasib Arida.
An especially unique collaboration between Rev. Boulos Hage, Fred Alam of Alamphon Records, Najdeh Khoury, and Sami Shawwa emerged packaged as a rare five-disc, 10 side, 78 rpm set simply titled Church Hymns-Maronite Rite in 1955. Rev. Boulos Hage remains a person we have only pieces of information about. Born in Lebanon around 1910, ordained in 1934, he taught Arabic at the College of Zahle while also serving at Our Lady of Help in Bikfaiya, Lebanon, until 1945. After time in a number of other parishes, Pope Pius XII granted him permission to visit the United States in 1954. He traveled the country signing in Buffalo, Utica, Brooklyn, Olean, Danbury, Lawrence, and Detroit and settled in Buffalo at Saint John Maron Church as assistant pastor for approximately nine years. He recorded with Sami Shawwa on 1 December 1954 and a few months later Fred Alam released Church Hymns – Maronite Rite set on a custom label. In 1968, he moved to New Castle, Pennsylvania’s Saint John the Baptist Maronite Church, and finally at Saint Ann Maronite Catholic Church, in Scranton, by 1979 before retirement. Ironically, the parishes where Rev. Hage began and ended his career had been served by pioneering Columbia and Maloof Phonograph Record Company singer and Maronite priest Rev. George Aziz in the 1910s and 1920s.
The first quarter year of 1955 marked the last time Sami al Shawwa remained in the United States and he spent much of his time working private engagements with the occasional hafla thrown in for good measure. The Virgin Mary Holy Name Society sponsored the Gala Hafla and Dance at Livingston Manor in Brooklyn to kick off 1955. Other singers and musicians on the program 29 January 1955 included Fadwa Abeid, Djamal Aslan, Eddie Kochak & His Orchestra, Naim Karacand & His Orchestra, and Abe Messadi. Valentine’s Day took brought a lineup of Emil Kasses, Hanan, Mike Hamway, Eddie Kochak, and Sami al Shawwa to the Sacred Heart Society of Paterson, New Jersey, banquet and dance. Interestingly, the last documented gigs Sami played in the United States were more pointed events. The Organization for Arab Students in New York hired Sami Shawwa as entertainment for a reception for writer and author of “What Price Israel?”- Alfred Lilienthal on the eleventh of March. The funeral of twenty-one-year-old Elliott Kabbash, one day later, brought Sami back to Paterson, New Jersey. Newspaper accounts describe the Shawwa’s selection as a fittingly “solemn piece” memorable, no doubt, to all in attendance. Ironically, Arabian Nights Radio Program co-host Sabri Andria eulogized Elliott Kabbash at the services held at Saint Ann’s Catholic Church. Thirteen days later, Sami Shawwa headed back to Alexandra, Egypt, on the Beirut-bound S.S. Mohamed Ali El Kebir.
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| Sami El Shawwa on George N. Gorayeb's Arabphon. From the collection of Richard M. Breaux https://soundcloud.com/user-387335530/taqsim-sami-shawa-arabphon-453-ab |
There is no evidence Sami al Shawwa showed any signs of slowing down when he left the United States and we know he lived for just over another decade. Years after his departure, a younger generation of Arab American and SWANA American musicians including Philip Solomon, John Nazarian, Leo Budway, and others credited Shawwa with being one of their greatest musical influences. In fact, when we interviewed John Nazarian via telephone, he recalled an occasion when Sami rapped him on the knuckles for swapping the violin for the oud because Nazarian began his career as a violnist. We have found no other recorded visits of Sami to the United States after 1955. Nearly one hundred ten years have passed since his Victor Talking Machines Company sessions in Cairo and this year marks the seventieth year of his final visit's beginning. Sami al Shawwa died 23 December 1965.
Today, 78 rpm records featuring Shawwa remain sought after by a highly specialized group of collectors. Most of the biographical and ethnomusicological work on Sami al Shawwa has been completed by the Foundation for Arab Music Archiving & Research and Ahmad Salihi. One phase of Shawwa’s life we know the least about was his time in the United States. We hope this month’s blog post adds greater insight into the life of the Amir el Kaman – the Prince of the Violin.
Special thanks to: Raymond Rashid
Richard M. Breaux
© Midwest Mahjar
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