Marguerite (Margaret) Kazen: A Garment Worker By Day, A Long-Forgotten Voice on Arabphon Records By Night
Marguerite (Margaret) Kazen: A Garment Worker By Day,
A Long-Forgotten Voice on Arabphon Records By Night
The story of Arabic-speaking women musicians in the United States during 78 RPM era is one that can be divided roughly between those who recorded before 1935 and those who recorded between 1936 and 1961. On the front end stood the trailblazers – Zakia Agob, Lateefy Abdo, Margaret Daoud, Edma Marrache, and Fadwa Fedora Kurban. The second, or so-called middle period, brought audiences and listeners names that are much more recognizable today – Hanan, Kahraman, Fadwa Abeid, Odette Kaddo, Sana Kadaj, Lila Stephan, Laurice Peters, and Leila Mazloom. Without question, those singers easiest to identify released one or two songs on 78 rpm records. The latter group recorded singles on shellac and sometimes LP 33 1/3 vinyl albums with an occasional hit or popular single accompanied by a B-side track. This month’s feature is quite different. The only known singles recorded by Margaret Kazen (aka Marguerite Al-Khazen) appeared on Arabphon Records as duets with two of Arab America's best known vocalists and musicians, yet hers is a story and name worth knowing.
Born in Chouaifet, just seven miles outside Beirut, Marguerite Kazen was born to Mehjet (Margie) Wardiny Kazen and Joseph Kazen on 15 August 1912. Around this time, Chouaifet had a population of approximately 9000 inhabitants and olive oil production fueled the town’s economy. Joseph and Margie married in 1904 just before Joseph set off for the United States. He immigrated to the United States through Canada before settling in Fall River, Massachusetts. Since 1900, residents of Fall River experienced overall population growth and an increase in people resettling from millets in the collapsing Ottoman Empire. Arabic-speaking immigrants found employment in local and regional textile mills. They soon developed and added community institutions like Saint Anthony of the Desert Church at 286 Jenks Street in 1911 and a Syrian Protestant Congregation at 246 Flint Street.
Population growth from immigration to Fall River and the United States slowed as Congress passed a series of ethnically restrictive immigration laws. First it passed the Emergency Quota Act in 1921 limiting the number of immigrants entering the U.S. from a country to three percent of the number of people from that country enumerated in the 1910 U.S. Census. Congressed upped the ante in 1924 with the now infamous Johnson- Reed or Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1924. Emigrants from the mandate territories that became Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine could not exceed 100 per year.
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| Margaret Kazen and her brother arrive in the U.S. with their mother in 1929. Courtesy of Ancestry.com |
Joseph Kazen’s family turned out to be an exception. On 23 September 1929, Mehjet, Marguerite, and Fouad (Fred) Kazen arrived onboard the S.S. Byron from Beirut. Both Margaret and her brother were minors, so they did not have to file separate documents than their mother. Most of the passengers on the same voyage came from Syria but some were Iraqi and Palestinian. Interestingly, the new priest for Saint Anthony of the Desert Church, Rev. Joseph Eid, also arrived in 1929.
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| North Adams Transcript, 6 August 1936. Courtesy of Newspapers.com |
The birth of the mahrajan circuit coincided with the Kazens finding their place in Fall River, Marguerite’s factory work as a sewing machine operator, and the birth of Marguerite’s musical career. The Kazens first lived at 342 Flint Street. In 1930, the household included Joseph, Mehjet, Marguerite, Fouad, and Sophia. Sophia Kazen was Joseph’s mother recently arrived from Beirut. Joseph worked as a shopkeeper and Margaret toiled in a factory sewing clothing. We don’t know for certain when Marguerite learned to sing or if this was something she developed in the old country but by 1936 she accompanied Naim Karacand and Joseph Balady in a performance at the Lebanese Social Club Annual Outing in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Margaret, along with Toufic Trabulsie, also took the stage at the first annual Syrian and Lebanese mahrajan in Waterville, Maine, sponsored by Lebanon Youth Society in August 1939. The Youth Society celebrated its twenty-third year in 1930 as well. Interestingly, during the same time the mahrajan took place, Joseph R. Wright, national vice president of the Textile Union of America spoke at a mass meeting in Waterville, organized by labor activist and state director of the textile union George Jarbar, who also spoke at the forum. Whether Marguerite took interest in labor organizing at her job remains unclear. The Textile Workers Union of America represented a merger, in 1939, between the United Textile Workers of America (1901) and the CIO-backed Textile Workers Organizing Union (1937).
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| Portland Evening Express, 19 August 1939. Courtesy of Newspapers.com |
On the eve of World War II, Margaret and Fouad (Fred) remained tied to various components of the textile industry. Marguerite now worked a powered sewing machine for a local dress factory. Fouad labored as a weaver in a cotton mill. Joseph Kazen operated and worked in a shoe shop. Mahjet worked from home. Fouad served in the military for one year and six months. First he completed a stint in the Pacific then he served in China, Burma, and India. Approximately 200 Syrian and Lebanese residents of Fall River fought in World War II. One of the Fall River organizations resulting from people’s service in the war was the Lebanese American Veterans Association.
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| From left to right: Marguerite Kazen, Fred Kazen, and Fred's wife, Elizabeth Kazen. Courtesy of Carl Kazen. |
Between 1943 and 1959, Margaret Kazen recorded several sides on George N. Gorayeb’s Arabphon Records. Founded during World War II as mostly a re-issue outfit, Arabphon on occasion recorded and distributed original content. First Margaret Kazen recorded “Wajnatek Thamar Bistan” (an Ataba) #1-3 A and “Tarouni Kal Nemer Yekzan (also an Ataba) #1-3 B with former A. J. Macksoud and Maloof Phonograph Company star Wadih Bagdady (Baghdadi). Moreover, Kazen also recorded duets with oudist Elie Baida. Baida was once a standout musician and star on his cousin’s Baidaphon label before recording on Farid Alam’s Alamphon Records. Kazen and Baida released “Esta-Adi Wat Hani Maftoon (an Ataba) #1-1-A and “Ya Helwa Mozateni Sadrek Bi-Wardi” #1-1-b.
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| Courtesy of Matt V.S Records. Side 1-3-A https://youtu.be/bDWvspDPq1E Side 1-3-B https://youtu.be/5QPA7AebQ0g |
Ultimately, Marguerite Kazen’s music career aligned more with singers like Jamili Matouk – another post Johnson-Reed Act immigrant with some recording success who remained employed outside of the music industry to survive. Matouk, too, had come to the United States just before the Great Depression sank the economy to its lowest depths and launched a career during one of the nation’s most economically volatile times. Like most Arab American singers of this generation, Marguerite Kazen could not sustain a living as a singer only. She continued as a sewing machine operator for various dressmakers, knitting businesses, and other companies in Fall River. When communities booked her to perform, her father and brother escorted her or her brother and sister-in-law joined her. When Marguerite entered a room she immediately drew the crowd's attention. The same audiences that raved about her talents often sat captivated by her singing.
Crowds of admirers and potential suitors found themselves attracted to Marguerite for different reasons. Her singing ability caught the attention of Elie Baida, Philip Solomon, and Wadeeh Bagdady. Suitors appeared by the dozen. Several men hoped to wed Marguerite, with hopes to have her be their stay-at-home wife and mother to their prospective children. Marguerite remained too independent and free-spirited to be tied down by marriage or children. Perhaps the greatest irony hinged on the fact that most suitors who found Margerite the singer appealing also hoped she would swap her singing career for domesticity. She deeply loved her nephew and he remembers Kazen as a deeply caring aunt.
Outside of work and the hafla circuit, Marguerite possessed a deep knowledge and appreciation for cars. She kept her own automobiles in top form over the years and she could identify cars that passed by according to make, model, and year. Fouad "Fred" Kazen trusted Marguerite's car knowledge such that he once purchased a car from his older sister. Marguerite's love for cars, music, and family continued to be unsurpassed.
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| Unknown woman, Elizabeth Kazen, Fred Kazen, unknown man, unknown woman, Marguerite Kazen. Courtesy of Carl Kazen. |
Overshadowed by better known singers like Hanan, Kahraman, and Odette Kaddo, Marguerite Kazen took care of her parents well into their latter years; she is no longer with us, although her phonograph records survive. Working as a sewing machine operator, she maintained her livelihood with little press coverage and marginal notoriety outside of Arab America. She remained well-known among those who participated actively in the hafla and mahrajan circuit. Kazen faded into relative obscurity after her Arabphon releases and when her mahrajanat days ended. Marguerite remained a member of Saint Anthony of the Desert Church and regularly sang there. As for her former collaborators - Elie Baida remained a star until his death, while performances in the 1950s marked the end of Wadeeh Bagdady’s long career.
Marguerite Kazen died 13 July 1996. Her last recorded address was 33 Quequechan Street in Fall River. She lived to be 83 years old and despite being her parents’ eldest child, she outlived both parents and her sibling. Today, Marguerite Kazen’s Arabphon recordings are extremely rare. Original recordings, rather than duplicated singles on Arabphon, are still all-the-more unusual.
Special thanks to Carl F. Kazen and Matt V.S. Records.
Richard M. Breaux
© Midwest Mahjar
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