Louis Kawam: Jamming with Arab American Musicians Old & Young

Some of the best musicians ever, never front their own band. They are not among the orchestra or ensemble leaders, and if we’re fortunate enough, they have left behind a piece of their creative genius in a credited or uncredited recording. Perhaps their names escaped mention in the liner notes, or their surname shows up on a label suggesting they composed, wrote, or performed a piece, if for nothing else than pure posterity. Most of this is true for oudist Louis Kawam.

Born 20 July 1913 in New York City, Elias Bashir Kawam entered the world one of three, and the only male child of his parents Bashir Abdallah Kawam and Assna Kawam. Immigrants from Aleppo and Damascus, Greater Syria in 1905, the couple crossed the ocean departing from Marseilles on board a shipped named the Roma and settled on the main west-east corridor of New York’s Little Syria two – Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. There at 178 Atlantic Avenue, in the shadow of lower Manhattan’s Little Syria, Bashir opened a grocery store and kept shop. Brooklyn was fast eclipsing Manhattan’s Little Syria and Atlantic Avenue emerged as the center of Little Syria II. The United States and the Ottoman Empire landed on opposing sides with the outbreak of World War I. In some cases, people who fled the Ottoman Empire to avoid forced military conscription landed in front of American draft boards. Draft officials listed Bashir as medium build, medium height, blue eyes, light grey hair, and forty-five years old in 1918 but explicitly noted he did not really know his own birthday or when he was born.  Some 15,000 Arab immigrants and Arab Americans served in the United States military during World War I.  

 

We don’t know for sure where Elias or Louis, and his sisters Anna and Lillian, attended school but by the time Louis reached seventeen he worked as a clerk for a brokerage. The family had no radio in their apartment at 120 Atlantic Avenue, but other neighboring Syrian families had children in their late teens like the Kawam children including John and Anna Messadi. The Messadis had eight children of their own, three of them fifteen or over. In fact, the Messadi’s eldest boy Abraham, grew up to be lifelong friends and musical collaborators with Louis Kawam. 

 

If Louis Kawam had a musical side-career in the 1930s or 1940s, it does not show up in any publicly available sources. Somewhere, and some point along the way, he learned to play oud. Perhaps young Louis Kawam and young Abe Messadi formed a band, listened to Arabic music on shellac, or discussed their musical aspirations. By 1940, Louis worked as a freight clerk loading cars and trucks. He also no longer lived with his parents but with his aunt and her children, who were about Louis’ age. Perhaps, the Kawams always attended the Melkite Church of the Virgin Mary in Brooklyn, or they may have attended St. George Mekite Church in Manhattan.  

  

Louis married Anna Feola on 8 August 1940 in New York City. Within a year, Anna gave birth to Luane, and by 1944, a second daughter, Karol, was born. In total, they had three girls and one boy. Anna managed the home including the children and Louis toiled as a truck driver for a garment company. 

Louis Kawam accompanied Abe Messadi as a member of his orchestra when in 1947 and 1948 the Arabic Recording Company’s sessions took place at the New York Record Corporation’s Brooklyn studios. In all likelihood the group photo included in this post represents the entirety of Messadi’s orchestra. On occasion, a well-known singer like Nahum Simon fronted the ensemble. 

Louis Kawam sits on the far right next to Toufic Moubaid also holding an oud. c. 1944. Abe Messadi appears in the back row, far left, with a violin under his arm. Moubaid was Messadi’s father-in-law. Photograph courtesy of Wayne M. 

By 1953, Louis became Vice-President of the Church of the Virgin Mary’s Holy Name Society. Was Louis attracted to the music of the Melkite church or the expanding mahrajanat/halfat scence spreading up and down the east coast and the United States? One of Louis Kawam’s first documented gigs came courtesy of the group where he served as an officer, the Holy Name Society of the Church of the Virgin Mary. The 16 January-Holy Name Society halfa took place at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. On that night Louis Kawam and Abe Messadi played in an ensemble backing Elie Baida and Naim Karacand on lead violin. Others in the ensemble included John Hyder, Al Miller, Fred Rahal, John Nasharr, Ray Beilouny, and Helen Zaidan. Within a month, Saint Nicholas Young Men’s Club and his annual dinner at the Son of the Sheik restaurant at 132 Greenwich Street on Manhattan’s lower westside in what had been the mother colony – Little Syria. Providing musical entertainment on the night of 15 February 1954 were Abe Messadi on violin, Louis Kawam on oud, and singers Atallah Shaker, Albert Saman, and Albert Gora. Also, on the program that night was Eddie “The Sheik” Kochak. The Saint Nicholas Men’s Club invited a similar group back on 20 November 1954 to perform at the Hotel George in Brooklyn. The night’s lineup featured Fadwa Abeid, Hanan, Anton Abdelahad, Naim Karacand, Philip Solomon, Abe Messadi, John Nazarian, Mike & George Hamway, Albert Karam, and John Tutunjian. Ticket prices were a modest $3.50 and there was Arabic and American entertainment. 

Two ARC records with music by "A.Messadi and Orchestra" or  just "A. Messadi Orchestra." Louis Kawam also appeared on these sides. Courtesy of R. Breaux collections.
ARC 701A: https://soundcloud.com/user-387335530/arc-701-a-b-nahim-simon-abe-messadi-hizzey-be-khusreek
ARC 705 B; https://soundcloud.com/user-387335530/arc-705-b-a-messadi-bushref

 

Bookings for multiple social, events began to keep Kawam increasingly busy. The year 1955 meant collaborations with a host of newer and older artists via Holy Name Society of the Maronite church on January 29. Fadwa Abeid, Djamal Aslan, Sami al Shawa, Naim Karacand, Albert Karam, Ray Beilouny, and Abe Messadi, all contributed their talents to the event. Kawam both helped plan and performed at this hafla. The small trio of Abe Messadi, George Dolatly, and Louis Karam worked a more intimate engagement party for Eli Raheb and Yvonne Khoury for 50 people in Prospect Park in June,1955. Whether Kawan booked any other gigs or played any other hafla, mahrajan, weddings, or other celebratory events remains unclear, but no other mentions of Kawan appear in the Caravan for 1955. 

 

The Gala Hafla to raise funds for the Tripoli, Lebanon Emergency Flood Relief on 11 March 1956 had an enormous turnout. Lebanese and Syrian Brooklynites came out in full force to support those back home who suffered as a result of the tragic events. Over the next two years (1956 & 1957), Louis Kawam performed at nearly every hafla and mahrajan his buddy Abe Messadi played. During this same stretch of time, the Holy Name Society of the Virgin Mary Melkite Church and the Saint Nicholas Young Men’s Club held their annual haflat and dances. These star-studded Holy Names Society Hafla and Dance featured Hanan, Elia Baiida, Joe Budway, Mike Hamway, Abe Messdai, Eddie Esso, Ray Beilony, and Louis Kawam in 1956 and Baida, Lila Stephan, Naim Karacand, Mike Hamway, Abe Messadi, George and Henry Raad, Eddie Kochack, Joe Catton, Eddie Esso, Albert Karam, and Louis Kawam on 3 February 1957. Similarly, St. Nick’s Young Men’s Club hosted a hafla at Our Lady of Lebanon Church in Brooklyn spotlighting Karam, Messadi, and Al Sama, on 14 March 1956 and on November 2, 1957, their entertainment lineup for their hafla and dance starred Hanan, Kahraman, Elie Baida backed by various ensembles including Naim Karacand, Joe Budway, Mike Hamway, Henry & George Raad, Abe Messadi, Louis Kawam, Albert Karam, Eddie Esso, and Eddie & his Orchestra. Karam and Kochack had begun 1957 in January booked for a wedding reception with a guest turn out of 300 people. By the fall, a cadre of fourteen musicians jammed at the John Raad American Legion Post 438 on 26 October 1957. On violins were Abe Messadi, Naim Karacand, and Henry Raad.  Mike Hamway and Eddie Esso played drums. The lone musicians on kanun and riqq were Albert Karam and George Hamway respectively. Oudists were George Raad, Joseph Massood, Ray Karaty, and Louis Kawam. 

 

 

Musically, live gigs slowed by 1958. Louis played the occasional hafli backing lead singers like Hanan for an Aleppian Charitable Society event, especially on the rare occasion that oudist Anton Abdelahad fell ill for the Saint George Orthodox Church event in Paterson. Kawam dedicated most of his time to organizing events and entertainment for the various Arab American social group to which he belonged or the large annual ALSAC event that year. The following year, Kawam, once more, joined Tony Abdelahad, Naim Karacand, Eddie Kochack, and Abe Messadi. 

 

Djamal Aslan’s Lebanon: Her Heart, Her Sounds developed from a 266 Flatbush Avenue Cinara-phone project to one ultimately produced by 20^th Century Fox in 1959. Advertised as an LP containing “beautiful songs and melodious themes” capturing the “life and folk-lore” of Lebanon. Fans, listeners, and music enthusiasts could purchase the album at Rashid Sales or Alamphon Records at 191 and 182 Atlantic respectively. The recording boasted a lineup of Naim Karacand, Hakki Obadia, Joseph Sugar, Ahmed Abdul Malik, Joseph Catton, Eddie Kochak, Mike Hamway, Sam Fackre, Louis Kawam, and others.

 

Louis Kawam played oud on Djamal Aslan's Lebanon: Her Heart, Her Sounds. Courtesy of Richard M. Breaux collection.
https://youtu.be/uwyTBRNjVj0 

 

The big event for 1960 was, of course, the engagement of Luane Kawam to Salvatore Mecca. A January engagement meant an August wedding. Performing took a backseat to Luane’s marriage plans. Both the wedding’s and Aleppian Society held events needing entertainment and Kawam rose to the occasion.  

 

The degree to which Louis Kawan continued to play at mahrajat, haflat, or with his friend Abe Messadi remains unclear. The 1960s brought with it immigration reforms that finally allowed for a greater influx of Arabic-language speakers. The 1924 Johnson Reed quotas had been implemented when Kawan was only eleven years old, now at approximately 52 years of age, the political pendulum had finally swung the other way.  

We’ve had one correspondence with one of Kawam’s granddaughters-in-law but we’ve been unable to learn much about Kawam’s life after 1965. We know he still operated his trucking company which shipped garments between manufacturers and retailers. The golden age of the hafla and mahrajan gave way to the supper club and nightclub eras. Annual festivals still occur at Orthodox, Melkite, and Maronite congregations around the United States and at regional Lebanese and Syrian club conventions but the portions of the music scene transformed as shellac and vinyl gave way to reel-to-reel and digital audio tape. 

 

Louis Kawan died at the fairly young age of sixty-seven in 1981. Kawan’s long-time friend and collaborator, Abe Messadi, lived another five years. Anna Kawan survived until January 1989.  

Richard M. Breaux

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