From The Derbecki Trio to the Derbecki Ensemble: The Group at the Heart of Cleveland’s Arabic Music Scene
From The Derbecki Trio to the Derbecki Ensemble: The Group at the Heart of Cleveland’s Arabic Music Scene
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| The Derbecki Trio (Eddie Hakal, Eddie Shaheen, and Labbie George) with Laurice Peters. Hafla: Echoes of the Middle East album. Courtesy of Richard M. Breaux collection. |
Just over four years ago, back in 2021, we featured the singing of Cleveland’s Laurice Peters. Peters had recently passed away and we explored her music career beginning with her joining the Derbecki Trio in 1957. Over the years, however, between 1949 and 1980, the trio had two core members - Eddie Shaheen and Labbie George- and a host of accompanying singers and oudist who rounded out the band making it the Derbecki Ensemble. The only other musician, although not an original member, to remain with the Derbecki Ensemble for its entire recording career was Edward Hakal. We’ve back tracked to tell the story of the core members and those who came and went as time passed and other opportunities presented themselves.
We found our three Derbecki Ensemble records at the estate sale of Lucy Joseph Harris in La Crosse, Wisconsin in 2018. Lucy, or Lucille, was the daughter of Shikralla Joseph and Mary Skaff. The Josephs were a well-known family in La Crosse’s Syrian and Lebanese American community. An avid record collector, Lucy’s collection only contained three Arab American 33 ⅓ RPM vinyl records among her small collection of LPs and 45s.
The Derbecki Ensemble’s presence in Ohio’s music scene reflected the first wave of Syrian immigration to the Buckeye State between 1884 and 1920. This marked a peak period in Syrian immigration to Cleveland where Syrian immigrants founded Saint Elias Syrian Melkite Church by 1901. Salim Caraboolad and his family were, according to some sources, the city's first Syrian family. Approximately, 700 Syrians resided in Cleveland in 1907 and 8500 called Ohio home. The railroad brought people to Cleveland, Cincinnati, Youngstown, and Toledo but Syrians also ended up in places like Zanesville, Massillon, Sandusky, and Bowling Green. In the 1910s, the influx of Syrian immigrants attracted to work in the steel industry led to their settlement around East 9th Street and Carnegie Avenue in the city’s Haymarket District and to the founding of Saint George’s Antiochian Church in 1911 and Saint Maron Maronite Catholic Church in 1915. Cleveland’s African American population began to grow exponentially during this period, as well, fueled by blacks fleeing Jim Crow and racial violence in places like Alabama. Although the number of Syrians coming to the city was smaller, over 1300 Syrians called Cleveland home by 1920 including the Shaheens, Georges, and Rumya families.
Edward M. Shaheen was born to Michael and Annie Mohanna Shaheen on 6 May 1921 in Cleveland, Ohio. Mike immigrated to the United States around 1900 and his first wife Teresa came to the states a few years after in 1903. As noted before this marked a peak period of Syrian immigration to Cleveland, Akron, Ashtabula, and Toledo. Michael and Teresa stood among these immigrants and the pair married around 1906 and had Henry and Joseph by 1910. Teresa seems to have died between 1910 and 1915 and Mike married his second wife Annie around 1920. Eddie attended school in Cleveland and by 1940 worked as an airplane machinist. His older half-brother Joe held down a gig as a bartender in a local nightclub where Eddie entertained audiences playing his accordion. Uncle Sam called when Eddie turned twenty and he enlisted in the US Army. In the Army, Eddie formed his first band with Joseph Farvara and Cecil C. Smith in 1944. The band played pop song covers.
Eddie Shaheen wed, launched his band, and settled into a life of work. Shaheen married the love of his life, Matilda M. Kaleel 21 July 1944. Tille, as she was called, was born in Cleveland, but moved to Kentucky where she worked as a typist. Eddie expanded his musical repertoire and in 1949 began to book performances at private parties, the annual state convention of Syrian/Lebanese Clubs, and other groups. On June 24-26, 1949, billed as Eddie Shaheen and his Oriental Orchestra, the band rebranded as an Arab American and Middle Eastern music group and played for the Zanesville American Legion club. The group began calling itself the Derbecki Trio the following year, meanwhile, Eddie and Tillie moved in with Eddie’s parents who, by 1950, owned a delicatessen. Eddie eventually took ownership of a Parma, Ohio supermarket.
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| A young Labbie S. George. 1932 Lincoln High School Yearbook (Cleveland). Courtesy of Ancestry.com |
Perhaps the first iteration of the Derbecki Trio consisted of Eddie Shaheen on accordion, Labbie George on derbecki, and Daher Rumya on oud. This preliminary Trio played at the Tri-State Decoration/Memorial Day weekend festival in May 1952. They also secured a gig at the Saint John’s Maronite Church Picnic near New Castle, Pennsylvania on August 11, 1952. Within a few years came television and radio appearances including Freddie Antoon’s “Arabian Nights Revue” on June 12, 1956 and future Professional Bowling Association founder Eddie Elias’s Akron television show in November 1956. Spurred on by their growing popularity, the Derbecki Trio secured an invitation to the 1957 Midwest convention of the Syrian Orthodox Youth Organization held in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Headliners were Hanan backed by Jalil Azzouz and Francis Saad (who also began to accompany an up-and-coming Fadwa Abeid). Following this gig, the Derbecki Trio's star began to rise. Until then, all their performances featured Eddie Saheen, Labbie George, and Daher Rumya.
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Samrah Ya Samrah Track 4 - https://youtu.be/MGpaYHtfoko |
The Derbecki Trio’s other core member was, of course, the percussionist and derbecki player Labbie S. George. Born 29 June 1914 in Cleveland, Ohio, Labbie George was the son of immigrants Edna and Shaheen George. Shaheen George worked as a contracted sewer for much of his life. Labbie attended and graduated from Cleveland’s Lincoln High School in 1932 where he had been a member of the boy’s choir and the band. One of Labbie’s first jobs out of high school was work as a bricklayer. On 6 September 1942, Labbie married Ardelle M. Ganim. Shortly after his marriage Labbie took up playing the derbecki. He left construction and installed gas pipelines for his next job. This he did full-time while playing gigs on the side first with Daher Rumya and Eddie Shaheen. Next to Eddie Shaheen no musician kept playing in the trio turned ensemble from beginning to end as long as Labbie George. A fixture in Cleveland’s Syrian/Lebanese community, after his stint in the United States Navy during World War II, he became a life-long member of the Cleveland Musicians Union and the Aramoon Club.
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| The original Derbecki Trio. Caravan 15 November 1956. Courtesy of Newspapers.com |
Daher Elias Rumya, the oldest of the original Derbecki Trio, was born 24 June 1898 in Greater Syria, now Lebanon. He immigrated to the United States around 1913 and married widower Minnie Yazbeck Sam on 7 May 1921 in Cleveland, Ohio. Although some sources suggest Rumya started singing and playing the oud around 1936, we uncovered evidence of his oud playing at a wedding for a Mr. and Mrs. Fred Shaheen in October 1929. Somewhat of a thespian, as well, Rumya appeared as the lead in a community theater production of Fredrich Schiller’s “The Robbers” in January 1930. Four years later, Rumya and a small band of Syrian immigrants performed the US national anthem on traditional Syrian instruments at a meeting of Cleveland American Equality League. The League’s purpose was to promote civility and equality among people in the city representing twenty-two nations. Rumya played oud accompanied by others on the mijwiz and derbecki. At home, Daher raised the couple’s three children Marie, Louis, and Louise, after Minnie died in 1932. Daher worked as a machinist at a butcher supply factory called Kleenkut Manufacturing. He remained working here through World War II. After spending most of his life in Cleveland, Daher finally became a naturalized US citizen on 27 February 1948. Within two years, Daher and his son Louis shifted gears completely and opened a dry cleaning business. The Derbecki Trio toured on the hafla and Mahrajan circuit in Ohio, parts of Pennsylvania, and Michigan. On several occasions, they toured with Alamphon Records’ power couple Sana and Amer Kadaj. Daher Rumya remained the Derbecki Trio’s lead vocalist until around 1957, when Eddie Hakal joined the Trio and Laurice Peters became lead singer. Daher stayed active in Lebanese Cleveland where he served as secretary of the Cleveland chapter of the World Lebanese Union. He owned and operated the Impala Bar until his retirement in 1963 and he passed on in January 1967.
The Derbecki Trio’s debut single was as backup band on “Derbecki” recorded with Lebanese American singer Russ Carlyle. Sources vary as to how many versions of the song Carlyle recorded and what year the Trio actually appeared on the recording. For example, the Capitol Records archive lists Carlyle’s first recording of the song in 1950. Another source suggests that Carlyle’s release backed by the Derbecki Trio was recorded in 1953. Finally, in 1960 the Debecki Ensemble released yet another version of Derbecki on its Hafli: Echoes of the Middle East LP. They credit Carlyle but he does not appear on the album’s introductory cut.
Rare are the musicians for whom we cannot find a birthdate on an official document, yet Edward Elias Hakal, born November 7, 1914, is one of them. The oldest child, born to Elias and Mary Mohanna Hakal in Cleveland, Ohio, attended East Technical High School where he played violin in the school orchestra. Eddie married Lauretta Cotter on 3 September 1938. Employed as a debt collector and loan broker, Eddie and Lauretta lived at 20583 Lakewood with their four daughters Norma, Ruth, Carol, and Kathy. Eventually, Eddie and Loretta added Susan, Mary, Elizabeth, and Eddie Jr. to the family. Eddie joined the Derbecki Ensemble in approximately 1957. In addition to regularly playing violin, Eddie graced the saxophone and clarinet on the 1960 Hafli LP and the 1971 Sahra album. As a member of the Ensemble, he travelled the Midwest, Canada, and as far south as South Carolina and Orlando, Florida on the hafla and mahrajan circuit. Sadly, both Lauretta and Eddie Jr. [age 12] died in 1974. Edward Sr. married Margaret Berger on 6 August 1977 and the two moved to Sun City, Arizona, in 1980, which also happened to be the last documented year the Derbecki Ensemble performed publicly.
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| The Derbecki Ensemble as Daher Rumya, Eddie Shaheen, Eddie Hakal, Labbie George, and Shirley George. Cleveland Plain Dealer, Courtesy of Newspapers.com |
The most difficult member of the Derbecki Ensemble to track and research was oudist George Khayat. We have neither an exact birth or death date for George Khayat but we believe he came to the United States from Zahle in 1959 and was born 20 January 1936. He debuted on the Derbecki Ensemble’s Hafli album in 1960 and made a showing on their 1964 sophomore LP Debkie: Exotic Dances of the Middle East. He toured both with the Ensemble and as a solo artist who accompanied either the Derbecki Ensemble or Laurice Peters or both until May 1966. Perhaps he lived between Cleveland and Chicago; this fact is unclear. However, by 1976, George Khayat reappeared at the APADANA Restaurant playing nightly in Newport Beach, California. Khayat’s life before 1960 and after 1976 are almost wholly speculative. He did not appear on the Derbecki Ensemble’s 1971 Sahra album.
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| Oudist George Khayat played on the Derbecki Ensembles first two albums. Derbecki Recording Co. Courtesy of Richard M. Breaux collection. |
At its largest, in 1961, the Derbecki Ensemble was Eddie Shaheen, Labbie George, Eddie Hakal, George Khayat, Laurice Peters, and Jimmie Peters. Arabic music in Cleveland was synonymous with the Derbecki Ensemble. The addition of Korean War veteran Jimmie Peters (1930-2023) was short term but he appeared on tambourine the Ensemble's debut album. Peters was the husband of Laurice Peters.
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| Labbie George, Eddie Shaheen, Eddie Hakal, Laurice Peters, and George Khayat in 1961. Photo by Grace Gould. The Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 14, 1961. Courtesy of Newspapers.com |
Brothers George J. Mouhanna (born May 8, 1925) and Antoine J. Mouhanna (born July 9, 1935) were members of the Derbecki Trio from approximately 1968 to 1971. They were born in Jounieh, Lebanon to Joseph and Labbibi Peters Mouhanna in 1925 and 1935 respectively. George immigrated to the United States in 1953 and married Syrian American Josephine Ritchey in Beirut, Lebanon, three months before his arrival in America. George Mouhanna almost immediately applied for naturalized citizenship. By marrying a United States citizen, he could shorten the number of years he needed to be a permanent resident before his citizenship application could be processed. He travelled to and from Beirut in the early 1960s and Josephine filed for and courts granted a divorce on the grounds of gross negligence of duty. Meanwhile, Antoine, who went by Tony, immigrated to the United States around 1959, married Rosemary Elias in 1963, and became a naturalized citizen on 10 January 1964. Ironically, Rosemary divorced Antoine for "gross neglect of duty" in 1973 for the same reasons George's wife had asked for a divorce in 1962. In 1977, Antoine, a factory worker, married fellow factory worker Marilyn Lou Gordon. The couple had two daughters and a son.
As Cleveland found itself in the throes of the Civil Rights Movement, and became the first major US city to elect an African American mayor in 1968, both George and Antoine Mouhanna joined Eddie Shaheen, Libbie George, and Edward Hakal touring and recording with the Derbecki Ensemble. The early 1960s through the early 1970s saw the Derbecki Ensemble keep one foot in the mahrajan/hafla circuit and the others in nightclubs and supper clubs. In Akron, the Ensemble played Nick Yanko’s in May 1963 and from May to November 1964 they regularly jammed at Almir’s Hideaway and Champa’s club in Cleveland. Saint Mary’s Syrian Orthodox Church booked the Ensemble for their 18th Annual hafla in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in June 1968; and, Saint George Orthodox Church brought the Ensemble all the way to Orlando, Florida, for its February 1971 Gala Hafla. The Syrian/Lebanese women’s club, El Binette, booked the Ensemble for their February 1973 fundraiser in Zanesville, Ohio. Proceeds went to Muskingum Comprehensive Mental Health Center for educational projects, workshops, seminars, and films.
The various members of the Derbecki Ensemble began to retire by the 1980s, although all but two lived beyond the year 2000. George Mouhanna passed away on May 11, 1985. The remaining members of the group lived into the new millennium. Labbie George, 88, lived until October 2002. Two years later, Eddie Hakal, age 89, passed on 15 January 2004. Ensemble leader and founder Edward Shaheen, 91, died in September 2011, and Antoine “Tony” Mouhanna passed away 30 March 2016. As noted in our profile of her, Laurice Peters enjoyed a solo career in the 1970s and 1980s and died on September 11, 2021. She lived to be 90.
Richard M. Breaux
© Midwest Mahjar
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