Midwest Mahjar: The Recorded Sounds of the Arabic-Speaking Diaspora in the United States at 78 RPM

  From Mahjar to Mahrajan to Mainstream:  Nick Anthony's Journey from Lead Singer to Solo Artist Nick Anthony c. 1962. Ever since we came across his image and name in an advertisement for a Gala Hafla in a 1957 Caravan newspaper, we’ve been intrigued by the story of Nick Anthony . In the era of hair grease, pompadour hairstyles, and the popularization of rock music, Nick Anthony or Nick Anthony and the Starfires started their career as the "American entertainment" at Arab American haflat and mahrajanat.  An important feature of the hafla and mahrajan emerged in the 1950s as the U.S.-born children and grandchildren of Arabic-speaking immigrants attended cultural celebrations and events with their elders but spoke and understood less and less Arabic. Organizers of hafla and mahrajan began dividing the entertainment between acts who sang in Arabic and those that performed in English. These single-day and weekend-long festivals signaled a way to hold onto certain cultural tr...