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

Philip Solomon: New England's Eminent Arab American Music Violin Virtuoso Philip F. Solomon from an Alamphon Records Sleeve. Courtesy of Richard M. Breaux collections.     Approximately six miles northeast of Providence, Rhode Island, where the Seekonk and Blackstone Rivers meet, rests the city of Pawtucket. Its population in 2020 was just over 75,000, but in the 1950s and 1960s when Pawtucket reached its population peak nearly 81.000 people resided there. At the same moment in the 1950s and 1960s, Pawtucket played host to the largest annual mahrajan on the East Coast – a multi-day music and cultural festival that brought Arab America’s biggest and brightest musical talent for a weekend of food, fun, dance, conversation, and cross generational socializing.   Those musicians who played at the Pawtucket mahrajan over the years were a who’s who of middle period Arab American performing artists – Hanan , Kahraman, Naif Agby , Tony Abdelahad , Mohammed El-Akkad , Amer & Sa...

  Mike Hamway: Syrian American Derbakist Extraodinaire  Mike Hamway, Derbake Player. Courtesy of Richard M. Breaux collection. Usually in Arabic music ensembles, a lead singer, oudist, or violinist gets the majority of attention or have the opportunity to showcase their talents in an oud or violin taqsim. Derbake (dirbakeh, darbuka) players or drum players hardly ever warrant attention, but this month’s post changes all that. One of the most sought after, East Coast derbake players of the middle period was older than many of the other musicians with whom he performed. This fact also helps us understand his passing in the 1960s as the nightclub era was in its infancy. This derbake player is best known for performing with Anton Abdelahad , Joe Budway , Philip Solomon , and Russell Bunai . We’re talking about, of course – Mike Hamway. Mike Hamway was born Michayel Hamway 7 November 1892 in Aleppo, Syria. It’s unclear how many siblings he had or who taught him to play the derbake...

Anton Abdelahad: Music of the American-born Mahjar circa 1949. Abdelahad's Song Book . Few Arab American musicians enjoyed the productivity and longevity of singer and ‘oud player, Anton “Tony” Abdelahad (1915-1995).  His live and recorded songs became a staple at “mahrajans” and “haflas” from the 1940s to the 1980s. Ramza Bergoot and Assad Abdelahad immigrated to the United States on 4 September 1904 and 1902, respectively. On 25 November 1905, the couple married in Boston, Massachusetts and settled among a group of Lebanese and Syrians around Hudson Street, Harrison, and Tyler in the heart of Boston just blocks from the Chinese immigrant enclave.  The Abdelahad’s had three children: Evelyn in 1908, Anton in 1915, and Charles in 1918. Anton “Tony” Abdelahad was born 25 July in 1915 to Syrian immigrant parents, Assad and Ramza Abdelahad, in Boston, Massachusetts. Tony Abdelahad heard an earlier generation of Arab and Arab American musicians on 78 rpm records h...

Jamili Matouk or Jameeleh Matouk or Jamileh Matouk (Musician, Dancer, Singer) Jamili Matouk Deep, 1956 Next to Sana Kadaj , Jamileh Matouk or Jamili Matouk or Jameeleh Matouk (1911-1997) became one of Alamphon Records’ top-selling female vocalists in the late 1940s. Born in Tripoli, Lebanon 25 February 1911, we know very little about Matouk’s parents who seemed to have followed those members of the mahjar who immigrated to Brazil and Argentina. Matouk’s brothers Thomas, Anis, and Charles immigrated to the United States in 1912, 1920, and 1923 respectively.  Her sister, Najla, went to Canada. Anis married and settled down with his wife and worked as a tailor in Brooklyn. Thomas settled in Brooklyn, but divorced his wife, and Charles remained single for the time, but later married and moved to Florida. Jamileh arrived in the United States 24 November 1930 from Santos, Brazil after a stop in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on what appears to have been a to...