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

The Arabian Nights Radio Programs: The Connection Between the Decrease of 78 RPM Production and Arab American Radio's Beginnings During the Great Depression Photo by Midwest Mahjar Prior to the Great Depression, 78 RPM record sales boomed and a handful of Arab American musicians such as Alexander Maloof, Fedora Kurban, and others appeared on radio for special one-night programs. In October 1929, the combination of inflated stock values, over speculation, and the resultant stock market crash sent the U.S. economy and global markets tumbling to unforeseen depths.  Wealthy people lost millions, eventually 1 in 4 US Citizens could not find gainful employment. Among the industries hit hardest was the phonograph record industry.  Record companies sold over one hundred million records in 1925, but within seven years, they sold only six million and several record companies went belly-up. Companies like Paramount Records in Grafton, Wisconsin, w...

Metropolitan Samuel David Courtesy of Richard M. Breaux collection. Metropolitan Samuel David  (Daoud) was, the youngest of six children, born on August 26, 1893, to John Daoud Husson and Gazaly Haddad in Aita, Greater Syria (now Lebanon). In the tradition of people like cantor Mitri el Murr and Metropolitan Germanos Shehadi, he studied in school near Tripoli, Lebanon to become a part of the Antiochian Orthodox patriarchate and believed music could be an essential component of the ministry. He graduated from the Balamand Seminary in 1914 having studied with Mitri el Murr and became an ordained deacon in 1916. As an ordained deacon, Samuel David mastered Byzantine chanting and in 1920, he was elevated to Archimandrite and one year later, in 1921, he immigrated to the United States (some source suggest 17 June 1920). After World War I, he was appointed as pastor of St. George Orthodox Cathedral in Toledo, Ohio. The combination of the Bolshevik Revolution and the death of Arch...