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...

  The Music of John Fayad: La Voz del Desierto Photo of John Fayad. circa 1975. Courtesy of Richard M. Breaux collection. Before writing this profile, I could find very little information about John Fayad in one place. I first came across his name in 2019 when I purchased two 78 rpm records on the Voz del Desierto label. Searches online and in Discogs yielded albums on the Piramade label also named Voz del Desierto. No 78s on the label emerged in my results signaling the rarity of the two 78 rpm discs likely recorded and pressed at the height of Fayad’s career in the 1950s. Fayad’s oud playing is stellar. Remarkably as good as any of his contemporaries in the United States or Latin America. But available government records suggest Fayad remained a roaming musician for most of his life. For short periods he resided in Havana, Miami, Belize City, and Mexico City, but he was never in any of these places long enough to leave anything but a smattering of documents. He should also not b...