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

Elias Louis Nassour Wardiny (Oud, Singer, Producer, Owner) This lone image of Louis Wardini, 6 September, 1935, Indianapolis Star . Louis Nassour Wardiny  (sometimes Ilyas Wardini) was born 5 March 1894 in Beirut, Greater Syria (today Lebanon) to Nassour and Clemence Wardini . Some documents suggest he immigrated to the United States around 1904 with his family and, for part of his life, lived in Little Syria in Lower Manhattan. Other documents mark his arrival in April 1913, coming to the US from Beirut to La Harve and then New York City. Immigration documents note the change of name from Elias to Louis and give his occupation as both bookkeeper and singer at various points. In 1917, when the Victor Talking Machine Company still expressed interest in Arab recording artists, Wardiny debuted with 12 sides on six records. While Arab immigrant market clambered to hear more from Wardiny, Victor executives soon shifted direction away from its Arabic and Greek immigr...

Braheen "Edward Abdo" Urban (musician) Braheen Edward Abdo, 1936. Photo courtesy of the Des Moines Register , 8 May 1940. Braheen Edward Abdo was born in Douma, Greater Syria, in 25 February 1902. His family, which included four brothers, George Abdo, Thomas Abdo, Andrew Abdo, and Nicolas Abdo, and three sisters, immigrated to the United States in 1912. For a few years, the family lived in New York. In the 1920s, he recorded a host of sides for the Maloof Phonograph Company label under the name E. Abdo. After recording for Maloof, the Abdo’s relocated to Los Angeles, California. Eddie performed in San Francisco and Hawaii in 1926. E. Abdo, "Bjeel Il Ishreen -The 20th Generation" Maloof #964 https://soundcloud.com/user-387335530/maloof-964-bjeel-il-ishreen-e-abdo-1927 Recordings as E. Abdo on the Maloof Record label, 1920s. Photo courtesy of Richard M. Breaux.  https://soundcloud.com/user-387335530/ibrahim-abdo-tiara-maloof-95...

For the Children at St. Jude - Toufic T. Barham  and Danny Thomas (musician, Oud)  Toufic Barham with Danny Thomas, photo courtesy of Ancestry.com Toufic T. Barham was born to Abraham Barham and Mariam Hajal Barham 10 August 1908 in Jerusalem, Palestine. He immigrated to the United States through Ellis Island with his brothers Ezzat, Daoud, Chekri, and his sister-in-law, Julie Barham in 1920 on board the Rochembeau via Le Havre, France. The family first resided in New York’s Little Syria, and Toufic met and married his future wife, Alice, around May 1932. He and Alice had Toufic “Thomas”Jr. , Barbara, Amil, and Yvonne over the next eight years. After Barbara was born in 1935, the family relocated to Detroit, Michigan where Toufic’s found work as a cleaner and restaurant owner before his career skyrocketed.  Toufic Barham and group played a host of Mahrajan hosted by the Lebanon Syrian American Club.  Sitting (L to R) Garbis Bakarjian, Arno...

George F. Berbari (Musician, Oud) George F. Berbari, photograph courtesy of David Bailey (George's grandson) Just ten miles north of Beirut, in the coastal city of Sahel Alma, near Jounieh, Fayad and Margo Berbari witnessed the birth of one of at least four of their children, George F. Berbari , in 1892 (although his WWI Draft card reads 1896). Silk production and juice production fueled the city’s economy in the late nineteenth century and it was one of the earliest cities in Greater Syria to commercially produce ice. Fayad Berbari was a silk merchant. Competition in the global silk markets drove down the value of Ottoman-produced silk and this combined with population growth and changes in conscription and tax policies served as a catalyst to Greater Syrian emigration. George was a Maronite cantor for a bishop in Lebanon in his youth. By 1910, George and his cousin Manuel followed George's brother Nicholas to the United States. George was one o...

Amer Kadaj and Sana Kadaj (Musicians) Sana and Amer Khaddaj/Kadaj in 1956, from the 5 June 1956 The Post-Star (Glenn Falls, NY) Amer Kadaj (1921-1979 ) was born to Assad and Fawz Kadaj 10 August 1921 in, what is today, Kfar Matta, Lebanon. He developed as a musician at a fairly young age after listening to both live music and his parents' Gramophone records. Sana Kadaj (1919-1992) [also known a Adla] was born 14 June 1919 in Bhamdoun, Lebanon. The Kadajes performed separately before they married and eventually appeared onf the Arabic service program that was a part of the Voices of America Radio series from 1942 to 1945. It is here that they first came to know Farid Alam al-Din , who also went by Fred Alam and owned the Brooklyn, New York-based Alamphon Records . Sana & Amer Kadaj perform, courtesy of Lila Kadaj. In 1947, Amer and Sana left Palestine to come to the US, for what they believed at the time, would be a short trip. As war beca...

Midhat Serbagi (Musician) Midhat Serbagi Passport photograph, 1923; Ancestry.com Midhat Serbagi was born to an  unnamed mother and Abdullah Serbagi on 24 September 1892 in Tripoli, Greater Syria. According to some accounts, he was a Muslim who ran away from home when a child and traveled throughout Greater Syria while he took odd jobs. At eight years old, he reportedly performed the Call to Prayer for the Governor of Syria in Beirut. For part of this time, Turkish officials held him in a prison in Jaffe, Palestine on vagrancy charges until he was returned to his parents.  After experiencing trouble with his vision or his throat (accounts vary) Serbagi visited an eye, ear, and throat specialist, Dr. C.A.B. Peterson, a US citizen from Boston, working in Egypt.  Upon learning of Serbagi’s desire to become a musician, Peterson helped Serbagi get to the US. Serbagi immigrated to the US in 1912, worked as a tailor in New Bedford, Massachusetts, ...

Russell J. Bunai (Musician) Russell Bunai's Passport Photograph from Ancestry.com Rashallah/ Raskallah Bounay or Russell J. Bunai was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 15 September 1903. His parents, like many Syrians who emigrated during the early twentieth century, immigrated to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, moved back to Syria, and entered the United States in December 1920 via France. Between 1880 and 1924, an estimated 95,000 people immigrated to the United States from what was Greater Syria. During roughly the same period, 130,000 emigrated from Greater Syria to Brazil. Russell settled in Boston, Massachusetts, and worked as a store clerk for a number of years, then met his future wife. Boston, Cambridge, and Quincy, Massachusetts, all came to have small Syrian populations in the 1910s and 1920s. Boston’s Syriantown centered around the Hudson and Tyler streets and Harrison Avenue. Russell met, and later married, Syrian-born Rose Haluey on 15 Se...