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

Alexander R. Maloof (1884-1956)  This photograph of Alexander Maloof appeared in his 1924 Oriental Piano Music by Alexander Maloof: Syrian Popular Folk Songs From Richard M. Breaux collection. One of the most prolific and versatile composers, producers, orchestra leaders, and business owners in the first five decades of the twentieth century was Alexander R. Maloof. Collectors of 78 rpm records have written quite a bit about Maloof. His 78 rpm records are still highly sought after. Much of what has been published about Maloof’s personal and professional life is filled with contradictions about birthdate, death date, and place of death, but it’s our hope to shed some light on the complex life of this father of Arab American music. Depending on what sources one consults, Alexander Maloof was either born in 23 January 1884 or 1885, the second of six children to Abraham and Hanna Maloof in Zahlé, Greater Syria (now Lebanon). The Maloofs immigrated to the U...

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...

The Search for Farid Alam Al-Din (Al"Fred"Alam) and Alamphon Records  Farid Alam, c. 1956 There is no doubt if you collect 78 rpm Arab or Arab American records you have come across the Alamphon Records label. For years there have been questions about Alamphon, its founder, the artists who recorded on the label and the extent to which the label recorded its own artist or reproduced and dubbed imported records from the Arab World. The answer is quite simply, Alamphon produced both. The following is one of the more detailed accounts about the history of Farid Alam Al-Din and Alamphon Records. The Alamphon Arabic Recording Company was an Arab-American record label based in Brooklyn, New York. The label was founded and owned by the Lebanese-Syrian American فريد علم الدين Farid Alam al-Din. Farid went more commonly by the anglicized name Alfred or Fred Alam. Note that even in advertisements, Alfred used the names "Farid Alam" and ...

Elia Baida (Musician, oud) Elia Baida, c. 1939 Only a handful of musicians maintained relevance in Lebanon, Egypt, and the United States from the 1930s until the 1960s, and Elia Baida is one of those musicians. More than forty years after his death, Baida is remembered as one of the most significant and prolific performers of his generation. Born in Beirut, Greater Syria (today Lebanon) Elia Baida was born to Gibran and Tamam Baida on 6 August 1907. Elia Baida started his musical career in Lebanon. Ethnomusicologist Ali J. Racy, notes that Elia Baida was an “immediate relative,” but not one of the five founding cousins, of Baida Records. Elia, of course, recorded for Baida Records (later Baidaphon) and Cairophon records in the 1930s and 1940s.  Sometimes he recorded solo as Professor Elie Baida or Elie Baida and others he recorded with Laure Dackache. He also appeared on Alamphon Records and Arabphon , an Arab American label that dubbed and distribut...