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

  Metropolitan Germanos Shehadi (Chehade): The Beloved Golden-Voiced Priest, Who Defied his Synod  Germanos Shehadi c. 1915. Photo courtesy of and permissions from  The Word , 61, 4 (2017), 6. Have you ever wondered how Arab American Antiochian Orthodox cantors with little or no formal musical training maintained and retained the musical traditions that are such an integral part of Arabic-language matins, divine liturgies, and vespers? Today, many Antiochian congregations have English-language only services. Increasingly the second, third, and fourth-generation Arab Americans, who happen to attend Antiochian Orthodox churches, don’t speak or understand Arabic. A few Antiochian Orthodox churches with larger congregations that still serve Syrian and Lebanese American communities and had more persistent flows of immigrants from the Middle East after 1965, like Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Brooklyn, New York, hold bi-lingual services in English and Arabic. The Basilica of Saint Mary Antioch