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

  Anthony M. Abraham: Alkawakeb Record Corporation’s Elusive Owner and Story 78 RPM Alkawakeb record with recording by Hanan. Contains a  registered in the USA mark. Courtesy of Richard M. Breaux collection. Sometimes life drops an answer to your question in your lap and other times it is written in the stars (and the planets). Those are both true in the case of the Arab American record label Alkawakeb. For years now, the story of Alkawakeb Records, like  Maloof Phonograph Co. , A.J. Macksoud , Alamphon Records , and Arabphon Records , has eluded ethnographers and historians of Arab American cultural history and ethnomusicology. Here at Midwest Mahjar, we too, struggled to piece together the few documents that tell us about Alkawakeb Records and its owner. An internet search yielded one entry on Discogs  which notes that Alkawakeb “seems to be a US-based Lebanese record company and label releasing Lebanese and Middle Eastern music for the Arab expats in the US.” Othe...