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

  Mohammed El-Akkad:  King of the Kanun Press photo of Mohammed El-Akkad from May 9, 1985 performance at Northeastern University. Courtesy of Richard M. Breaux collection. Without question Nadha musicians influenced the first generation of Arab American musicians to record in the United States, but few early or middle period musicians can claim to be a direct descendent of a Nadha musician. Mohammed Yousri Moustafa El-Akkad became one of few mahjari musicians who could lay claim this lineage. His grandfather was the Egyptian kanun player Mohamed Eff. Al-Aqqad (1850-1931) and he was born November 27, 1911 in Egypt. The music of the elder Al-Aqqad had been captured on Baidaphon recordings and he taught his grandson to play the kanun. The elder Al-Aqqad played alongside Yusef al-Manyalawi, Abdul Hay Hilmy, Salama Higazi, and other well-known musicians. According to Raphael Cormak, Sami al-Shawa, Mohammed al-Qasabji, and the elder Mohammed el-Aqqad were part of a group that backe...