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

  Michel Akkaoui: Tears of Joy, Sadness, and Longing for Home Record sleeve photo of Michel Akkaoui. Courtesy of Richard M. Breaux collection. By 1957, in the Arab American music world the hafla and mahrajan circuit reached their apex. The period Anne Rasmussen labeled the nightclub era had just gotten its legs. The second wave of Arab immigration to the United States brought new souls, growing in demographic diversity, and fresh faces to the almost half-century old music scene. Sana & Amer Kadaj , Jalil Azzouz , Mohammed El-Akkad , Jack Ganaim , Mohamed el-Bakkar , and others made up the vast array of new musicians recording on Fred Alam’s Alamphon , Albert Rashid’s Al-Chark , George N. Gorayeb's Arabphon , Cleopatra, and growing set of vanity and re-issue labels for Arab and Arab American audiences and listeners to enjoy. Into this milieu stepped the relatively unknown-oudist Michel Akkaoui.   Michel Akkaoui was born in Tripoli, Lebanon 27 September 1930. We know very li...