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

  Music By Joseph Moshay: A Lebanese American Musician Who Became a Society Orchestra Leader to Hollywood’s Rich, Famous, & Powerful Joe Moshay from the 1954 Pacific Syrian American Guide. Courtesy of Richard M. Breaux collection.   At Midwest Mahjar, we are entering our fifth year of blogging about Arab American and Arabic-language musicians and music in the United States. Much of our work covers the first six decades of the 20 th century and the 78 RPM era of recording, production, and music consumption. Most of the artists we’ve featured recorded primarily in the 78 RPM era and sang exclusively or primarily in Arabic; we’ve highlighted a few exceptions. Capital Records pop singer Virginia Atter and surf guitarist Johnny Barakat come immediately to mind. Both Atter and Barakat also released music on 45 RPM, not 78 rpm. While conducting research on a rare 78 RPM record by Hana Wakeen and Dave Bonnesar , we encountered the story of an Arab American Hollywood society or...