“King of the Violin”: Sami al Shawwa Visits the United States
“King of the Violin”: Sami al Shawwa Visits the United States Sami Shawwa on WWRL New York Studio in 1953. Courtesy of Raymond Rashid. Violinist Sami al Shawwa (Sami Shawa or Sami Chawa) is a stranger to few who consider themselves students of early twentieth century Arabic music. An unparalleled musician extraordinaire whose reputation preceded him from mashriq to mahjar, east and west Africa to North and South America, Shawwa’s legendary status was only rivaled by the apocryphal stories concerning his violin’s origins and the wood out of which it was said to have been constructed. What follows is, at best, our feeble attempt to retell the story of this prince of the Arab violin. We present the story of Sami al Shawwa at Midwest Mahjar not because we believe we can relay the story any more accurately or thoroughly than anyone else before but because as a blog dedicated to Arab American music and musicians, Sami, although he never immigrated to the United States, visited on at least