Marie Jos. Kabalan Cuts a Mohammed Abdel Wahab Song on Record with Naim Karacand's Band

 


Marie Jos. Kabalan Cuts a Mohammed Abdel Wahab Song on Record with Naim Karacand's Band


Marie Jos. Kabala, 1971. Miami Herald, July 1971. Courtesy of Newspapers.com


If you are a person who has never heard of the Arab American singer Marie Jos. Kabalan - you would not be the first. She does not appear to have been a regularly selling or commercial professional singer or well-known personality or performer on the hafla and mahrajan circuit. To some, however, she was well-known. That we can tell, she only recorded one single  on 78 rpm disc and her life and career might have gone unnoticed had she not been accompanied by Naim Karacand's Band on her single, double-sided release. Years ago, we directed Canary Records Ian Nagoski to a copy of Kabalan's single for sale online. We later bought our own copy of this single. Nonetheless, for a virtually unknown singer, we have considerable detail about the life of Marie Jos. Kabalan.


Marie Karmaha Khalil arrived in the United States in 1920; she was born in Tripoli, Lebanon (Greater Syria) either 20 May 1900, or more likely 20 May 1907. Tripoli is the country's second largest city and its northern-most port city. Tripoli was known for its orange orchards and may explain why Marie eventually settled in Florida. By her own account, Kabalan came to the States to visit her brother when the single, fifteen-year-old attempting to navigate New York City on a snowy night met her fur-coat wearing future husband, Joseph Kabalan. Joseph offered to drive Marie wherever she needed to go.  Only one year before their 1920 meeting, Joseph Kabalan had been sued in a New Jersey Circuit Court by his sister-in-law, Mary Roseman Kabalan, for $10,000, alleging he and his sister encouraged their brother Caesar Kabalan to abandon his wife. Joseph pursued Marie who “ran away from, got engaged to, left, and finally married” him. The couple married twice – first in a 23 July 1921 civil ceremony, and then in a 25 July 1921 church service. The latter came at Marie’s insistence. 


The multilingual Joseph was, by some accounts, twice Marie’s age, yet Marie laid out the initial terms of the marriage. The second religious ceremony, two separate bedrooms on their honeymoon, threw Kabalan for a loop that he nonetheless respected. Born in 1889, Joseph Kabalan immigrated to the United States in 1903, accompanied by his sisters, brother, and widowed mother. The family first lived on Washington Street in lower Manhattan's Little Syria. They soon moved to Jersey City by 1915. Fixing wooden oil barrels at a Standard Oil refinery in New Jersey became one of Joseph's first jobs. Joseph’s next gig was as an embroiderer and salesperson for a clothing manufacturer. He came to specialize in uniforms, underwear, and undergarments. In Jersey City, Joseph was a business partner in Schuster & Kabalan at 1523 Boulevard from 1916 to 1920.


Marie and Joseph had three children in all, two of these, Adelaide and Joseph Khalil, in 1922 and 1924, in Brooklyn and Jersey City, respectively.  The family then traveled to Lebanon in 1928, lived at 296 Old Bergen Road in Jersey City in 1930, and some time after 1930 moved temporarily to Saint Louis, Missouri where they remained until 1936. In the 1920s, Saint Louis had Saint Anthony the Hermit Maronite Church at 1201 Ange Avenue with Father Youakim Stephan serving as priest and Saint Raymond Maronite Church at 925 La Salle Street led by Father Joseph Karam. Both were founded by immigrants from Hadchit. Saint Anthony emerged in 1898 and Saint Raymond by 1911.  In 1907, Dr. Nageeb Abdou reported 1500 Syrians in Saint Louis, representing the fifth largest community in the United States at the time. Maloof Phonograph Records star Anthony Shaptini was born in Saint Louis and composer Louise Yazbeck attended Washington University for music education courses there in the 1920s. 


The Kabalans left the Midwest for the South and settled in Saint Petersburg, Florida, by the second half of the 1930s. Joseph continued work as a salesman, Adelaide and Joseph, Jr. attended school and Khalil attended college and enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps. In 1942, Adelaide Kabalan married Arthur L. Smith from Wichita, Kansas. The work of Jay M. Price and Sue Abdinnour notes that Wichita, interestingly, had an older and larger Arab American community than Saint Petersburg from 1900 through 1930. Within a year, Khalil Kabalan reported for duty with nine other college students in Miami.  A visit by Springfield, Massachusetts Maronite priest Wakeem Yameen to Saint Paul’s Catholic Church in Miami became cause for Marie Kabalan to join a four-person select church choir and perform in 1945. It is all-to-well likely Naim Karacand knew the Kabalans from their time in Brooklyn or Jersey City, collaborated with Kabalan based on a recommendation or suggestion from other Tripoli natives such as Midhat Serbagi, Jamili Matouk, or Sam Fackre, or encountered the Kabalans on the halfla, maharajan, or convention circuit and decided to cut a record with Marie. We don't know for certain who made up the members of Naim Karacand's band at the time of recording but they were likely musicians we've profiled on other posts. Interestingly, a 1955 issue of the Caravan noted Marie Kabalan "was formerly a well known Arabic singer."


"Marie Jos. Kabalan" performed with Naim Karacand's misspelled Karagand's Band. Courtesy of Richard M. Breaux collection.

Khalil Kabalan died in a military air accident in 1945. Miami Herald 28 September 1946. Courtesy of Newspapers,com

In the army, Khalil served as a fighter pilot in Germany and Italy earning an Air Medal. He was one of 15,000 Arab Americans to serve in World War II and was officially discharged in 1945. A reserve lieutenant, Kabalan died when his P-51 airplane exploded and crashed in Miami in 1946. In recognition of Khalil’s service, fellow military pilots flew over and circled the cemetery with their planes in formation. Pilots dropped roses from the planes as other soldiers conducted military rites. Interestingly, Khalil was enrolled at the University of Miami as well. The plane accident, of course, devastated Marie.  Most of the Kabalan family had moved to Miami by this time and Marie and Joseph remained there for the remainder of their lives.


Saint Petersburg and Miami constituted two of the biggest cities in Florida with a sizable and active Arab American community and numerous Arab American singers in addition to Marie Kabalan and her family called Florida home. Former A.J. Mcksoud and Maloof singer Salim Doumani, Mosa Kalooky, Alamphon's Jamili Matouk, Virginia Atter, and Emil Kasses all settled in Florida. For a time in the 1940s, Marie's youngest child became quite the noted singer at Saint Petersburg High School. He appeared in numerous school productions in high school and college and sang at the weddings of friends and family. Several formal and informal events in Miami's Arab American community took place at the Syria Lebanon Club of Miami at 2626 SW Third Avenue.


Marie's story is slightly complicated by the fact that she was not officially naturalized until 1965, the year the United States government overhauled its naturalization and immigration regulations and requirements. Census takers in 1930, 1940, and 1950, presumed Marie had been naturalized because Joseph was, and her children were natural-born citizens. 


Marie Kabalan. Miami Herald 5 August 1971. Courtesy of Newspapers.com

By 1971, Marie and Joseph lived at 701 SW 25th Road in Miami and celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.  Their trips to and from Lebanon over the years meant they filled their home rugs, “hand-cared furniture,” and other art. Adelaide made sure her parent’s celebration received plenty of press coverage.


Remarkably, Joseph Kabalan lived to be ninety-eight or ninety-nine years old. Marie Kabalan lived until 14 December 1995. Of course, Marie’s vocal rendition of Mohammed Abdel Wahab’s "Ya Naaimann Raqadat Goufounou" means her voice remains with us til this day.


Did you know Marie, Joseph, Adelaide, or Joseph Jr.? Were you friends or relatives? Reach out to us and let us know. We'd love to hear from you.


Richard M. Breaux


© Midwest Mahjar








Location: La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA La Crosse, WI, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Alexander Maloof: Guardian and Protector of Syrian Music in America

Image
Alexander R. Maloof (1884-1956)  This photograph of Alexander Maloof appeared in his 1924 Oriental Piano Music by Alexander Maloof: Syrian Popular Folk Songs From Richard M. Breaux collection. One of the most prolific and versatile composers, producers, orchestra leaders, and business owners in the first five decades of the twentieth century was Alexander R. Maloof. Collectors of 78 rpm records have written quite a bit about Maloof. His 78 rpm records are still highly sought after. Much of what has been published about Maloof’s personal and professional life is filled with contradictions about birthdate, death date, and place of death, but it’s our hope to shed some light on the complex life of this father of Arab American music. Depending on what sources one consults, Alexander Maloof was either born in 23 January 1884 or 1885, the second of six children to Abraham and Hanna Maloof in Zahlé, Greater Syria (now Lebanon). The Maloofs immigrated to the Unite
Read more

Albert Rashid: Rashid Sales Company, Al-Chark /the Orient and the Largest Selection of Arabic Records in the United States

Image
Albert Rashid A young Albert Rashid. Southeastern High School, The Aryan Yearbook, 1930, p.61. Courtesy of Ancestry.com  Depending on whether you’re an old timer who purchased your 78 RPM Arabic music discs via mail order in the 1930s from Detroit or you visited one of the brick and mortar locations of Rashid Sales Company on E. 28 th Street in Manhattan or the 191 Atlantic Avenue site in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, or 155 Court Street store in the 1990s and 2000s, Albert Rashid became known for one of three things – Arabic-language film and soundtrack distribution, his Al-Chark or Orient Record label, or his world famous record and music store Rashid Sales Company. By World War II’s end, in Brooklyn, New York, Rashid’s Al-Chark label and Fred Alam’s Alamphon engaged in a friendly but heated competition that rivaled that of Alexander Maloof’ s Washington Street-based Maloof Records  and Albert J. Macksoud’s records in the 1920s. Based on which sources o
Read more

The Incomparable Kahraman and Naif Agby - The Sun and The Planets

Image
Kahraman and Naif Agby  Olga "Kahraman" Agby, 17 April 1958, Caravan. Naif Agby, El Debke; author's collection. The 78-RPM era overlapped with the first two waves of Arab immigrants to the United States. The first was roughly 1880 to 1944 and the second spanned approximately from 1944 to 1966. While we can situate a few of the musicians on Arab and Arab American 78 rpm records to the first wave, most first wave musicians enjoyed careers that encompassed both eras. Still others, like Sana and Amer Khadaj , Odette Kaddo , Hanaan , and Naif Agby and Kahraman, who recorded on Alamphon, Orient Records, Sun Records, and Alkawakeb, clearly make up the second wave. It is remarkable, although not surprising, that most of these musicians not only knew each other, but performed together live and on record.   Nayeh Ejbeh or Naif Agby was born in Ehden, Greater Syria (now Lebanon) to Wadah Yamin and Joseph Ejbeh on either 22 June or 27 December 1920. He bega
Read more

The Many Facets of Louis Wardiny

Image
Elias Louis Nassour Wardiny (Oud, Singer, Producer, Owner) This lone image of Louis Wardini, 6 September, 1935, Indianapolis Star . Louis Nassour Wardiny  (sometimes Ilyas Wardini) was born 5 March 1894 in Beirut, Greater Syria (today Lebanon) to Nassour and Clemence Wardini . Some documents suggest he immigrated to the United States around 1904 with his family and, for part of his life, lived in Little Syria in Lower Manhattan. Other documents mark his arrival in April 1913, coming to the US from Beirut to La Harve and then New York City. Immigration documents note the change of name from Elias to Louis and give his occupation as both bookkeeper and singer at various points. In 1917, when the Victor Talking Machine Company still expressed interest in Arab recording artists, Wardiny debuted with 12 sides on six records. While Arab immigrant market clambered to hear more from Wardiny, Victor executives soon shifted direction away from its Arabic and Greek immigrant
Read more

Hanan: “Don’t Miss Her Wherever She Will Be!!!”

Image
Hanan/ Hanaan (Jeanette Hayek Harouni) Hanan/Hanaan,  Caravan 12 January 1956. Courtesy of Newspapers.com   Only a handful of Arab or Arab American singers were known and are remembered by a single name. There was Asmahan, Karawan, Kahraman , and, of course – Hanan or Hanaan !            Hanaan or Hanan was born Jeanette Nehme Hayek on 8 November 1929 in Beirut, Lebanon. She was one of five children born to Jacob Hayek and Wadiha Atik Hayek. Ironically, the same year Jeanette’s birth the first Lebanese film, The Adventures of Mabrouk , was released. Jeanette displayed the talents of an actor and singer early on and received classical Arabic music training. Jeanette first traveled to Brazil in 1947 and again in 1948 to perform in concert with Wadih Saffi. Jeanette's mother accompanied her on the trip.  Compare and contrast two of Hanan's four identity documents for Brazil. One gives her birth year as 1922 and the other, the more
Read more

Mohamed Said ZainEldeen: Fragments in the Life of an Early Columbia Records' Tenor

Image
Mohamed Said ZainEldeen:  Fragments in the Life of an Early Columbia Records' Tenor Mohamed Said ZainEldeen. Photo Courtesy of Richard Z.  There are several early-period Arab American musicians for whom we have so little information we can hardly compose a narrative that provides anything other than the most basic biographical information. Walim Kamel and Zakia Agob are among them. For others, we have slightly more, but still incomplete information.  The tenor   M. ZainEldeen   stands out as one.   We've long had one M. ZainEldeen 78 RPM record and most recently, after we undertook piecing together scraps of his biographical information, we acquired another. As usual, we scoured over immigration documents, U.S. Census data, city directories, and three-quarters of the way through, we located and corresponded with surviving relatives - here's what we found.  Mohamed ZainEldeen was born 1 November 1892 in Homs, Syria. Originally, his name was Zain E
Read more

Fadwa Abeid: An Arab American Singer Finds a More Lucrative Career in the Arab World

Image
Fadwa Abeid or Fadwa Abed Fadwa Abed in 1954 at Fordson High School in Dearborn, Michigan. Fordson Yearbook (1954), 144. Courtesy of Ancestry.com  Since we launched Midwest Mahjar, rare has been the opportunity to speak to any of the artists who performed during the 78 RPM era. Most are no longer with us. We've communicated with the children of some musicians. Family members we've managed to track down include the grandchildren or great-grandchildren of 78-era Arab American musicians. "Fadwa Obeid" is on a Wiki-list of living Lebanese women singers, but with no birthdate or link to additional information. An Arabic-language Wikipedia entry offers information about the height of her career in the 1970s and makes vague reference to her retirement, but says nothing of her early life, early career, or life in retirement.  Imagine our surprise when researching Arab American singer Fadwa Abeid, we located contact information for her.     F
Read more

“PRINCE” Albert Joseph: An Arab American Record Shop Dealer in Western Pennsylvania Aides Palestinian Refugees

Image
  “PRINCE” Albert Joseph: An Arab American Record Shop Dealer in Western Pennsylvania Aided Palestinian Refugees Alamphon Record with Albert Joseph dealer/seller stamp. Courtesy of Frank J. Dalton. Back in November 2020, we received a generous donation of about ninety 78-rpm Arabic records from retired dentist Joe Corey, who grew up in West Virginia. Mr. Corey contacted us because his friend, fellow church member, and labor lawyer, David Khorey, came across some of our Arab American musician profiles featured on the Arab America news website. Over dinner, and pleasant discussion about Arab American history, David asked me, “Do you know how people got their records?”   I replied, “Some people ordered records from a catalogue and had them shipped from New York. Also, dealers likely sold records as vendors at regional SOYO meetings, mahrajan, hafla, and regional Syrian-Lebanese club conventions.” He then recalled a well-known vendor from his youth in western Pennsylvania who dressed in t
Read more

Odette Kaddo: Arab music, it gives me Life!

Image
Odette Kaddo Odette Kaddo, 1956. From 23 May 1957, The Caravan.   One of the major differences between first wave and second wave Arab immigrant musicians to the United States is the enormous amount of press coverage Arab expressive culture received in the Arab American press during and after World War II. This is the case for both Arab-language and English-language newspapers targeted at readers of Arab descent. Careful study of Al-Hoda newspaper in the 1910s and 1920s and The Syrian World in the 1920s and 1930s turned up very little information about Arab or Arab American record labels and musicians during this era.  Similar examination of the Arab American press during and after World War II yielded exponentially more about the haflas, mahrajans, phonograph record labels, and musicians popularly known in Arab American communities across the United States. The growth and technological developments in recorded sound after WWII meant that second-wave Ar
Read more