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

  Only Traces of Evidence Remain Highlighting the Illusive Career and Life of Philip Catzeflis Philip Catzeflis "Nasheed No. 1". #7005 A. Courtesy of Richard M. Breaux collection. Collectors of 78 rpm phonograph records, and more specifically, Arabic-language records produced and released for Arabic-speaking audiences in the United States are without a doubt familiar with Richard K. Spottswood’s seven volume Ethnic Music on Record . A monumental feat of discipline-altering proportions, Ethnic Music on Record documents the cylinder and phonographic records made in the United States from the 1890s until mid-1942 by various so-called ethnic and linguistic minorities. Spottswood’s work remains foundational to study of non-English language phonograph records in the US before World War II, and those interested in Arabic-music during this period would be remiss to ignore it. It is Spottswood’s Volume 5, that many collectors first encounter the names of Victor, Columbia, Maloof, and ...