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

The Arabian Nights Radio Programs: The Connection Between the Decrease of 78 RPM Production and Arab American Radio's Beginnings During the Great Depression Photo by Midwest Mahjar Prior to the Great Depression, 78 RPM record sales boomed and a handful of Arab American musicians such as Alexander Maloof, Fedora Kurban, and others appeared on radio for special one-night programs. In October 1929, the combination of inflated stock values, over speculation, and the resultant stock market crash sent the U.S. economy and global markets tumbling to unforeseen depths.  Wealthy people lost millions, eventually 1 in 4 US Citizens could not find gainful employment. Among the industries hit hardest was the phonograph record industry.  Record companies sold over one hundred million records in 1925, but within seven years, they sold only six million and several record companies went belly-up. Companies like Paramount Records in Grafton, Wisconsin, w...

Andrew E. Mekanna (Musician) Andrew Mekanna, 1935. Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive, Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA. Permission granted. Tracking down Andrew Mekanna in written sources feels nearly impossible at times. The practice of anglicizing an immigrant's name at either the time of arrival or sometime down the line on the path toward naturalization complicates the process of writing biographies. Yet when record collectors are lucky enough to locate an A.J. Macksoud 78 RPM disc it is likely to be one recorded by  Assad Dakroub , Wadeeh Bagdady ,   Louis Wardiny or Andrew Mekanna. So, who was Andrew Mekanna and why are documents related to his life in the United States so difficult to find? The anglicizing of his name and the various spellings that consequently resulted can lead a researcher down several rabbit holes. Androus Elias Moukanna aka Andrew E. Mekanna or Andrew Mckenna (Mckanna) was born 17 April ...

Mme. Marie Bashian Bedikian A publicity photo with printed stage name, likely used to sign autographs. Courtesy of Gina A.  (Granddaughter of Marie Bashian Bedikian). Our interest in 78 rpm records of the Syrian/Lebanese diaspora stem from the three estate sales-worth of records we located here in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and the one estate of records from Janesville, Wisconsin. What is fascinating about Janesville and La Crosse compared to, say, Milwaukee or other cities in the United States is that there were few if any co-existing Greek or Armenian communities in La Crosse or Janesville. They were, with one or two exceptions, Arab American communities that existed in much larger German American or Norwegian American communities. Some of the musicians on Arab and Arab American 78s identify as culturally Arab, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Druze, but we had not come across any Armenian or Armenian American 78s or artists from among the ov...