Made in America:  
Historical and Contemporary Recordings
of Middle Eastern Music in the 
United States
Anne K. Rasmussen, The College of William and Mary

ALTHOUGH Americans of Middle Eastern Heritage, be they of Arab, Turkish, Armenian, Sephardic Jewish, Assyrian, Greek, or Central Asian heritage, comprise one of the fastest growing groups in the United States their music may seem invisible to the American musical connoisseur. Many of the recordings of Middle Eastern American musicians are produced and distributed within community networks. Walk into an Armenian grocer in Watertown, Massachusetts or into a Lebanese audio-video store in Dearborn, Michigan and you will find hundreds of hours of music by Middle Eastern Americans for your listening pleasure. Walk into your public library and you may not find a thing. Middle Eastern music made in America is simply not widely available on the major or alternative recording labels to which we habitually turn for our fare of world music.

Fortunately there are at least two sources we can look to for Middle Eastern music made in America: 1) a small but hopefully growing number of compilations of early recordings of Arab and Turkish Armenian music in America and 2) recordings by American artists of Middle Eastern heritage who are releasing their works on easily accessible recording labels. I highlight here three new releases of older recordings: The Music of Arab Americans, Armenians on 8th Avenue, and Marko Melkon. I then discuss more recent works by Ali Jihad Racy, Simon Shaheen, and Jazayer.

Recent releases of reissued historical recordings have been appearing in the catalogues of companies such as Rounder, Shanachie, and Traditional Crossroads. Consisting of carefully remastered recordings of original 78 r.p.m. records (or in some cases 33 r.p.m. discs or tape recordings), these new compact discs are accompanied by detailed explanatory notes that profile the performers, their audience, and the contexts in which this music was originally heard and enjoyed. The performances have been chosen from the records that lay dormant in the homes of elderly community members or of their children who have been careful or nostalgic enough to hang on to their parents' collections. Perhaps untouched for decades, unpacking these scratched and worn discs enables someone to create a musical archaeology of these American ethnic communities. The recording activity of immigrant musicians reflects the dynamism of the live music scene that they helped to create in North America. During the first three decades of the century, for example, Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian, and Turkish Armenian musicians were engaged by major record labels such as Columbia, Victor, or His Master's Voice for their "foreign language" series. Immigrant performers from the Middle East as well as from other regions intrigued the major record companies both for their exoticism and their potential marketability in the increasingly diverse immigrant communities of the United States. To compliment the music parties and picnics that were a trademark of immigrant life, people gathered around the Victrola to spend time together listening to the artists of their community.

Middle Eastern Americans eventually took over the processes of recording, duplication, promotion, and distribution themselves. Beginning in the 1920s, immigrant entrepreneurs made the 78 r.p.m. record industry their own business. Arab American musicians recorded their music in small studios and created their own record labels. Their labels—Maloof, Macksoud, Ma'rouf, Star of the East, Abdel Ahad, Cleopatra, Nilephon, Metrophon, Arabphon, Golden Angel, and Orient—featured the classical, popular, folk, and religious music that, during the first half of the twentieth century, comprised the soundscape of the Arab American immigrant's world. In like fashion, Turkish-Armenian musicians established their own recording companies including Kalaphon, Balkan, Parsekian, Metropolitan, and Stamboul. While Arab and Turkish Armenian communities were distinguished by the circumstances of their emigration from the Middle East as well as by cultural differences, most notably language, the musicians from both communities came into contact, particularly in the 1950s when musicians of Arab, Armenian, Greek, Turkish, and Balkan provenience played in the nightclubs of 8th Avenue in New York.

The musical system of Levantine and Turkish Armenian musicians shares much with other music of the Arab World, Turkey, and Central Asia and circum-Mediterranean Balkan countries. Music is structured around a system of melodic modes (maqam or makam), many of which feature quarter-tones and rhythmic patterns. Among the most distinctive features of music originating from this part of the world are the improvisations in free rhythm either rendered vocally (for example Arab mawwal or 'ataba, or Turkish ghazal) or instrumentally (taqasim or taksim). While many of these old records sound like the 78 r.p.m. discs pressed in Cairo, Aleppo, Beirut, or Istanbul, others reflect the westernization and modernization that was bound to occur in the "new world." Song texts register the feelings and circumstances of immigrant life, however; feelings of sorrow, separation, and nostalgic longing for the homeland are balanced by comic antics and exuberant folk songs for celebration and dance.

Among the traditional instruments heard in early performances are the 'ud or oud, a fretless 11-string lute with a rounded back and bent neck; the qanun or kanun, a trapezoid-shaped zither with 72 strings in triple courses; the violin or kamanjah; the riqq or daff, a tambourine with heavy brass cymbals; the darabukkah, also tabli, derbekkee, or dumbek, a ceramic or metal vase-shaped drum with one head and sagat, finger cymbals or in the case of the popular Turkish Armenian performer Sugar Mary, the wooden spoons or kaçik.

The musical genres and styles, the texts, the circumstances of each recording, and particularly the life stories of various performers facilitate the construction of an historical ethnography of these Middle Eastern American subcultures and their musical practices and aesthetics. For example, when recording, musicians often chose quick, popular tunes, or collapsed longer performances or medleys of tunes that fit the length of the 78 r.p.m. discs. Furthermore, most recordings feature small ensembles of just a few musicians rather than the larger ensembles that might have been featured in Turkey or the Levant. Ensembles were often smaller in the United States, due to a comparably limited number of capable musicians and the tighter economy of musical patronage. Finally, these early recordings reflect both the inferior quality of the audio technology of the first half of the century and the spontaneity of the single "take" sessions. Unlike the studio recordings of today, when musicians can overdub layers of musical lines or replace even a single unsatisfactory note by digital editing, the recordings of the early days record with precision both the "mistakes" and the spontaneity of live performance. A delightful aspect of these early recordings is the exclamation of enthusiasm and praise that meets the musicians' unrehearsed turns of phrase and extemporaneous variations and improvisations.

From the 1950s through the 1980s, when the long playing 33 r.p.m. disc and then tape cassettes were the musical medium of the day, music for the nightclub and belly dancing was the fare offered by many Middle Eastern American musicians. These records and tapes contain some of the most interesting collaborations between musicians of various heritage as well as the musicians whose cultural identities as Middle Easterners and Americans are expressed in musical ways. Should you find the records by nightclub personalities such as Muhammad Bakar or Eddie "the sheik" Kochak and Hakki Obadia, or the Kef Time records of Armenian American musicians at a garage sale or in the personal archives of your friends or family, hang on to them. If you are looking to purchase such recordings, however, they are most likely unavailable, having gone out of print years ago.

The contemporary recording activity of Armenian musicians in the United States will be a topic of a future review. I now describe a few contemporary recordings of Arab music in the United States. As mentioned above, the recording of Arab music in the United States is characterized by regional scenes, small independent, community labels and local markets. While highly recommended for your listening pleasure, such recordings tend to have few explanatory notes and often to resonate with the aesthetics and techniques of electronic digitized popular music. For more traditional fare, there are a handful of recordings that should be on the shelf of every Arab music connoisseur.

Taqasim: The Art of Improvisation in Arab Music features the collaborative exchange of Ali Jihad Racy and Simon Shaheen. The recording is an excellent if innovative approach to the traditional art of improvisation where Shaheen on 'ud and Racy on buzuq (a long-necked fretted lute with metal strings typical of Lebanon and Syria) trade long phrases of taqasim. This recording, with explanatory notes by Philip Schuyler, also serves as an excellent performance model of several Arab melodic modes (maqamat). From a performance in 1979 at the Alternative Museum in New York, this recording was rereleased as a compact disc in 1991.

Also a near classic recording of Middle Eastern music in America is Racy's Ancient Egypt, originally released as an L.P. record in 1979 and still one of the best selling cassette/CD-s in Lyrachord's catalogue. Racy composed the music for Ancient Egypt for the King Tutankhomen exhibit at the Seattle Museum. Although produced in the studio the recording uses acoustic instruments exclusively. By playing and overdubbing a family of instruments typical of Arab music in both traditional and unconventional ways, Racy explores new timbral possibilities and musical textures creating a compelling pastiche appropriate for the titles of the compositions, which were inspired by the Egyptian "Book of the Dead."

Released in 1991, the recording Turath (Heritage): Simon Shaheen Performs Masterworks of the Middle East introduces or reintroduces its audience to the performance style and representative compositions and improvisations of traditional Turkish and Arab music. Excellent liner notes by Ali Jihad Racy reveal the original cultural context of the music as well as historical information on the composers and the formal melodic, and rhythmic aspects of their music. The traditional music presented by Shaheen is from a repertory that enjoyed more than five hundred years of Ottoman court patronage and is associated with a musical intelligentsia. This classical music, or what Racy calls lingua franca of the Middle East includes thousands of instrumental and vocal pieces that were written primarily by Turkish, Arab, and Armenian men. Turath includes, in addition to several well-known masterworks of the Middle East, two contemporary compositions, both in the traditional sama'i form, by Simon Shaheen and Ali Jihad Racy.

Shaheen ('ud, bass 'ud and violin) and fellow musicians Faruk Tekbilek (nay), Hassan Ishkut (qanun) and Samir Khalil (percussion) showcase the takht, a small traditional ensemble of acoustic instruments of complementary timbres, each of which enriches the monophonic texture of the composed music with their own idiosyncratic trills, runs, and slides. One of the most beautiful aspects of this recording is the solo improvisations or taqasim by Shaheen on 'ud and violin as well as by Tekbilek on nay. Their presentation of the takht may be compared with the ensembles of early pioneers of Middle Eastern music discussed above. However, it is certain that Shaheen's choice of ensemble is aesthetic rather than practical. Shaheen's earlier recording The Music of Mohamed Abdel Wahab, also highly recommended, features the larger orchestra-like firqah that 20th century modernist composer Abdel Wahab's music demands.

Released just this year are two new recordings that will both be welcome additions to the collections of Middle Eastern music connoisseur and initiate alike. Jazayer: Remembrances, A Collection of Middle Eastern Classics features long time performers of Middle Eastern music Vince Delgado (percussion), Mimi Spencer (qanun), and Devi-ja Delgado (violin), with Coralie Rousso and Tom Shader on 'ud and double bass respectively. Recorded without the magic of studio splicing and overdubbing, this recording shines with the spontaneity of a live takht performance. The recording features two compositions by Ali Jihad Racy, some traditional pieces from the Ottoman repertoire as well as some modern Egyptian fare from the late 20th century.

Finally, Mystical Legacies: Ali Jihad Racy performs music of the Middle East, also just released, features not only Racy on buzuq, nay, 'ud, and bowed tanbur (a very long necked fretted round lute of Turkish Ottoman ensembles), but also the fabulous percussionist Souhail Kaspar. Originally recorded during the Los Angeles Festival, this live recording features much improvisation and the wonderfully dynamic exchange typical of the work of Kaspar and Racy.

There are hundreds of active musicians of Middle Eastern music in the United States and the recordings made on community based independent labels across the country will hopefully be the topic of a future review. The recordings profiled here, all of them available and all of them featuring dependable documentary notes, serve as an introduction to some of the best Middle Eastern music made in the U.S.A.

Select Discography

Ancient Egypt music composed and performed by Ali Jihad Racy. Lyrichord LYRCD 7347, 1979, 1992.

Armenians on 8th Avenue Traditional Crossroads CD 4279. 22 page booklet of notes, photographs, and song lyrics. Documentation by Harold G. Hagopian, 1996.

Jazayer: Remembrances. A Collection of Middle Eastern Classics. Chente Publications CPCD 1003, 1997.

Kef Time: Exciting Sounds of the Middle East Traditional Crossroads CD 4269. 6 page booklet of notes and song lyrics. Documentation by Harold G. Hagopian, 1986,1994.

Marko Melkon Traditional Crossroads CD 4281. 15 page booklet of notes, photographs, and song lyrics. Documentation by Rose Hagopian-Mozian-Alemsherian, 1996.

The Music of Arab Americans: A Retrospective Collection Rounder CD 1122. 20 page booklet of notes, photographs and song lyrics. Documentation by Anne K. Rasmussen, 1997.

The Music of Mohamed Abdel Wahab by Simon Shaheen and Ensemble Axiom 539 865-2. 4 page booklet of notes in Arabic and English by Philip Schuyler, 1990.

Mystical Legacies: Ali Jihad Racy performs music of the Middle East with Ali Jihad Racy (nay, buzuq, 'ud and bowed tanbur), and Souhail Kaspar (percussion). Lyrichord LYRCD 7437, 1997.

Taqasim: The Art of Improvisation in Arab Music with Ali Jihad Racy, buzuq and Simon Shaheen, 'ud. Lyrichord LYRCD 7374. Documentary notes by Philip Schuyler, 1979, 1991.

Turath: Simon Shaheen Performs Masterworks of the Middle East CMP 3006. 8 page booklet of notes and photographs by Ali Jihad Racy, 1992.