Greater Syrian Diaspora at 78RPM: Kahraman and Naif Agby

posted on: Feb 3, 2021

By: Richard Breaux/Arab America Contributing Writer 

What do you do when you find several dozen 78 rpm records all in Arabic and you can neither read, nor speak the language? You research the musicians and record labels and write about them.…at least that’s what Arab America contributing writer, Richard Breaux did. The result is bound to teach you something about Arab American history and heritage in the first half of the 20th Century. Arab America highlights some of the well-known and lesser-known Arab American musicians profiled in this series. This week’s article features Arab American music legends, Kahraman and Naif Agby.

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 Kadaj, Odette Kaddo, Hannan, 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 began his career as a teen in pre-World War II Lebanon where he and his younger sister, Olga Agby (also known as Kahraman) were musicians. Kahraman was born on 21 December 1926 also in Ehden. The Agby siblings got their first big opportunity in 1946 when an Egyptian talent scout for the booming Arab film industry signed them both contracts to appear and sing in several films. Around 1948, the Agby siblings immigrated to the United States. Because film distributors in the United States like Faroud Abdo (Fred Bistany), Vladimir Halabi, Albert Rashid of Rashid Sales in Detroit, and later Brooklyn, Hussein Aly of the Middle East Film Corporation in Orange, New Jersey, and George N. Gorayeb’s Sunset Film Corporation in Brooklyn, distributed and screened Arabic-language films, fans in Arab American communities across the United States had already heard of Naif and Karaman by the time they settled in Brooklyn.

The Agby’s represented the second wave of Arab immigration to the United States and press coverage in the U.S. of Naif and Kahraman’s career began in 1949. In December of that year, Saint Elias Antiochian Orthodox Church members in Syracuse celebrated the opening of their new recreation center music, food, and festivities. Kahraman and Naif performed as the featured act for musical entertainment that also included Joe Budway, Philip Solomon, and Tony Barimo. The following year in April, Naif and Kahraman appeared with Naim Kracand in “A Night in Lebanon,” a musical sponsored by the Ehden Women’s Society in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and in 1951, Naif and Kahraman added Egyptian oud player, Jamel Aslan, to their ensemble that still included Philip Solomon on violin on a return trip to Scranton for the annual Mount Lebanon Athletic Club hafla.

Kahraman sometimes appeared with her brother but also built her own career independent of Naif by March 1951. She sang at a benefit for Palestinian refugees held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Several United Nations delegates from Syria attended the event as her reputation as a film and music star preceded her long before she came to the States.

Naif Agby married Marion Hakim in Detroit, Michigan 12 January 1952; now when he toured the United States through 1953 and part of 1954, Marion, or Mary, as she preferred, accompanied Naif and his bandmates. Agby played several cities in California, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. For instance, Agby “proved that he could entertain the crowds both young and old” at the annual banquet at Saint Maron’s Church in February 1954. He also had a fairly long engagement in Detroit at the Stock Inn nightclub; and a mahrajan at the Lady of Mount Lebanon Maronite Church in Los Angeles. By September 1954, the film “Camille” played at the Detroit Institute of Arts with entertainment by Naif Agby and Fadwa Abed.

Sometimes Naif Agby sang lead vocals and other times he played backup to or accompanied his peers. Gigs varied based on where they were located and as holiday-weekend mahrajans increased in popularity. In early 1955, Agby and Joe Budway took a break from their regular touring schedules to play at the engagement party of Mary Rose Hayek and Joseph Saura in Paterson, New Jersey. A few months later, fans could catch him at one of his performance dates: 8 May in Binghamton at the first Sons of Abraham hafli, 21 May in Brooklyn, or on 22 May in Springfield, Massachusetts. For Memorial Day weekend in the same year, Agby, Philip Solomon, Nasser Kaddo, and George Hamway backed Odette Kaddo at the Gala Hafli held at the Cedar Hotel in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which had a large Arab American community that included Melkites, Antiochians, and Muslims booked Naif Agby as its headliner for its 2^nd-4^th of July Hafli. Jalil Azzouz and his Orchestra backed Agby for this event. Perhaps most interestingly, the Pan Arab American Club at Wayne State University in Detroit persuaded Agby, Fadwa Abed, and Jalil Azzouz and his Orchestra to donate their time and performance fees for a successful fundraiser at year’s end.

Things changed for the entire Agby family in 1955 and 1956. First, Olga “Kahraman” Agby married Brooklynite Nat Sutton in the spring of 1955. In a moment of encouraging spontaneity, she shocked the audience and sang with Odette Kaddo, Naim Karacand, Philip Solomon, Joe Budway, and Mike and George Hamway at a Saint Nicholas Church Young Men’s Club concert in November 1955. According to one report, “The sweet voice of Kahraman, while not on the program, came on after much coaxing, brought with it not only a few noiseless moments of the evening but tears of nostalgia to the eyes of many an old-timer.” Meanwhile, Naif continued to perform at and host his own events. In July 1956, Naif teamed up with fellow Detroit-based Arab American musician, George Berbari for the Earthquake Relief Fund sponsored by St. Maron’s Society, United North Lebanon, Kesrawan Society, and the Syrian Lebanon Lady of Charity in Detroit. An estimated 300 people attended the event which raised $1565 for victims of the 16 March 1956 Chim Earthquake which killed 136 people and destroyed some six thousand homes in Lebanon. By fall, the press reported on an event hosted by Naif Agby with an expected guest appearance by Kahraman. According to the report, this would be “the first and last performance” by Kahraman in Detroit because she expected to dedicate most of her time to working as a housewife and a columnist for the Caravan newspaper. Other musicians who performed that night included Jalil Azzouz, Antoine Tage, and John Fayat. The event was doubly auspicious because Mary Agby gave birth to the couple’s first child, Wadad, the morning the event took place. The couple would have four daughters and two sons in total.

After his daughter’s birth, Naif didn’t book many shows for 1957, but one special event led Naif and a hist of other Arab American musicians in Detroit to take the stage. Odette Kaddo married Philip Peters in a May 4^th ceremony at Saint Maron’s Church. Three bands: “the Eddie Musical Company, the Andrini Brothers, and Jalil Azzouz and his Orchestra all played for the reception held at Detroit’s Latin Quarters. Azzouz’s Orchestra consisted of Cliff Berbari (George Berbari’s brother) on oud, Jack Sourian on violin, Philip Shaheen on accordion, Francis Saad on derbake, and Naif Agby as guest vocalist.” The wedding became “the largest event in Detroit’s Syrian and Lebanese American community” for that year.

A few weeks after Odette Kaddo married, Kahraman shocked people in Arab American communities near and far by announcing she would return to the stage. Her schedule immediately filled and she even had to turn down several offers for concerts. Invitations and requests to book her flooded the offices of the Caravan newspaper in Brooklyn who made the announcement in its 6 June 1957 issue. All the familiar venues booked Kahraman: the Cold Spring Hotel in Tannersville, New York, George Traad’s Green Grove Manor in Asbury Park, New Jersey, Louis Hakim’s Cedar Hotel also in Asbury Park came calling, as did the annual West Coast Labor Day Mahrajan in Los Angeles, and the Cedars of Lebanon Restaurant in Buffalo.

Both Naif and Kahraman recorded for Anthony Abraham’s Al-Kawakeb Record Company located in Newark, New Jersey, and the Sun Record Company. We know very little about the U.S.-based Arab-language Sun Record except to note that Kahraman and Naif Agby recorded on this label more than any other musicians. It is altogether likely that Agby, Sutton, and Hakim family-owned Star Record or just the Agby’s outright.

It was 1958 and Kahraman had returned! To prove she had no plans of slowing down, she released Flame of Araby: Karaman in Oriental Songs (33 1/3 RPM) less than a year after she announced a comeback. Naif arranged and played the music on her album. Sales were fairly strong and included the breakout hit “Johnny Ya Johnny.” Billboard Magazine’s 10 November 1958 issue noted, “Kahraman (real name Olga Agby) is a Lebanese who sings songs typical of her homeland, as composed by her brother Naif…The growing popularity of Arabian music and Kahraman’s straightforward style (with occasional English lyrics) should get customer response. Cover shot of a lovely Arab lass is bound to draw glances.” The most publicized and best-attended event of the year was the Silver Anniversary of the Arabian Nights Radio Program when Kahraman joined Naim Karacand, Hanaan, Karawan, and Eddie Kohack. Naif, too, worked on a project released around December 1959. He had composed and he and his Orchestra played on Odette Kaddo’s album Songs of the Cedars. The album took over five weeks to record and produce. It remained Kaddo’s best-selling record until her passing in 1997 in Detroit.

As some Arab Americans became more assimilated and Americanized in their musical tastes, convention and hafli committees had to plan for the musical interests of the young and the old. Those who sang in Arabic and those who sang in English. This was especially the case for Danny Thomas’ ALSAC events. On 19, 20, and 20 of March 1959, Kahraman headlined at the ALSAC Follies in front of the Andrew Sisters and The Three Toys.

Naif Agby earned enough money by May 1961 to move his wife and children from Detroit proper to the more palatial, waterfront Grosse Pointe suburb. Naif continued to tour but kept a much less hectic schedule than his sister Kahraman.  In the fall of 1961, for example, she performed in six shows to his one from September 30 to December 9^th. In the one show Naif played in, he appeared with his sister and Jalil Azzouz at the Saint Elias Church hafli in Louisville, Kentucky.

Naif Agby’s fame and popularity reached new heights when his 33 1/3 RPM El Debke: Music of the Middle East hit store shelves in 1962. Instead of touring, Audio Fidelity Records ran an aggressive campaign to place ads in newspapers across the United States, especially in those cities with a significant Arab American or Arab immigrant population. The twelve-song album stunned some reviewers with the photo of a belly dancer’s exposed torso as the cover art. Only Mohamed El-Bakkar’s albums, sold during the same relative time period, proved more problematically racy, provocative, and potentially exploitive of women models. Such themes drew are stereotypes of the Middle East as the land of harems and exotic women. Arab American cultural critic, Jack Shaheen argued that the see-thru pant wearing belly dancer and the turbaned-snake charmer were all a part of the West’s so-called “instant Ali Baba kit.” The trove of Hollywood and media tropes that miseducated rather than informed about the Middle East. There was a fine line between cultural representation, humor, and stereotypical exploitation.

In 1964, Naif Agby and his Orchestra released Bedouin Sahda (Pretty Dancing Girl): Music of the Middle East on Audio Fidelity Enterprises. Although it, too, could be described as belly dance music, the cover art that became standard for many Arab American musicians during the period are absent in this instance. Naif focused on recording projects, Kahraman concentrated on live performances. Opportunities to perform continued for Kahraman with an appearance at the second annual Hellenic Near East Music Festival at New York’s Philharmonic Hall.

Outside the music industry, Naif purchased a racing horse that he named Jeanne’s Last. It was likely named for his and Kahraman’s youngest sister, Jeanette. In 1965 and 1966, the horse regularly raced at the Latonia Race Track, six miles south of Cincinnati, Ohio, in Latonia (Covington), Kentucky.

In the spring of 1973, Kahraman starred at the Bristol Mountain Ski Lodge in Canandaigua, New York along with Elie Baida and Ray & Semi Sheheen. It was one of Elie Baida’s last public performances.

One of Naif Agby’s last 33 1/3 RPM albums came in 1974 when Naif Agby and the Lebanese Radio Orchestra released An Evening with Uncle Tanous, Belly Dance Music. Each side included six songs including “Haty Edeck Ya Jadah (Give Me Your Hand Neighbor),” “Yalley Hubbeitou (The One I Love),” “Bel Dyha Lebnaneyeie (In the Village of Lebanon),” and “Asmar Elloun (Dark and Handsome).” Once again, the album cover art bordered on cultural appreciation and exploitation. The cover photo included two women, mostly bare torsos, and the top of visible mustard-colored pantaloons. The heads of the models were not visible making the models both anonymous, but more objectified simultaneously.

Kahrahman performed through the 1980s and in 1983 she purchased and operated the Georgetown Inn in the Mill Basin neighborhood in Brooklyn. On particular nights her restaurant’s kitchen food from various parts of the world, for example, Mondays were Italian Night and Thursdays and Sunday were Middle Eastern Nights. Naif Agby died on 8 May 1992 in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Olga “Kahraman” Agby Sutton lived under the name Olga Kahraman by 1965 and died on 22 January 2017 in Brooklyn.

Richard M. Breaux is an Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse from Oakland, California. His courses and research explore the social and cultural histories of African Americans and Arab Americans in the 20th Century.

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