Greater Syrian Diaspora at 78 RPM: Amer and Sana Kadaj
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 on this series. This week’s article features Arab American music legends, Amer and Sana Kadaj.
Kadaj played tambourine, drums, and other percussion instruments, and is best known as a vocalist who performed with his wife, Sana, or with co-collaborator Joe Budway. Amer, by himself, and along with Sana recorded dozens of songs for the Syrian-American Brooklyn, New York-based Alamphon Records. Their music on Alamphon made them household names in Lebanese-Syrian communities across the United States from San Francisco to New York and Detroit to New Orleans, Louisiana.
In June 1953, Sana & Amer performed at the 20th Anniversary celebration for the Arabian Nights Radio program in New York. Accompanying them on the program were fellow Arab American musicians Naim Karacand, Russell Bunai, and Philip Solomon. A month later they appeared at the National Council of Syrian Orthodox Youth Organization (SOYO) conference in Detroit. Then came a Labor Day weekend event at Saint Nicholas Church Mahrajan. Later in the year, around Thanksgiving time, Sana & Amer played a gig at the Saint Michael’s Orthodox Church Mahrajan in Beaumont, Texas.
Sometimes in winter months, the Sana & Amer traveled south and sang for groups like the Syrian Lebanese American Club of Miami and the Southern Federation of Syrian Lebanese Clubs convention in Saint Petersburg, Florida (with one run of shows occurring in the early months of 1954). In September 1954, they performed for a huge crowd at the Midwest SOYO. Among those in attendance was the newly ordained Rev. Theodore Ziton (see Saint Elias Orthodox Choral article).
The couple’s schedule didn’t let up as life got busier in 1955 and 1956 when they traveled to Ottawa, Canada for the St. Elijah’s Syrian Orthodox Church’s silver anniversary celebration in July. Among those in attendance were Antiochian Metropolitan Antony Bashir and Archbishop Samuel David of Toledo. It was around this time that the couple moved their family from Brooklyn, New York to Detroit. Although Amer identified as religiously Druze, he and Sana sang secular songs with Joe and Leo Budway at Saint Elias Church’s second annual Mahajan in New Castle, Pennsylvania; interestingly, Amer sang the response during the Divine Liturgy in a service led by Rev. Father Alex Curry in August 1956.
Amer & Sana worked tirelessly and the Arab American press declared them “the most popular Arabic singing team in North America” in 1957 and 1958. Among their commitments were the Detroit’s Mardin Club 12 May, 19 May at Saint Mary’s Orthodox Church, 22 May at the Syria Lodge #566, 26 May at Detroit’s American Hosn Welfare Association with Jalil Azzouz, a Morning-Star sponsored event in Flint on 2 June, 9 June in Toledo for the Student Scholarship League, 15-16 June in Oklahoma City, and 22-23 June in Las Vegas for the Federation of Western Syrian Lebanese Clubs annual meeting. Although churches and cultural organizations primarily booked Sana & Amer for haflas and mahrajans, the duo, on occasion, entertained at private weddings as they did in Detroit and Michigan City, Indiana in February 1958. The combination, then, of weddings, halfas, and mahrajans and the sell of their Alamphon recordings expanded their concert circuit well beyond the more commonly visited East Coast Lebanese and Syrian American communities. As suggested, they played the southern U.S. beyond Florida, the midwest beyond Detroit, and the western United States like only a small number of their prominent Arab American musical counterparts, perhaps only a handful of acts.
Display honoring Sana & Amer Kadaj at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, MI. Photo by Richard M. BreauxSana and Amer had two children, Robert (who became an engineer and CEO of American Engineering Services of California) and Lila (a well-known Michigan painter and school teacher). In 1960, Amer Kadaj performed with Joe Budway before over 300 people at the Southern Federation of Syrian-Lebanese Clubs annual convention in Alexandria, Louisiana. He became a favorite at the Southern convention and regular performed through the late 1960s. The Kadaj duet sometimes performed at and regularly attended, Saint George Syrian Antiochian Church in Troy, Michigan.
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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