Richard Breaux is an Associate Professor of Ethnic & Racial Studies at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He is A 78 RPM record collector and the creator of “Midwest Mahjar: The Recorded Sounds of the Syrian/Lebanese Diaspora at 78 RPM,” a blog that focuses on musicians of Arab descent in the United States before 1961.
This article is part of SyriaUntold’s ongoing on Syrian music.
Walk down Washington Street in Lower Manhattan between the Battery Parking Garage and Albany Street, and you’ll see virtually no signs that this area was once home to one of the largest communities of Syrians in the United States.