conversation about music?
Last night a light conversation had an ethnic under current I did not detect at first. Being together with four people with Iraqi roots but different passports (Dutch, Brits Belgium and one Iraq) it was obvious there was something Arabic. As we were talking about music, different sorts and styles, singers and songs were named.
But three names got extra attention:
Paul Anka
Neil Sedaka
Charles Aznavour.
The British Iraqi pointed out that there was Turkish influence in all three (his mom coming from Turkey). De Dutch Iraqi was talking about the arab context and his wife the Belgium passport holder told us the Lebanese name of Paul Anka.
Thus, I had to look into it. Because for me they were Canadian, American and Armenian/French singer/songwriters.
Here is what I found on wikipedia.
Paul Anka was born in Ottawa, Ontario of Lebanese and Syrian origin. Some sources identify Paul Anka as being Maronite [1], others as Syriac Orthodox.
[1]
Maronites (Arabic: الموارنة, Lebanese: Marune, Syriac: ܡܪܘܢܝܐ, Latin: Ecclesia Maronitarum) are members of one of the Lebanese or Syriac Eastern Catholic Churches, with a heritage reaching back to Maron the Syriac Monk in the early 5th century. The first Maronite Patriarch, John Maron, was elected in the late 7th century. Although reduced in numbers today, Maronites remain one of the principal ethno-religious groups in Lebanon and they continue to represent the absolute majority of Lebanese people when the Lebanese diaspora is included. Unique amongst Eastern Rite Catholics, the Maronites are Eastern Christians who have always remained in communion with the Bishop of Rome.[citation needed] Before the conquest by Arabian Muslims reached Lebanon, both those Lebanese who would become Muslim and the majority which would remain Christian, the Lebanese people, including Maronites, spoke a dialect of Aramaic.[Syriac (Christian Aramaic) still remains the liturgical language of the Maronite Church.[
He was married to Anne de Zogheb, the daughter of Lebanese diplomat Count Charles de Zogheb, from February 16, 1963 to September 28, 2000. Anka met de Zogheb in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1962. Of English, Lebanese, French, Dutch and Greek descent, she was a fashion model on assignment and under contract to the Eileen Ford Agency. The couple married the following year in a ceremony at Orly Airport in Paris. De Zogheb quit modeling after their second child Amanda was born. They have five daughters: Amelia, Anthea, Alicia, Amanda (wife of actor Jason Bateman) and Alexandra.
Neil Sedaka (born March 13, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American pop singer, pianist, and songwriter often associated with the Brill Building. He teamed up with Howard Greenfield to write hits for himself and others. Sedaka's voice is an unusually high tenor. Sedaka was born in Brooklyn, New York on 13 March 1939. His father, Mac Sedaka, a taxi driver, was the son of Turkish-Jewish immigrants; his mother, Eleanor (Appel) Sedaka, was of Polish-Russian Jewish descent
Charles Aznavour, OC (Armenian: Շառլ Ազնաւուր; born Shahnour Vaghenag Aznavourian (Շահնուր Վաղինակ Ազնաւուրեան), May 22, 1924, Paris) is an Armenian-French singer, songwriter, actor, public activist and diplomat. Besides being one of France's most popular and enduring singers, he is also one of the most well-known singers in the world. Aznavour was born in Paris, the son of Armenian immigrants Michael Aznavourian (from Akhaltsikhe in Georgia) and Knar Bagdasarian (from Turkey)
The spin off from this gathering was again refreshing and getting new pieces of information about a region I did not know about before coming to Qatar. Thanks to our cosmopolitan Iraqi friends.
But three names got extra attention:
Paul Anka
Neil Sedaka
Charles Aznavour.
The British Iraqi pointed out that there was Turkish influence in all three (his mom coming from Turkey). De Dutch Iraqi was talking about the arab context and his wife the Belgium passport holder told us the Lebanese name of Paul Anka.
Thus, I had to look into it. Because for me they were Canadian, American and Armenian/French singer/songwriters.
Here is what I found on wikipedia.
Paul Anka was born in Ottawa, Ontario of Lebanese and Syrian origin. Some sources identify Paul Anka as being Maronite [1], others as Syriac Orthodox.
[1]
Maronites (Arabic: الموارنة, Lebanese: Marune, Syriac: ܡܪܘܢܝܐ, Latin: Ecclesia Maronitarum) are members of one of the Lebanese or Syriac Eastern Catholic Churches, with a heritage reaching back to Maron the Syriac Monk in the early 5th century. The first Maronite Patriarch, John Maron, was elected in the late 7th century. Although reduced in numbers today, Maronites remain one of the principal ethno-religious groups in Lebanon and they continue to represent the absolute majority of Lebanese people when the Lebanese diaspora is included. Unique amongst Eastern Rite Catholics, the Maronites are Eastern Christians who have always remained in communion with the Bishop of Rome.[citation needed] Before the conquest by Arabian Muslims reached Lebanon, both those Lebanese who would become Muslim and the majority which would remain Christian, the Lebanese people, including Maronites, spoke a dialect of Aramaic.[Syriac (Christian Aramaic) still remains the liturgical language of the Maronite Church.[
He was married to Anne de Zogheb, the daughter of Lebanese diplomat Count Charles de Zogheb, from February 16, 1963 to September 28, 2000. Anka met de Zogheb in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1962. Of English, Lebanese, French, Dutch and Greek descent, she was a fashion model on assignment and under contract to the Eileen Ford Agency. The couple married the following year in a ceremony at Orly Airport in Paris. De Zogheb quit modeling after their second child Amanda was born. They have five daughters: Amelia, Anthea, Alicia, Amanda (wife of actor Jason Bateman) and Alexandra.
Neil Sedaka (born March 13, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American pop singer, pianist, and songwriter often associated with the Brill Building. He teamed up with Howard Greenfield to write hits for himself and others. Sedaka's voice is an unusually high tenor. Sedaka was born in Brooklyn, New York on 13 March 1939. His father, Mac Sedaka, a taxi driver, was the son of Turkish-Jewish immigrants; his mother, Eleanor (Appel) Sedaka, was of Polish-Russian Jewish descent
Charles Aznavour, OC (Armenian: Շառլ Ազնաւուր; born Shahnour Vaghenag Aznavourian (Շահնուր Վաղինակ Ազնաւուրեան), May 22, 1924, Paris) is an Armenian-French singer, songwriter, actor, public activist and diplomat. Besides being one of France's most popular and enduring singers, he is also one of the most well-known singers in the world. Aznavour was born in Paris, the son of Armenian immigrants Michael Aznavourian (from Akhaltsikhe in Georgia) and Knar Bagdasarian (from Turkey)
The spin off from this gathering was again refreshing and getting new pieces of information about a region I did not know about before coming to Qatar. Thanks to our cosmopolitan Iraqi friends.
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