ARTS & entertainment Old
ARTS & entertainment Old School: Kas-Mikha revives Sourath BY OMAR BINNO Munther Fahmi Al-Kas-Mikha From the 1980s until the early part of the new millennium, Arabic was the predominant genre of Middle Eastern music within the U.S. Chaldean community. Songs and singers of their native Sourath language became the stuff of legend, heard mainly in random snatches from nostalgic old men gathered at Chaldean lounges. Many Chaldeans fear that the great American melting pot could ultimately consume their heritage. As future generations of Chaldeans are born, the language and other traditions might very well get lost in the fading avenues of the past, but not if Munther Fahmi Al- Kas-Mikha has his way. The swiftly rising local singer has reintroduced several old Sourath songs and plans for his next CD to be entirely in the language. In March 2004, Kas-Mikha released a CD, Sariq Al-anthar; in it he revived and rewrote “Mani Mani,” a well-known Sourath song from the mid-1900s. “I wanted to bring back some old songs in Sourath,” Kas-Mikha said. “It was something nobody had done in a long time, and I felt that people would really appreciate it.” Born the youngest child in Telkepe into a family of two other brothers and three sisters, Kas-Mikha and his family arrived in the United States in November 1994. In 2001, at age 22, Kas-Mikha began performing at local events such as weddings, communions and public festivals, and became the youngest local singer to emerge since the 1980s. He formed the Summer Band with three other musicians, and they released their first CD that year. “I’ve been singing since I was 12,” Kas-Mikha said. “I loved it and knew that I was going to perform one day.” Kas-Mikha performs many songs like “Mani Mani” with new, original lyrics. In one of the verses, he sings of people throwing away all their hard-earned money at the casinos. That verse became the highlight of the song, and coincidentally, it was in that same year that the popularity of the Summer Band soared. “I wrote the lyrics to the verses myself,” Kas-Mikha said. “I did that with all my CDs. I either wrote lyrics for new verses of songs that already existed or introduced entirely new songs.” Kas-Mikha released his fourth CD, Ya Farha Doori, in April and is already working on another album. “My next project is a compilation entirely in Sourath,” he said. “I will be singing in straight Sourath from Telkepe and no other language or dialect. The music is being recorded by Turkish musicians and will be ready some time next year.” Following that project, Kas-Mikha plans to release an album of original songs, which he intends to market not only here in the U.S. but throughout the Middle Eastern world. “I got these songs from writers in Jordan, Syria, Iraq and here in America,” he said. “They will all be originals, and I want people throughout the world to hear the music.” Kas-Mikha’s CDs can be purchased at Spring Night Records in Oak Park and at Chaldean convenience stores, such as Babylon Foods in West Bloomfield. For booking, call (248) 388-9704. 30 CHALDEAN NEWS OCTOBER 2007
OCTOBER 2007 CHALDEAN NEWS 31
