Thanks for the Music Eddie

"Hadama, Hadama, princess of the Nile, when ya gonna marry me and walk me down the aisle?

Eddie "The Sheik"  Kochak loved belly dancers, and Eddie, we love you!   I sent the father of Amer-Abic music a letter in '03 thanking him  "Your music is irresistibly joyful, passionate, playful, supremely sad and pays homage to the ancient music while adding your own influence to the music of the times.  It is musically masterful.  I dance to it almost everyday".  I was delighted to receive a letter back asking if he could quote me, of course I said yes in my next letter. Emboldened by his warmth, I sent him the updated lyrics I wrote to his body negative 1950's song "Calories" which warns the girlfriend she won't get a husband if she doesn't lose some weight. I changed "Calories, calories, got to watch your calories, don't eat this, don't eat that, you are liable to get fat" to "Men are boys, men are boys, got to let them have their toys, blow up this, stomp on that, sit and drink beer and get fat". My version is a woman lamenting the shortcomings of men in the dating world. "I went to see my boyfriend found him laying on the couch, scratching, burping, farting and acting like a grouch..."   

Eddie loved it and he used the phone number I included in my letter to call and tell me.   I was tickled by the contrast of his nickname "the Sheik" to his strong Brooklyn accent “Honey,Tanx for da letta”. First I fell for his music, then I fell for the man. Encouraged by his support of my lyrics, I sang him my made up words to his song "Velerie" that I taught along with a hokey pokey type choreography in my dance classes.  "I am so glad to see you, I am so glad to see you" and he chimed in "...when are you leaving sweetheart?!..". He was playing with me while illustrating his craft of making music from the part of the brain where music bubbles up from the soul. Eddie gave me drum lessons over the phone and told me stories about traveling the country with Anthony Quinn playing Miserlou from the movie Zorba the Greek. He encouraged me in my undertaking to form the band "Shalom Habibi" because live music is better for the dancer. Eddie told me to take charge as the band leader, be confident. He said that music cheers people up and that's what it's all about. Playing for the dancer, watching, listening and treating her as part of the music is something rare and wonderful for the performers and the audience. 

   I had to meet him in person and knowing he wasn't getting any younger, I didn't want to wait too long like I did with George Abdo. In October of 2006, I brought my husband and boys to the Atlantic Antic in Brooklyn where Eddie was featured with his Amer-Abic ensemble. Eddie said he wasn’t feeling well and it started as a damp cold morning but soon the music and the dancing brought sunshine to our hearts and the sky as well. Spanning 10 blocks of Atlantic Avenue, from 4th Avenue in Boerum Hill all the way to Hicks Street in Brooklyn Heights, the Atlantic Antic is New York's number one street festival, featuring an array of foods from around the world, from baklava and funnel cake. Ten live musical stages offer free performances all day, featuring blues, rock, country, R&B, jazz, music for kids, and of course belly-dancing. When a bearded man wearing a black and white Kefiyah scarf on his head  shouted "Eddie, play some real Arab music" Eddie looked at the man, put his palms out in a conciliatory gesture explaining kindly and with resolve  "I just make music to make people happy". Eddie is the father of Amer-Abic music which combines traditional middle eastern rhythms and melodies with American style music from big band, through rock n roll, jazz and modern sounds. While he didn't invent rap music he certainly freestyled in rhyming brag style  "they came from land and they came from sea. they came today to listen to me"

His lyrics don't work in a post 9/11 world, but back in the day, Eddie could carry it off without offense because he was the American dream representing post war optimism of 1950's America where cultures were blending and Shish kabob was all the rage.

   ”Damascus and Beirut, you don’t need too much loot.  Cairo and Bagdad, things are never bad.. just join the happy mob and go for the shishkabob”

The son of immigrants from Aleppo, Syria, with one foot in his culture of origin while celebrating the freedom of the American melting pot, his music transmits only benevolent intent. 

 There is a scene in Zorba about dancing, not as an act of joy but of expression, communication and survival "It was the dancing When my little boy Dimitri died…and everybody was crying… Me, I got up and I danced. They said, "Zorba is mad." But it was the dancing — only the dancing that stopped the pain". Zorba describes a bar scene in which he and a Russian take turns through the night dancing their life stories because they don't understand each others language. In the morning they know each other completely.

Music is not frivolous. Music is medicine.

When I was looking to start a Middle Eastern Band, I took my friend Samar's suggestion and called her father, Jamil Nimri, a master oud player in Jordan who was now a widower refugee. He didn't speak much English and it was awkward the first time we played together but by the end of the session I watched him perk up like a drooping flower given water. We loved the same music and laughed at the same jokes. For several years until he died, we played together every week and performed at festivals, schools and cultural events.

When Dhiya, a refugee from Iraq joined us and after playing together for several months told the story of terrorist thugs bursting into the nightclub where he was playing and cutting him with a knife held to his throat, I didn't understand the words and even Jamil had a hard time following his dialect and translating in broken English. I didn't need to understand the words to understand the horror, pain and grief.  

   Relating to one another through a shared joy that music brings was the gift Eddie brought to the world and perhaps the only hope for peace. Rest in Peace Sheik.

Miserlou https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4s2FasSy50