I’m happy to introduce a guest post today, with loads of photos, by Moneer Cherie. Moneer is an Assyrian from Iraq, born in Baghdad. He collects Assyrian, Kurdish and Iraqi Arabic records. He is a moderator at Qeenatha.com, an Assyrian music website and radio/streaming station. He also was one of the contributors for a 2015 Assyrian discography published in Germany titled Modern Assyrian Music. As he states, “My aim has been to collect original Assyrian records and preserve them for a future archive.”
Images courtesy of the Chakmakchi family relatives. Several also appear in this book:
Malāk, Qaḥṭān Ḥabīb al-. Nās min baladinā. Baghdād : Iṣdārāt al-Malāk al-Adabīyah, [2001]-.
The patriarch of Chakmakchiphon, Haj Fathi Chakmakchi (center), with his two sons.
Haj Fathi (pronounced Fat-he) Yahya Qasim Chakmakchi was born in Mosul (1888-1969). He was neither a musician nor a singer, but specialized in repairing guns that were mainly Turkish made, and used by the Ottoman army during their occupation of Iraq. The Chakmakchi family comes from Bedouin Arab tribes in the region. The name means “maker or repairer of flintlock guns” or “gunsmith.”
Haj Fathi Chakmakchi did not realize that his hobby of collecting the limited number of Iraqi shellac discs available at that time would one day lead him to become one of the most important sources of the heritage of Iraqi music and song.
Chakmakchi founded his company in 1918̇, and at its start it was located at Ghazi Street in Mosul. Initially, the business was limited to the import of electrical appliances, especially gramophones (and later TVs). His eldest son Muhammad Aref assisted him until 1940, when Mohammed Aref moved to Baghdad to open a branch of the Chakmakchi business in Ghurairi Square. In 1942, the family moved from Mosul to Baghdad to join him.
Haj Fathi Chakmakchi’s second son Abdullah took over the management of the shop in Mosul in cooperation with his cousin and brother-in-law Mohammad al-Najm, but in 1944 he, too, moved to Baghdad and opened another branch of the company in the Haydar Khana area (opposite Khalil Café) in the middle of Al-Rasheed Street.
Abdullah eventually left Iraq and travelled to England to study music recording and production techniques. After he returned to Iraq he focused on his favorite hobby, which was the recording of Arab and Iraqi singers and concerts, and the import of record players.
Haj Fathi decided to build a recording studio in the mid-1950s and began recording local singers at a time when there was no other recording studio in Iraq except the studio at the radio station. This is roughly when the Chakmakchi 78 rpm label began. He invited top Iraqi musicians to record in his studio, and masters were sent to Greece or Sweden to be pressed, then shipped back to Iraq to be distributed by his local outlets.
Al-Rasheed Street, Baghdad.
Meanwhile, Haj Fathi’s third son Sami opened yet another branch of the family business in 1951 at the entrance of Al-Rasheed Street in Baghdad. This became the famed Chakmakchi shop in Iraq. Haj Fathi and Sami were in charge of the record production side of the business, in addition to building relationships with Arab artists such as: Um Kulthum, Mohammed Abdul Wahab, Abdul Halim Hafez, Muharram Fouad, Sabah, and Faiza Ahmed; with Iraqi artists, such as Al-Ghazali, Hudayri Abu Aziz, Zohour Hussein, and Salima Murad; and with Kurdish singers like Muhammed Aref Jazrawi, Hassan Jazrawi, Taher Tawfiq, and many others.
It seems that approximately 200 78 rpm discs were issued on the Chakmakchi label were produced before the company began manufacturing 45 rpm records in approximately the mid-1960s. Abdullah kept master copies of his recording sessions (including alternate takes, such as one where Um Kulthum made a mistake and repeated a song more than once) as well as his tape recordings of events and concerts, as part of his huge audio library, which is now with his grandchildren. The grandson of Chakmakchi refuses to sell the archive despite large amounts of money being offered to him by wealthy Arab collectors. The family understands the Chakmakchi recordings’ value as a national treasure and cultural asset, and part of Iraqi heritage.
The first recording company in Iraq had for many years survived the winds of change. They could have adapted to new technology and the emergence of digital formats, but the primary reason for the disappearance of the Chakmakchi label was the indifference of officials at heritage institutions that left the company to face various abuses of their copyrights, which forced the family to finally close its doors in the mid-1990s. However, today the name is still embedded in the minds and memories of music lovers and old singers of Iraq, and the entire region.
Muhammad Aref Jazrawi (Mihemed Arif Cizîrî in Kurdish) was born in the Cizîr (Cizre), Turkey, in 1912. He later moved to the city of Duhok in northern Iraq and recorded a large number of folk songs for Kurdish radio in Baghdad, and then for Kurdish TV in Kirkuk. He played the tanbur (tembûr), the long-necked string instrument originating in Mesopotamia. His songs were distinguished by their simplicity of words and the sweetness of the melodies. He died in Duhok in late 1986 and was buried there.
The song featured here is titled “Leh Leh Khafshi” (Lê Lê Xifşê). Khafshi is a small type of deer or gazelle, (a common reference in folk songs to a beautiful girl). The song is in the pasta style, which is a type of metered song that is sung after completing the maqam. It’s in the same key as the maqam and meant to connect harmoniously with it.
Yusef Omar Daoud Al-Bayati was born in 1918 in the Hasan Pasha district in Baghdad. He studied maqam under the best singers of that time, namely Mohammad al-Qubbanchi, and was nicknamed “the prince of Iraqi Maqam.” His first recorded concert was in 1956. He was also featured in films and dramas. He died in 1986.
Maqam is the system of melodic modes used in traditional Arabic music. The word “maqam” in Arabic means place or location. Each maqam is a semi-improvised musical recitation of poetry, performed within formal structures that govern the use of melodies, rhythm, and poetic genre. This song is performed in the Iraqi Maqam of Urfa. This maqam is named for the famous Anatolian city, located in modern day Turkey and thus may have Turkish origins.
Muhammad Aref Jazrawi – Leh Leh Khafshi (Pasta)
Yousif Omar Daoud Al-Bayati – Maqam Urfa, Pts 1-2
Chakmakchiphon catalogs:
Chakmakchiphon advertisements:
Muhammad Aref Chakmakchi in their store, 1952, with famed singer Eliyya Baida, and Suaad Muhamed:
The Chakmakchi studio band:
The same photo, annotated:
The company car:
The shop (on right) on Al-Rasheed Street:
The same corner, 1960:
Chakmakchiphon sleeves:
Excavated Shellac 
Thank you very much, Mr Moneer Cherie & Jon,
Wonderful material.
Here is a little extra about the etymology of the (Turkish) name “Chakmakchi”:
In Turkish a “çakmak” is (1) a pocket lighter ; (2) steel for striking on a flint; (3) trigger or flint lock.
A “çakmakçı” is (1) a maker or seller of flints; (2) maker or repairer of flintlock guns.
(the suffix -çı always denotes a profession).
You want another example of -çı ?
A “(taş) plakçı” is a seller of “taş plak” or simply “plak” (= 78rpm records).
Best wishes,
Hugo Strötbaum
Thank you, Hugo! Indeed, an an earlier post of Turkmen music from the Chakmakchiphon label, I brought something similar up!
https://excavatedshellac.com/category/iraq-turkmen/
Thank you Hugo for your input and informative feedback. Yes there are few thoughts on the origin of the name, but I went with what his nephew had suggested.
Due to some factual inaccuracies, I felt compelled to write a response to this post before any inaccuracies or incomplete information are believed to be true and thus travel the world wide web.
To begin with the mos important, most of the information about the Chakmakchi family as well as the photos comes from the book: ناس من بلدنا قحطان حبيب الملاك I hope to have copied the title correctly. It would have been very neat if the author had reported this public source.
The Chakmakchi family is of Kurdish origin and comes from Amêdîyê (ئامێدی / العمادية). Kurds and Chaldeans live in this city. The Kurdish origin of the family is symbolically reflected in the ‘Kurdish’ colors (red, yellow and green) in the labels of the records made in Sweden. We can no longer say that the Chakmakchi family is Kurdish, because they are completely assimilated. But the family knows where their roots are.
Hugo Strötbaum has well defined the etymology of the word Chakmakchi. Given the profession of Chakmakchi (gunsmith), the correct meaning in this context is “maker or repairer of flintlock guns”. The meaning indicated in the post is therefore meaningless.
Taher Tawfiq is not an Arab artist (just check out Google), he is like Muhammed Aref Jazrawi, and Hassan Jazrawi, a Kurdish artist. Muhammad Aref Jazrawi was not born in the Batman region of Turkey (then Ottoman Empire). Both Hasan and Muhammad (they are no relatives) are are born in Cizîr. The Arabic word Jazrawi means “the one from Cizîr”. The Kurdish version of the name is: Mihemed Arif Cizîrî. The tembûr he plays was special made for him because it has more strings then traditional tembûr. The song titled ‘Leh Leh Khafshi’ [Lê Lê Xifşê] here refers to a girl and is indeed a girl’s name and means “baby gazelle”.
I hope to have contributed in this way so that ratification can be carried out before inaccuracies or incompleteness are accepted as truth by others. In this way we can combat fake news.
Regards,
Welat Serhedi
Thank you, Welat, this is extremely helpful. We have made the appropriate changes (added photo credits, changed name origin, added Kurdish language song transliterations, changed attribution to Taher Tawfiq, and changed to the proper birth place).
Hello Welat, Thank you for your feedback and input, I hope I can respond to all your concerns. I personally don’t own the book you mentioned, therefore have not used it as my source. the photo you highlighted came from an article in a magazine which interviewed one of Chakmakchi’s nephews, Najim Abdullah. He was also the person which defined the meaning of their family surname “Chakmakchi”, so I was obliged to use his explanation rather than my own. I would be very happy to send you the article if you are interested?
None of the people I talked to, including Najim, or other sources I came across have mentioned to me that the Chakmakchi family are Kurdish in origin? (but again everything is possible). I would be happy to find a source.
As for Mihemed ‘Arif Cizrawi as I mentioned in my article, he was born, according to his official bio on Wikipedia, (written in Arabic & Kurdish), is Botan region in Turkey? I used a public source.
Kind Regards
Moneer
Dear Mr. Welat ,
Thank you for your lovely words but just a simple correction. I am one of Chakmakchi grand daughters and would like to add something regarding the origin Chakmakchi family roots back dated to Al Abasi tripe and they are originally came from Saudi Arabia then the settle in Al Emadia in the North of Iraq. You can double checked this with the others Chakmakchi member if you want
Nice and thanks to see post after long time ?Hope you are fine and taking care in these troubled times India will probably number 1 soon and although me and my wife are taking care – age is not on our side I have now joined archive.org and compiling My Library at – https://archive.org/details/@chandoba1952 This is a recent post at bajakhana.com – SHAHENSHAHI RECORD, The Talking Picture Record Co.
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SHAHENSHAHI RECORD The Talking Picture Record Co. (The Shahenshahi Record Company) History from “The 78 rpm Reco… |
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Although – no dates of posting – many such new posts have appeared since he passed away in March 2019 – as per the mail message from his wife to me in April 2019Commendable if she herself is compiling and posting them Rest is all bestSuresh
One of my lockdown projects has been an online open learning course (Munich University) on the organisation of the Assyrian Empire. Sadly, 78s wouldn’t be invented for another 10,000 years or so, so it’s good to be able to fill a little bit of that gap in my knowledge!
Fantastic post – magnificent music, great background and fascinating pics. What more could you ask for? Thanks, Moneer.
And it’s not often we see a 45 on Excavated Shellac!
Glad to know you’re keeping safe out there in CA, Jon. Very best wishes.
Thanks so much, Ray – yep, we’re persevering!
Thank you Ray for your kind comment. I am glad that you enjoyed the post. Love your project, very interesting, btw: the oldest Assyrian 78 that I managed to find was dated to 1917 that’s 103 years old, not bad! but doesn’t come close to Ancient Assyrian records 🙂
Good article. I am the great grandson of Fathi Chakmakchi and grandson of Aref Chakmakchi. One thing to be noted is that our family is not by any means Kurdish but comes from Bedouin Arab tribes in the region. In fact, our family is listed in an official catalog of Iraqi families directly related to Abbas. None of our family members speak Kurdish and my great-grandfather and his children identified all their lives as Sunni Arabs. Like most Iraqi families, our family members have married with non-Arab Iraqis, including Kurds. One family legend discussed by some in our family, is that in the 1990’s the recordings were stolen by a local Iraqi artist who took them to London. Thank you for the article.
Thanks, Mohamed, for all of this information – I will be in touch with the author of the piece and we will correct the language in the post!