Music of the Orient

Music of the Orient (credited to the likely fictitious “Orient Company”) appeared in or around 1923, also produced by Gennett, and using some of the same masters as the Maloof label. Although Maloof’s masters were numbered in the standard Gennett series, most were recorded for his exclusive use.

The Maloof and Music of the Orient labels seem to have disappeared by late 1925, but Maloof and his associates continued to record to record regularly in Gennett’s New York studios into the summer of 1931, covering everything from his popular fox trots to Egyptian and Syrian folk music, old warhorses like “Home Sweet Home,” and assorted Christian hymns. Gennett picked up the occasional title for its own use, but most were pressed as Personal records, at Maloof’s own expense. In-between, there was a visit to Victor’s New York studio on February 15, 1926, with his Oriental Orchestra that yielded four foreign-catalog releases, one of which (“Egyptiana”) was also issued in the Mexican series, where it was retitled “Somali.”

Source: Mainspringpress