How many grape leaves were rolled at The Grapeleaf Restaurant in San Francisco? One thousand and one grapeleaves? And how many nights, stories, songs and dances have passed through the nights at Al-Masri? One thousand and one nights? Here is the beginning of just one or some of these stories.
I met chef and owner Sausan Molthen sometime in the 1980's when we both were working at the Bagdad. She also worked at a restaurant across town called The Grapeleaf owned by Gabriel Michael, a Lebanese American. Shortly after, I heard she married Gabe,The Grapeleaf's owner and besides dancing, she managed the other dancers and was also the establishment's bartender. The Grapeleaf had a bellydancer performing every evening but the dancers danced to recorded music. Thanks to Sausan's visionary ideas she changed that and soon the Grapeleaf had musicians playing on Sunday evenings. She then invited aspiring dancers to perform to the live music and so in 1986 she started the Sunday night live music nights tradition. In 1995 Sausan became sole proprietor of the Grapeleaf and continued the Sunday live music nights for another year.
When the Grapeleaf became Al-Masri, the Sunday night live music nights stopped and the name, decor and menu changed from Lebanese fare to Egyptian but the address and Sausan’s presence remained constant. According to studies made in 2018 up to 90 percent of independent establishments close during the first year and the remaining restaurants have an average five-year life span. Another study stated that about 60 percent of new restaurants fail within the first year and nearly 80 percent shutter before their fifth anniversary and the number one culprit was simply being in a bad location. Al Masri has had the misfortune of being in a primarily residential area with very little foot traffic. Location is important. Location - Location - Location. But Sausan has proven that in spite of her unfortunate no foot traffic and difficulty in parking dilemmas, she has endured through a lot of hard work. Her restaurant(s) have survived decades and when her Sunday night live music nights started up again a little over 10 years ago they helped to bring more traffic to her street. And it has become a two-way street with the clientele coming to enjoy the food, the ambiance and the live entertainment while Sausan continues to provide opportunities for dancers and musicians to perform their art, and so the customers and fans continue to support her venue. Because of this, other restaurants and clubs have followed suit, opening up their clubs to live music/dance showcases. In fact, if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, there are certainly many restaurants in this area who have paid her this compliment. And it has become a win - win situation for all - except when there are not enough musicians/dancers/fans to go around. Or at least - to go around on the same date.
Sausan in the kitchen with Dahlena
Last night I saw Susu on the street laden with her drums and nais walking into Al Masri just as I arrived early ready to set up the mics and my instruments for the night's show. Well we found Jelal, Husain and Philip already setting up. So much for arriving "early." It sort of feels bad to be late even when you're early. But - What a surprise. What a treat. It was Philip's night to play music with Jelal, Susu and me and he had invited Husain to join us. Husain, who we thought was still in Iraq - he had bought a one way ticket - had decided to come back home because it was starting to get warm in Iraq. Husain often told me he hated warm weather - liked the coolness of San Francisco - wanted to beat the heat. It can often hit 110-115+ in Iraq in the summer. He was sitting with Jelal and Philip showing off his new Syrian oud and I was reminded me of how much I enjoyed hearing him play the oud. But it was Philip's night to play the oud, so Husain also had brought his violin to play with the band. As usual we took our time with sound check playing a little of this song and a little of that, trying to decide what old song could be pulled out of the memory banks that everybody loved playing and loved playing together. Susu of course was torn between playing the nai and singing a little back-up while stroking the drum sitting on her lap. I was excited to be together with Husain and Jelal and Susu - kind of like old home week - and kept looking to Husain for new "old" song inspirations since Husain was right next to me to my right. Philip was behind me so I couldn't really easily communicate with him or with Jelal who was in the corner behind Susu sitting on his King Tut throne. Lylia who studies drum with both Susu and me was to Husain's right playing the duf. It was promising to be a really great musical night of Egyptian popular and nostalgic songs.
Zoraida Romeliotis, who was visiting from Texas in anticipation of next week's 1960's retro night, was with Laura and they were also by Husain to his right. Husain said he wanted to play Alf Leila wa Leila as another warm up song and Lylia was trying to decide when to dance and decided to be the first dancer so she could play duf uninterrupted after that. She got up to change into a costume and asked for Alf Leila wa Leila. I wanted to say no, we want to do that later, but then something told me to change my mind. At that moment there was a commotion by the front door and in walked a group - Queenie, Nayan, 7 year old Jenna and a huge stroller with two more of Nayan's babies. Of course! I should have known. Every time I want to reach out to Nayan, tell her I miss her or want to hear from her, all I have to do is think of or play Alf Leila wa Leila and magically she communicates with me. This time, she just walked in the door. And she lives about 2 hours away.
I can't tell you how many times this has coincidentally happened. Nayan has lived more than an hour or two away from San Francisco for the last few years, but whenever her favorite song Alf Leila wa Leila is in the airwaves, somehow she either appears or I get an email or message from her. I'm at Pachamama, someone starts dancing to Alf Leila wa Leila and Nayan decides to show up after a few months' absence. I'm teaching dance class and decide to use Alf Leila wa Leila for the last part of class - and she walks in the door just as I start to play Alf Leila wa Leila. I'm working on a one-on-one part of the song with a dance student and I get fb messages from her. It happens so often that it really does seem like more than a coincidence. Yes, I know that I like that song and use it a lot in class, but whenever I think of her specifically and then the song gets played, she appears - either in person or with a message. Last night was no exception. Just like the princess Scheherezade, she has tales to tell of her one thousand and one nights. Whether happy or tragic tales, no matter what the tale is, she always seems to tell her tale with a broad smile and a twinkle in her eye.
I still can't believe that Zoraida came especially to celebrate the 1960's retro night we will do at Al Masri next week. There aren't that many around living here who were from the old days and still involved in Arabic music and dance. Dahlena who was a bit before my time danced on Broadway before me as did Carla Lopez, Jodette and southern California dancers Aisha Ali and Tonya Chianis. Other dancers, Magana Baptiste, Jamila Salimpour, Bert Balladine, Fatma Akef, Marlyza Pons all have passed on as well as musicians Selim Salimpour, Walid Shahin, Yousef Koyoumjian, George Elias, Naji Alash, Antoine Malouf and George Bedrosian. Vince Delgado, Fadil Shahin and Jelaleddine Takesh are still with us and still performing. I know this is just the tip of the iceberg, but the active performers from the sixties seem to be a dwindling number. Aziza! who I met the first night I auditioned to dance is still here, but as far as I know, is now a costume maker and not performing any more. So, next Sunday Jelal and I will muster up our memories and try to recreate some of that old reality by way of music, dance and ambiance. And Al Masri will be the setting for yet another one thousand and one nights story.
Zoraida is staying with Laura and is coaching her on the old style dancing and costuming. I know that to many people the steps and music seem to be pretty similar to a lot of what is going on today, but the subtleties and general attitudes make up the major part of the differences. Between Zoraida, Jelal and me we have one thousand and one nights of music and dance and we hope to bring you all back to a time that is really long gone. That may be hard to do. We used to have a different sense of time. Our 45+ minute sets are now zip files of 4.5 minutes or less. But then, we do have 1,001 nights to do it.
Nayan and more
