North Beach Memories

Abdullah Kdouh

interviewed by mail

GS:Tell me a little about yourself.

I was born in Lebanon in 1950 and lived most of my life in Lebanon and Kuwait before coming to the US. I began playing the Oud and the Violin at the age of 12.

GS: Did your experience with North Beach enhance or detract from your career as a musician, and why?

My experience with North Beach enhanced my career as a musician because we played folk music and songs from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf in addition to authentic music and songs from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordon, Palestine, Iraq and from Yemen.

GS: What stands out in your memories as typical of Broadway and North Beach?

The audience was very receptive and appreciative of folk and ethnic music those days

GS: Were there any characters that stand out in your memory? If so, why?

Unique customers who had a sense of humor and were naïve in some ways

GS: Did your experiences with dance and North Beach influence the way you have lived your life in general? How?

Yes, it was a spontaneous life with enjoyment of what we did

GS: If you were going to see a movie about that time and place, what would have to be in the script?

One live show on the stage

GS: What seemed to you special or different about the dance scene in San Francisco in the '60s '70s and '80s ?

Dance in San Francisco was authentic, seriuos, spontaneous, and more of folk dance

GS- Do you miss those times, and did anything of value to you result from your involvement there that you could share with young dancers?

Yes, I miss those times

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GS- Is there anything you can add, that I have not thought to ask you?

Love what you do, and remember good respect for oneself and professional relationship with the musicians pays off.

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A lot of my getting the jobs was because I was there available when the opportunity arose
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Another wonderful addition to our North Beach Memories. Find more names and faces you have known or heard about!