On an unseasonably warm Wednesday night in February, the door to Najeeb’s Place was propped open, letting in the fresh air, the sound of Graham Avenue traffic and a dinnertime crowd hungry for falafel sandwiches and rosewater mint lemonade. The shop’s proprietor, Najib Shaheen, in a flannel shirt and backwards baseball cap, greeted his customers one by one, often with a hearty handclasp and a dose of his signature good-natured ribbing. He knew many of them by name.
Shaheen has met some of his closest friends — “the cream of the neighborhood” — here in the shop. And they’re going to miss him when he leaves: After three years in business, Shaheen will be selling Najeeb’s in March to concentrate full-time on his real passion, music. After all, Najeeb’s has never been only about the food.
“This place goes beyond falafel,” Shaheen GO Brooklyn.
Customers old and new will have one more chance to experience what he means on Wednesday, March 5, when Shaheen performs in the restaurant as part of the Brooklyn Maqam Arab Music Festival. The month-long series of free concerts and events, sponsored by the Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC), will feature more than 100 musicians and groups performing an array of Middle Eastern musical traditions from folk and classical to contemporary and fusion.
Kay Turner, the director of BAC Folk Arts and organizer of the program, said that after 9-11, a number of venues reduced or cancelled their live Arabic music programming. She sees the festival as a way to boost the Arabic music scene and to introduce new audiences to the varied music traditions of the Middle East.
“Najib has a special place in the festival as a wonderful oud player, maker and someone who really understands the instrument,” said Turner.
The event may be a special occasion, but to Shaheen, it’s business as usual. On any given day, when he isn’t busy preparing orders or catching up with friends, Shaheen can often be found plucking an oud, one of the stringed instruments that line the shop’s walls. Gourd-shaped and flat-faced, the oud has ancient origins on the Arabian peninsula, and Shaheen, widely known as “the oudman,” makes and plays them. He also teaches private lessons and in special programs at New York University and The New School.
The oud’s fretless strings produce quarter tones, those that would fall between the black and white keys on a piano.
“It sounds terrible — like eating bad falafel, with a lot of oil in it,” Shaheen said with his customary humor. He’s referring to the oud’s microtonal notes, which are common to Arabic musical traditions but sound off to Western ears.
Nevertheless, he thinks the oud is the “greatest stringed instrument by far. It’s the father of the lute, mandolin and guitar. It has great sound quality and earthiness.”
Shaheen, who was born in Haifa, Israel and came to New York to attend college in 1967, comes from a long lineage of “oudmen.” His father, grandfather and great-grandfather all played. His grandfather, also named Najib, was a poet, dentist, church cantor and instrument maker.
“I was 8 or 9 years old, and I was working with him,” Shaheen said. “I told myself that someday, I’m going to make these instruments.”
Today he not only makes and restores them, he also frequently performs at concert halls and educational venues with an ensemble that includes his brother, the world-renowned oud and violin virtuoso, Simon Shaheen. In addition to classical chamber performances, they play fusion music, combining African, Turkish, Indian or jazz influences.
“And honey,” Shaheen said, “We’re good! Not only the falafel is good.”
Of course, the falafel — a blend of spices and chickpeas fried into crisp patties — isn’t just “good.” Shaheen will argue it’s “the best ever,” and he has the testimonials to support his claim.
“I came three days in a row one time, until he said I wasn’t allowed to come anymore,” said Nora White, who lives in the neighborhood. “It’s the best falafel in the world.” A letter Shaheen displays in the shop window, from a self-proclaimed falafel connoisseur, echoes the sentiment, “Your falafels are extraordinary creations, completely superior to any falafel I’ve tasted on this continent.”
Falafels don’t just get to be extraordinary by themselves. Shaheen has always taken the quality of his food, and the cleanliness of his kitchen, seriously. At the same time, he’s easy-going for a businessman, showing little concern for marketing; the shop doesn’t even have a sign.
He attributes this to having fallen into the business accidentally. As the story goes, he was visiting friends on Graham Avenue who sent him across the street to a donut shop.
“They said, ‘Some of your people are over there.’ It turned out to be a Jordanian guy who once dated my cousin,” recalled Shaheen. “They ran a terrible place. I made them an offer. I wasn’t serious. I’m still not serious.” He ended up taking over the lease, both because it was too good a deal to pass up, and to help out an old friend.
But at this point, he’s ready to end his foray in professional falafel making. He’s going to concentrate on life as an oudman and spend some time catching up with family in southern California.
“I’m going to the desert,” said Shaheen. “I’m going back to my ancestors.”
Najib Shaheen will perform at 7 pm on March 5 at Najeeb’s Place (374 Graham Ave. at Skillman Avenue in Williamsburg) with Bassam Saba in “Oud-Off I: Oud and Qahwa,” part of the “Brooklyn Maqam Arab Music Festival.” Admission is free. For information, call (718) 387-8333 or visit www.brooklynartscouncil.org.