Chakmakchi built a recording studio in the mid-1950s and began recording local singers when there was no other recording studio in Iraq other than a radio station studio. It was around this time that the Chakmakchi label started at 78 rpm. He invited senior Iraqi musicians to record in his studio, and the master was sent to Greece or Sweden, pressed, then sent back to Iraq and expelled from a local outlet.
Source: https://excavatedshellac.com/2020/09/08/the-chakmakchi-story/
