Arabic music (not elsewhere classified)

George Wassouf is a difficult subject for me. He was one of the first Arab singers I clicked with in a big way, but I tended to already not like his newer music as much as his older music when I was just getting started listening. Then I got a clearer idea of what a technically good singer is in this context, and maybe partly because of that I drifted further away. I have to admit I was influenced by various Arabs I discussed these things with online. People (muso people anyway) who know about this music seem to really hate him. Yet he's obviously a superstar of some sort. I think I've come back around to enjoying some of his work without qualms. Having said all that though, his voice is really shot at this point.

Ivor, are you an expat from somewhere else, living in Lebanon?

Wait, you are in Africa now, according to your profile, not Lebanon.

Re: Georges Wassouf and popularity. He is mega-popular in the Levant and the Gulf but so are a lot of other bad Arab pop stars like Nancy or Haifa.

You mentioned that his voice is shot, which I totally agree and is also one of the reasons I am digging on the song I posted earlier tonight, Allah Kareem. It's almost the epitome of his style, the over-produced clubby backing track with him drunkenly moaning in the foreground. I love how the backing chorus is totally on-point and then Georges just stumbles on top and crowds them out. Kinda hilarious.

Also, I think a good start for Umm Kulthum is Anta Omri. (ام كلثوم - انت عمري). Clips can be found on youtube but I seriously recommend the 60 minute version that is easy to find on cd. It's a good demonstration of her vocal talent, power, and interplay with the chorus and backing musicians. Also, I'm spelling out everything in Arabic for youtube searching because arabic romanization varies from writer to writer.

Rudipherous: I've only spent a few weeks in Lebanon but have lived for years in the region in various places so am familiar with a bunch of styles found in the Arab world though not as familiar as I should be, sadly. I need to change my profile now, though, as I'm currently in DC.

Also, I'm spelling out everything in Arabic for youtube searching because arabic romanization varies from writer to writer.

Good idea. I've learned to try out the Arabic labels in youtube searches, once I've found an artist I want to hear.

I've said before, but I prefer the studio version of Inta Omri, which is inexplicably difficult to find on CD. I don't think it's a piece that really demonstrates what she's about as a singer. It seems more about Abdel Wahab, than Oum Kalthoum.

I can see your point about the GW song in the abstract, but it doesn't change my level of enjoyment any. The GW I got into initially was mostly live recordings, many of them early.

I'm not saying I like this (it pretty much runs against my taste on every level), but I'm drawn to it, or at least the album cover (seen on the related videos on the right):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTxHwdpUbd4

Pretty much "mook house" with standard current Arab pop vocals overtop.

this song has been my jam:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egXdSgF3qk8

the original blog post where i read about dina alieva calls it "MUSLIM TRANCE," but she's from chechnya, so i guess that's eastern european not arabic? here's where i discovered the track:

http://dismagazine.com/blog/3674/global-wav-muslim-trance-superstar/

i need more stuff like this!

Thanks for posting that. I don't know anything about Chechen music, but I definitely hear a continuity with Arabic/Turkish music in the rhythms. Maybe not so much in the melody or the pitch and timbre of the vocals? I can't tell the age of the singer, but to me she has the voice of a girl, but maybe that's just the vocal convention?

Her religious sincerity and fashion prowess are a cancerous combination. Those pants? …Are basically the future.

I have to agree her outfits look great.

I'm not really into the song overall, but it's okay.

There are some incredible Asmahan photos on this flickr account that I've never seen before:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amir_sisi/with/2942216611/

Hi Rudipherous (and everybody else not posting on this thread) do you know this artist at all:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4130/4981882562_c88880dd1c.jpg

Recent late night listening for me. Seems to be a mix of live & studio stuff, possibly Assyrian artist but google is not helping. Any ideas??

Abdel Halim Hafez. Egyptian.

I think that's Abdel Halim Hafez anyway! Youngish Abdel Halim Hafez?

Yeah:

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&source=imghp&biw=922&bih=544&q=young+%22abdel+halim+hafez&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2

I thought I had seen that photo before, but then I was like wait maybe not.

Some of his videos are linked to on this thread. Of course, you could just go to youtube, but there's a little discussion of him here too.

Thanks man! Knew I could count on ya. Thought might be Assyrian cause guy I got the tape off was. I have two tapes with that photo on the front cover, one seems to be totally live and the other is a mixture and has a bunch of talking jive with the audience (who clearly worship him).
So did he arrange all his own stuff? Some of the tracks on these trapes are pretty out there...

err tapes

I don't think he arranged his own songs. A lot of his songs were written by Mohammed Abdel Wahab and Baligh Hamdi, both very prolific. Some of the music does get pretty crazy. This is a song about a man going to a fortune teller and being told that he has the saddest fortune the fortune teller has ever seen, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIbuASgxRAo

FWIW, this is one of Robert Plant's favorite singers. This of course is also the singer of the Baligh Hamdi song ripped off by Jay-Z's "Big Pimpin."

Apologies for repeating the/my usual talking points.

Oh wait, I forgot to cut that description. I changed my mind about what to post since I couldn't find the instrumental intro to "Kariat Al Fengan," the song I was describing there. Man, I always screw these threads up.

Haha it's fine... yeah the Jay Z was the first thing that came up when I googled... I need to go through youtube and try and identify the tracks I have so I can start from there.
Off to watch that vid you posted first... thanks again!

I keep forgetting there's already a separate thread for this singer:

Abdel Halim Hafez: S/D & so on

I was just checking the latest releases on maqam.com and I'm seeing more new khaleeji, more new debka compilations, and more shaabi than usual (well, some sort of multi-volume/various artist compilation, which seems a bit unusual to me). I wonder if mainstream Egyptian pop is losing some of its dominance.

The two-volume Rashed Al Majed release, in particular, is one I'm likely to get.

arabic music is the most beautifull don't u think?

a modern-sounding take on classic Persian pop which features some deliciously undulating background vocals bathed in reverb. If it sounds ever so slightly too robotic in the contemporary Auto-Tune style, it’s still fairly intoxicating stuff.

SWM09.31 - THE BEHISTUN TRANSMISSION @1:40

(merry christmas to homeland security)

I don't know if I've posted this before, but the percussion is incredible and Samira Toufic really goes out there, imo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFmw37eZV5E

She deserves a freakin' box set more than a lot of people who have them.

this is wonderfull,,,

Maqam.com now offers a free streaming radio site!

http://radio.maqam.com/

Some ultra-slick, but I like it, belly dance music from Setrak playing right now.

Not into Fadl Shaker though. Still, if I were in a more receptive mood, just leaving this stream might be a good way to expose myself to more recent music (like this).

But as I'm not in the mood, I am turning this off. Bye bye Marwan Khoury.

Marcel Khalife and Oumayma Al-Khalil performing a song from At the Border. She's really spectacular. I'm not sure why she hasn't recorded more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hcy7v8WL2uQ

& not in a flashy way but in a chills-producing way.

This Sabah Fakhri song I'm listening to would be so much better without the droney choral accompaniment. Why do they do that?!

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/11/133691055/Music-Inspires-Egyptian-Protests

http://hotarabicmusic.blogspot.com/

Perhaps the most popular song of the Egyptian revolution is by Mohamed Mounir, a singer so revered, he's known as "The Voice of Egypt."

The song is called "Ezzay," which means "How come

I like this one and the video

The youtube video's on that npr link

And I like it

I'm really enjoying the two albums by Al-Yaman, a Prague band fronted by Yemeni expat Ashwaq Abdulla Kulaib. Discovered them via an "Electric Arabia" user list on emusic, and they really hit the spot occupied by Natacha Atlas (or her collaborations with Transglobal Underground, who are pals of Al-Yaman) of Arabic folk dressed up with a electronic gloss. Authenticity fetishists probably need not apply.

Al-Yaman - Hurriya
Al-Yaman - Saraab

I guess this will fit the image of "authenticity fetishist," but it makes me said when people do Arab music with the Arab rhythms replaced by something else, when there are such amazing Arab rhythms to work with.

http://www.negrophonic.com/2011/maroc-pt-1/

DJ Rupture in Morocco talking about music he saw and bought and listened to on the radio

I'm increasingly sick of the chaabi infatuation with mind-swirling synth trumpets and strings, it's fun for a little while and then just becomes indistinct. Of course these songs aren't really intended for youtube or stereo listening.

Recently I haven't been able to get the song Crossroads مفترق الطرق, as performed by Majida al-Roumi, out of my head.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNSyy_BKwPA

For the most part I've never been able to get into Majida al-Roumi.

I have yet to get any response to this, so I'm posting it again, because I think it's some premium stuff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKVa9FR5q30

http://blogs.voanews.com/african-music-treasures/2011/02/24/khadija/

from Morocco

http://www.negrophonic.com/2011/beyond-digital-old-vinyl-and-new-pop-in-casablanca/

Thanks, that last track has some freshness to it (I like the backing vocals in particular), to my ears anyway. I don't keep up with North Africa. Also, that accompanying photo is great. Most of the vinyl on the look looks to be Warda albums.

I am expecting changes in the popular music in the Arab world proper in the next decade. Something has to shift with so much social and political upheaval, I think, especially since Egypt is part of that political change (since Egypt tends to set musical trends for the Arab world in general).

The Afropop Worldwide website and podcast folks (writer Banning Eyre and others) are heading off to Egypt shortly to research and do a focus on Egyptian sounds. While his background is more in Malian and other African countries that are not quite North African, hopefully they will prepare some interesting coverage