Intermission: Bonus Compilation - Lubnanyat Zaman - لـبـنـانـيات زمـان.

Attenshun Shoppas!

Callin' on all blogsters who frequent these e-quarters:

Fairouz.

Continuing with a bonus for the last two Intermission posts... this here is a big Compilation that I myself has made with many Lebanese singers and bands (some are very very rare), taken mostly from the 70's and 80's for your special e-njoyment.

Lubnanyat Zaman Comp's record sleeves and cassette jackets.

Lubnanyat Zaman: Old Lebanese Pop Hits From The 70's & 80's Vol. 1.

Lubnanyat Zaman: Old Lebanese Pop Hits From The 70's & 80's Vol. 2.

Lubnanyat Zaman: Old Lebanese Pop Hits From The 70's & 80's Vol. 3.
Lubnanyat Zaman: Old Lebanese Pop Hits From The 70's & 80's Vol. 4.

Each track here features a different artist or band (and, few are collaborations with other artists) and they exactly number 75 Lebanese pop singers from the 70's and the 80's. I also wanted this new comp to be special like the first one... so, I made a nice front-folder for it from most of the original cassette and LP sleeves.

After all and all, it is a good-naturedly quickie look at past happier times in the Middle-East when people were carefree and cool. Smile as you listen to these happy songs.

I go now. Stay hip, people.

⊰ ✇✇✇✇✇✇✇ ⊱

Extra Mini-Post:

Old wall drawings showing debke dancers.

The History of Debka Music:

دبكة, or دابكة (debke/ dabka/ debkah) is an old style of line-dancing that originated around the Mediterranean basin in ancient times. Not much is known on its earliest origins, but the Greeks had a similar Bacchanalian line-dance in which the dancers held each others' hands and moved in a circle. That dance resembled a huge human circle that erupts from a long line of at least 4 dancers who dance so closely as they moved in slower movement to whatever music which accompanies this terpsichorean enchantment. The Greeks enacted these pagan dances on special occasions such as when the Moon was full, or rather as a worship ritual for the Sun.

Mesopotamian musicians.

The circle itself depicts the Sun, and the dancers become the revolving cosmic planets. Some certain order was placed around the Mesopotamia for closely related dances that are said to enact the power of old Gods inside their dancers. But, nothing is known about these now-dead rituals. Religious symbolism of the dance itself is scarcely studied and nothing could be found in any theosophical reference about these dances, but I guess the dancers were a structuralized universe; a unison of bodies and souls. Modern-time line-dances vary so much, there are few similarities left to see now in any of these to those of earlier times. That said, the Mediterranean sea (and, the Middle-Eastern part of it in particular), and its countries have so little differences between them and most of the dances found there are really the same. For example, modern Greek dances are almost the same as those in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. Also, Eastern European countries so close to Turkey do not vary much from Turkish dances and other forms of Turkish music.

An Egyptian dancer in a trance.

Debke itself is thought to have originated in the Balkan region of East Europe, and was taken to the Ottoman Empire at the 16th Century when Turkish imperialists invaded these parts of the world. At the starts of the 19th century some of these Balkans took permanent residence in the Levant region and became naturalized citizens bringing in with them their crafts, music, and dances. Debke was one of those. The Balkan dwellers in the Levant were known as master builders and masons of a high caliber. Their knowledge harks back to hundreds of years of generation after another of builders who had to build reliable houses in extremely cold climates. Building a house was an opportunity to gather people around who used to help with it in the spirit of community, and calls to help that were actually sung in rhythmic tonality to make it more acceptable for other villagers to come and share the hard work.

19th Century painting of a darbuka player.

People started and finished with a dance: debke was the finishing finale where the builders took a rest by getting together with the rest of the master builders or foremen to announce the finishing of the house in a stomp dance. They used to gather at the roof as it was the last part of the house to build and as they did with normal dances on the ground, they moved together in a circle and broke again in a linear dance all the while their hands held up high as to make their feet stomps more powerful to compact the mud roof. The word debke is taken from the Arabic root د-ب-ك which means 'moved', and has many similar root-words to those of animal-walking sounds, and the animals their selves. The Greek dances of yore were animalistic rituals of pagan dances and sex played a vital rule in these dances, especially where the bachelors got to dance at these lines on top of the roofs, as these houses were built for marriage purposes and/or those intending to get wedded.

Iraqi-Kurdistani troupe of debka dancers.

At those older times, debkes were male dances, and the women (even in Eastern Europe) had their own special dances that men weren't allowed to share. But, with time the dances became uni-sexed and a very good initiating opportunity to meet new mates to marry, but touching hands wasn't allowed. That's why in a debke — and until these very days, a woman must hold a handkerchief in her hand, and the males, too. Not all males: only the rayess (leader) is the one who's supposed to hold the kerchie as he twirls it around in fast circles in the air. In old, Christian East-European times, people used to walk outside their churches dancing these dances and holding a rosemary or any praying beads in their hands raising it in joy and celebration of the newly-weds. The Middle-east has this, too: a leader, or sometimes anyone of the laweeha (the dancers who are able to muster this art), holds a rosemary (called masbaha) as women twist their tongues in zaghareet/walaweel (زغاريت/ولاويل: shouts of joy using the mouth and not the lips) to announce their joy to as far distances as they could.

A dancing group of debke in Iraq.

As the dance starts, the first instrument to begin playing is usually the reed flute called yarghoul/arghol/maghroun (a Turkish word which means 'the announcer'), or sometimes in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan the mejwiz/shabbaba (entwined double reed-flute) is also used. The rhythm starts very slow in elongated sharp tunes as the dancers warm up in slow motions holding their heads down, and moving in 1-2-3 steps (one front, back, front again and then move to the side), hands start to clutch and the line gets created. There is also a singer who sings in mawaweel: old, short, memorized poetry usually of two couplets which he fires at the top of his lungs in a shriek (this is not a song, mind) and sometimes places his hands (palm down to his face), to cover his ears as he shouts. This is just the start of the debke. This dance is like riding a steep high-cliff on a bike, and when the lead singer reaches the apex... everyone joins, and dances and the ride becomes a very hectic down-hill jamboree that might last for hours nonstop. It's just like sex in all its animalistic expressions played to the beat of a flute and a drum.

A yarghoul player from Syria.

The drum's called tablah (or, darbouka/darbokah/derbake) and is usually played by women, and not men. But, now everybody plays it, even I do play it myself. The words to the lead singer's songs usually come infused with sexual stories of how he's asked the lover to come talk to him without anyone seeing them, or how her new haircut makes him wild or how not paying any attention to his flirting has caused him to lose his mind, ... etc. The most common of these songs are dalouna: دلعونا/دلعونة it's a call for help which originated from those same Balkan builders as they shouted these three words Ya Tha Al-Aoun for God to help with the hard work. Other styles are Shemali: شمالي/هوا الشمالي the singers start by calling on this unfavourable wind to tell their sadness about some matters. (Note: the wind itself is God. Most Levant religions has the soul as the source of Godhood inside them. In Judaism it's called rouach, and in Islam rouh. Wind is called reeh, too. The Shemali wind comes from the left side of the earthen hemisphere, and thus one can see a daemonic relation here. But, as usual nothing is really known about this).

A debka in southern Palestine.

Women in the Levant have this habit of burning incense weeds, or throwing perfume on the air which is a way to rejoice the company of the dancers (in olden times, they were from the village and took nothing as a monetary reward for their dance; maybe just the dinner presented at the end of the celebration. Now, the dancers are all paid, or hired), and they thank the singer and his troupe by ululating more and more and louder and louder. A singing style that greets the singers and the guests as well is called Maijana (Ya Min Jana: ميجانا). It's a welcome call for all those who came and accepted the invitation, or even those who are just passing by. One style of debke songs is called Zareef (زريف/زريف الطول), which is sung in Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan, mainly. The word means one who's as tall as a giraffe and this means the high-status of his honour among those who know him. It's not the groom, no. It's someone imaginary for whom the song starts. The singer's always asks him to just pass by, or stop and... "let me tell you..." in fast rapid words of two couplets.

Debke.

Other styles of debke dances common in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan are: the jonoubi dance (southern), sha'rawiyya (has six measures), karradi dance (from Kurdistan originally), sahjeh (accompanied by hand claps), jafrah (Palestinian dance from the Jafra region in Baqa Al-Gharbiyah town), farradiyeh (Jordanian women-only standing debke), dehyyeh (bedouin wedding dance common in Southern Syria and Jordan), tesa'aweyah (nine measure debke of the south of Jordan). The lead singer usually asks the dancers to "sallee a'ala nabi" at the end of the dance, or to wish peace upon the soul of Prophet Mohammed. Amidst the dance itself, he directs every step with his kerchief, or masbaha, and some even carry a bamboo rod or a sword as a symbol of leadership placing it high on top of his head, or sometimes even touching the ground with it to announce the lower movements, or those dances that get the dancer closer to the earth, all the while staying so close to the man next to him (sometimes leaning on him with the side of his body). At other times when it gets 'hotter', he flees the line and hits the ground with all of his might in a thudding cloud of dust! It's amazing to dance and/or watch debke in action.

A debke band in full action. A 'Laweeh' at far left.

Other modern related dances and singing styles are: sahbet ouf/ouf-ouf (an atabah singing style that starts always with repeating the word 'ouf'; an exasperate shout), abu-zelouf (a romantic singing style that speaks to an imaginary abu-zelouf, or one who has thick side-burns), a'wadeh (Lebanese dancing and singing style that starts with the words "a'ala Allah te'oud": oh may those days return. A very nostalgic, powerful, sad singing style), wahda-we-nous (1.5 measure which can also be danced to a debke tune), raks al-a'sayah (staff dance using a small walking stick), raks sharki, raks baladi, raks badia... etc.

Syrian Raks Baladi orchestra in the early 80's.

⊰ ✇✇✇✇✇✇✇ ⊱

Right awn!

H.H.

Intermission II: More Lebanese Melodies! Debke Debke Debke!

Bang! Bang!

The debke is still goin' on in the Audiotopia with rhythms and beats from feet-stompin', hand-twirlin', rosary-flippin', hip-shakin', Allah!-shoutin' Lebanese people, and you guys and guyettes thought the fun's over?

Heard that, Fairuz?

The voice of Lebanon and its song:
Fairuz.

Well, we got ourselves eight more Lebanese Pop albums (thanks to finding the enough time, and havin' particularly nothing much to do today). This time, it'll all be a collection of Various Artists from the 60's, 70's, and the 80's.

Fairuz' partner in most of her plays: Nasri Shamseddiene.

The artists are never-ending, and when it comes to naming, collecting, uploading, presenting... etc these, it always proves a very hard task: there are literally hundreds of Lebanese singers to document and present.

Sabah 'Essabouha': Lebanon's Mother of all Songs.

It's all the better if you'd get to know these Lebanese 60's-70's-80's pop singers, and my blog is still at its first baby-steps draggin' its primordial imaginary knuckles when it comes to presenting these great artists from years-long neglect.

A hafla in the 60's with the traditional costumes.

Here in this second part of the Intermission, we are to have more debke-dancin' frenzy from some Lebanese Various Artists as a bonus to our first part. And, if you're still sitting lumpity-lump on yer collective asses, then...

A bellydancer at sunset. Niiice!

GET THE FAWK UP! And dance to these tunes! Artists are too many to count in these eight V/A albums from Lebanon. But, here's a short-list of the best:
Fairuz, Nasri Shamseddiene, Sabah, Wadeh Alsafi, Hoda Haddad, Georgette Sayegh, Najah Sallam, Fadoua Obied, Laila Ramzy, Taroub, Nawal El-Kiek, Majdaly, Elie Choueri, Joseph Azar, Samir Yezbeck, Fahd Ballan, Samira Tewfic, Issam Rajji, Filmon Wehbi, William Houswani, Marwan Mahfouz, Mohammed Cherif, Boughous Gelilian. 

Ready?

All Of Us Sing For You - V/A.

Greatest Hits - Grands Succees.

Oriental Hit-Parade - Vol. 3.

Oriental Hit-Parade - Vol. 2.

Oriental Hit-Parade - Vol. 1.

Melodies From Lebanon - Vol. 2.

Melodies From Lebanon - Vol. 3.

Lebanese Musical Sketches.

Bang bang!

Fairuz.

Enjoyable, innit? And, remember: these albums do not even scratch the bottom when it comes to what's going to be shown here at the Audiotopia. More Leb-Pop music and artists are to be featured soon. It's one of the fastest-growing styles of music in terms of popularity among collectors, diggers, and music ethnosiasts the world over.

Fairuz and the Rahbanis in a 1974 picture
as they deplane, touching ground in America.

Stay tuned for more and more as these afore-mentioned hundreds of Lebanese singers are all going to have their own posts here, and of course, singers from the beautiful Middle-east from Afghanistan to Zanzibar! It's all in the mix, babes!

Sabah & Wadeh Alsafi in 'Sahrat Houb'.

This wraps it up for the Intermission posts about Lebanese Pop. Hope you'll enjoy and yes, dance to these tunes by Sabah, Taroub and the rest of this good collection of long-lost sounds from the Mid-east...

Sabah singing in a 60's film.

I'm gettin' more pressed to be quantified and qualified. But, there's no pressure, ultimately. Things are way too tenderized for me, and I am trying to grind down my idea machine, 'cause most of it was junk as you've heard me admit however humble it could have come. Better things are on the way: 'sall I can tell ya right nowsers.

You guys... Rock on!

H.H.

Intermission: More Lebanese Music, Please! - Additional On-The-Run Albums.

Ah, alrighty...

Thought about leavin' ya all summin' to listen to while I'm gone: some albums 'nd cassettes from various Lebanese Pop artists that I wish you can download and enjoy to tha max. Here they all are:

Description:

From two, much-sought-after rare LPs issued in the 70's filled to hilt with music by Fairuz, Nasri Shamseddine, Wadeh Asafi, Sabah, The Rahbani Brothers, Filmon Wehbi, Ferqat Al-Ashab (The Freinds), Ferqat Al-Thoulathi (The Trio Band), Viki Garabedian, Shiraz, Lina, Souad Hashem ... right to Syrian singer Fahd Ballan (3 albums not included in this post) whom I like so much.

Lebanese singer Fairuz on stage, 70's.

All of these artists come back-to-back with other Lebanese ones that we've featured before, like Taroub (get her rare album, 'Ya Setti Ya Khetyara' not featured on this post), straight to bedouin singer Samira Tewfic (Vol. 2 of her rare 'Desert Romance' cassettes series), and one last Hiyam Youness (we talked about her at Abdo Moussa's post) whose rare EP Habib El-Dar is upped here.
Magnificent!

Dope debke dancing music!

Roll the carpets off the floor: time to dance to dope debke music. Ayekays, baybays?

Music From A Millionaire's Playground - LP.

Lebanon Souvenir - ذكريـات من لبنـان - LP.

Fahd Ballan - Farid Al-Atrache Tribute - LP.

Fahd Ballan - The Best Songs - Compilation.

Fahd Ballan - The Hit Songs - Compilation.

Taroub - Ya Setti Ya Khetyara - LP.

Samira Tewfic - Desert Romance - Vol. 2.

Hiyam Youness - Habib El-Dar - EP.

Yes sir: you got these to listen and dance to while I'm gawn. Be sure to check here from time to time, as I will be back very soon with more "micro-drops" that I only hope you can really enjoy them.

Fairuz and the Rahbani Bros. in cowboy attire.

I leavitate... Aite?

See ya cowboys!

Hut hut!

H.H.

R.I.P. Warda Al-Ghazaieryah: The Rose of The Arabs - وردة. Special Obit-Post.

Hi dear readers,

Enjoying yer time at the Audiotopia?

So many things to do, too little time to finish them, and being busy is a bit lame as time's sometimes... nothing but this ten-inch dicked bizotch tryina snatch ya all the time. Uh, so fer me I gotsa get backers to ma idle-town fer the time being. In the meantime I wanted to post this obit-post...

Death and Life are two points and the shortest distance between two points is a straight line as we all know. But, some live a life so creative and full of accomplishments that their end-point (Death per se) vanishes and melts away as their deeds immortalize them for ever and more.

Last prayers in Cairo, Friday 18|05|12.

Arab-music wise: Sad, sad news were everywhere lately about the death of Egyptian-Algerian singer Warda Al-Ghazaieryah (وردة الجزائرية). She died last Thursday in Cairo from a liver-transplant surgery complications that she had performed in the American Hospital in Paris. (Note to reader: BodegaPop's owner Gary Sullivan has a coupla good CDs of hers downloadable on some of his latest postings, so be sure to check these out).

Mourners cry the death of a 'Rose'.

Gary wondered if the little bittle pieces of information that he's read in her wiki-page weren't correct after I'd mentioned to him in a comment box that Warda's parents were actually Jewish. Correct. Yes, they were both Jewish. At Al-A'aliyah Islamic Cemetery her body now resides where millions of Arabs are still flocking there to Algiers the capital, to bed her their last farewells amidst tearful eyes and sunken hearts.

Pathé-Marconi poster.

Earliest picture.

Her death was a sad loss, indeed: she resembled beauty in both her voice and her heart. And, love and passion with her life and love. May her body rest in heavenly peace. She's also one of the best singers who sang Tarab music with more than 300 songs recorded between 1958 and 2010. After the death of Umm-Kalthum that has left a void in the classical Arab music in 1975, she quickly filled it by singing a song that Umm-Kalthoum herself was supposed to sing (Aw'aati Be'tehlaou: My Times Get Only Happier), and that got her famous all over the Arab world more than when she started singing way back in 1943 aged only 11-10 years old through a radio which transmitted to Arabs living in France and North-Africa while her parents were still in Paris. She was born in the Latin quarter on 22nd, July 1932 and her parents were both Moroccan-Jews (her father was Algerian on the side of his mother, her mother is said was a Lebanese Christian who taught her daughter church choir songs before she could start to speak, but this does not hold true to those who know her 'story').

Warda as a teenager, 50's.

They both fled the woes of WW-II as it broke in 1939, and immigrated illegally to France, with their kids (Warda was only 6), and had them new passports and identities when they visited Lebanon in 1949 to sign a contract for their daughter at one of Beirut's record labels (Pathé-Marconi - '49).

Warda, "with Love".

Before that, and in Paris, a Syrian manager offered her parents a chance to take her to Damascus to sing at the Officer's Club there. His name is still a mystery to most. Warda's parents took her back to Algiers after her singing career there was cut short by a sudden bout of illness. They stayed in Algiers after the war was over, trying again to resurrect her career, but to no avail. Reasons behind that were probably the lack of interest in young voices as it was known as the time of the 'Giants' like Umm-Kathoum, Layla Murad, Asmahan, Shadia. She left with her family back to France where her father had a small club restaurant (Tum-Tum), and a small hotel which he tried to lure more customers into it by announcing on-stage live sets with Warda as this young starlet, announced as 'La Juene Ouarda'. The trick didn't pan out, and yet again, her family decided to go back to Algiers and stay at the father's house to cut down on expenses (France was too much for them back at the time).

A rare picture of hers.

Then, after a short film stint in some early Algerian black and white films in the late-50's, a Lebanese film-director (Hilmi Raffleh, who was himself Jewish), invited her parents to Beirut first where she met with Omar Al-Cherif (err, he's also Jewish), and signed her first film contract in 1960 to take the lead role in the communist-propaganda film Almaz (And Abdu Al-Hamouli: a film made by Nasserite propagandists to denounce the early rule of Turkish Ottomans in old pre-revolution Egypt).

With Abdel-Wahab, singing, 60's.

President Jamal Abd Al-Naser asked Mohammed Abdel-Wahab (Wahab is also Jewish), to make her part of his singing choral that was commissioned to sing a nationalist, revolutionary operrette (Watani Al-Akbar - My Great Country), when rumours of a love-affair got circled around of her meeting one of his commanders by... chance after her car broke down on her way to Cairo. Intelligence sources were on fire to know who's this new girl trying to win the heart of El-Muchir Abdel-Hakim A'amir (he committed suicide after the 1967 war with Israel, allegedly), and when Nasser saw her, he liked her so much that he himself was said to erm, forget it. Anyways, it's from there where her career in Egypt started as she sang for the Nasserite Communist Party.

With singer Sayyed Makawwi.

She met almost every Egyptian composer and singer and was a hit even if her original country was Algeria, presumably. This was due to many facts, one of which was the collateral communist front that was axing so much power on all singers for 'popaganda' purposes. Warda was no exception: she had to follow that red path to stand on her hind legs in a very competitive atmos-fear of Arab singers who tried to win the liking of the communist parties around the Arab world, and a wide mass-appeal of Arab communist-to-the-core listeners thanks to an outside agenda that was active in the region for many years.

Abdel-Halim Hafez clapping to her.

In a Cairo recording studio
early 70's.

When she was famous around Cairo, another Syrian manager (Walid Al-Hakim) contacted her to sing at Adawa Dimashq (The Lights of Damascus) festival which included Wadeh Asafi, Shadia, and Mohammed Abdel-Muttalib from Egypt aired to a mass audience through the then-popular Radio Damascus. Her popularity rose to sky-high levels after that concert which took place in 1960. Two years later, Algiers declared it independence from the French, and she went there back to sing at her homeland where she married a high-ranking government officer (Jamal Qasiri) who forbade her from singing. Ten years later she found herself back in Cairo, where she was the call-for girl and among the many Egyptian singers and composers that she worked closely with during that 'red' phase were Abdel-Wahab, Sayyed Makkawi, Salah A-Sharnoubi, Helmi Bakkar, Ammar Al-Shareai, Ryad Assounbati, Mohammed Al-Mouji, Mohammed Hamza, Walid Sa'ad, and her second husband (whom she married later in 1972 for only one year) composer numero uno Baligh Hamdy.

Baligh and his wife Warda: A Love Story.

The odd coincidence in Warda's death was that her late husband Baligh Hamdy died after a liver surgery complications in September the 12th, 1993. He was the King of Arab Music, and Warda was the Queen. Both are gone now. May God rest their prettiful souls. Amen.

Warda Al-Jazaieryah.

I am not going to write more about Warda, or upload much of Warda's music: just one piece by Baligh (We Malo - So What), and another which is my favourite by this One-derful singer (Ale Eih Beyess Alouni 'Annak Ya Nour Eouini' - Say, They All Ask Me About You, Light of My Eyes). Take this as a solemn moment for one great loss of Arab music's best female artist.

Enjoy, and I promise I shall be back with a fuller post featuring more of her album-songs, LPs, and cassettes and info. This was just a salutatory post for her beautiful soul. R.I.P..

Warda - Ale Eih Beyess Alouni.

Warda - We Malo.

I am so lucky to have such a great e-company of dedicated soundistas. You guys rock. I roll now.

See ya soon with more posts, better sounds, and les' keep the good stuff comin'. Aite?


Update: Here is her Tribute-Post. Enjoy.

A.T.B.

H.H.