Beirutiat & Rahbanyat - بيـروتيـات و رحـبانـيات.

Wasabi, babes?

Here are more cassettes, LPs, and CD albums from 70's & 80's Lebanon. This is a great collection of Leb-Pop compilations collected and assorted by enthusiasts and commercial music companies in Lebanon and the Middle-east like the famous EMI-La Voix de L'Orient Series and the rare VoB Beirutiat Series (Voice of Beirut).

Fairouz.

Note: The Rahbani Brothers arrangements were taken from a television late-night show that aired in the 70's called Sa'ah We Gheniyeh (An Hour And A Song), and it was very popular way back then. Enjoy as you are about to DL one of the most exciting sounds that came from Lebanon ever.

Do the debke now!

○○○○○○○

The Albums:

◆

Lubnanyat - Sa'edi Laylitna Sa'edi.
◆

Beirutiat (VoB) - Vol. 1.

Beirutiat (VoB) - Vol. 2.

Beirutiat (VoB) - Vol. 3.

Beirutiat (VoB) - Vol. 4.

◆
Beiroutiat - Vol. 1.

Beiroutiat - Vol. 2.

Beiroutiat - Vol. 3.

Beiroutiat - Vol. 4.
◆

Rahbanyat (Sa'aha We Gheniyeh) - Vol. 1.

Rahbanyat (Sa'aha We Gheniyeh) - Vol. 2.

Rahbanyat (Sa'aha We Gheniyeh) - Vol. 3.
◆

◆
Bonus Albums:
◆
Rahbanyat - Vol. 5.

Rahbanyat - Vol. 9.

◆

Beiroutiat Vol. 1.*
Beiroutiat Vol. 3.*

◆

*courtesy of passionate-music.com.

The Pictures:

Mont-Liban. circa 1870s (oldest picture of a debke).

Petite Danseuse Arab - A young bedouin Lebanese dancer.

Lebanese Bedouin Rababa Player
Beyrouth - 1890s.

Group of Lebanese Bedouin Dancers
Beyrouth - 1910s.

A Group of Lebanese Bedouin Musicians - Lebanon 1890s.

Bridal Dance - Nazareth. circa 1920s.

Liban - Danse de Sabre: Lebanese Bedouins dance 40s.

Caucasus Debke, circa 1944.

Syrian debke from the north, circa 1930's.

Debke in the Upper Galilee, Palestine circa 1962.

Syrian country wedding debke. circa 1940.

A debke band of shepherds, Palestine 1941.

Lebanese debke dancers from the 50s.

A big debke theatre band from Lebanon, 1960's.

Debke, Palestine 70's.

Derbeke Player, Lebanon. 1950s.

Young Lebanese debke dancers, early 60s.

Baalebk Festival, Lebanon 1970s.

Baalebk Festival, Lebanon 1960s.

A scene from Baalebk Festival, Lebanon early 60s.

Casino de Liban in the sixties. Outside (up), and inside.

Scenes from The Baalebk Festival.

At Baalebk's ruins. 60s.

Dancing troupe, mid-60s.

Lebanese Folkloric Dancers - Postcard. Early 60s.

Debke Dancers inside the Baalebk Roman theatre. 60s.

Postcard from the early 60s.

Dancing girls behind Baalebk 60s.

Lebanese folkloric female dancers - Postcard 60s.

Syrian Female Dancers. 60s.

Syrian dabeekah early 60s.

Syrian dancing couple 60s.

A dancing girl from a Baalebk Festival troupe 60s.

A dancing couple in a postcard. circa early 60s.

Kurdistani debke/debche dance band. 1970s.

Marvilicious pictures!

○○○○○○○

Thank you Fairouz, and see ya soon in another post just... for you.

That's all for now, folks. Enjoy the beats. Fairouz takes a bow, too in that animated pic as you can see, because it's time to make way for another country from the Middle-east... guesses? Anyone?

The Arabs' Artist: Mohammed Abdou.

It's The Saudi Arabian Kingdom, or Saudi Arabia. Our upcomin' Arab singer was actually nicknamed "The Arabs' Artist". Please, be sure to check the upcoming new post here at the Audiotopia for it'll feature one helluva singer whose life wasn't that easy when he first began his career, but now is considered one of the wealthiest Arab singers (if not the wealthiest...): Mohammed Abdou.

Mohammed Abdou.

The new post is going out as a dedication for Yazeed from yazeed.net. I must admit as I often do these 'Ode-To' posts here that... in all honesty, I don't know any blogger for whom I give such a dedicatory post from a bar of regular soap. All I can offer them (so far they've been Nick@ GhostCapital, Tim Abdellah@ Moroccan Tape Stash, Gerrit@ LolaRadio, and Gary Sullivan@ BodegaPop) is a small post or two for one or more of the singers they feature at their own blogs. I know, I might sound strange 'ere but I do it for the sheer love of music. Full-stop.

So, be prepared: Mohammed Abdou (Abu Nourah, or Abu-Abdou as he's known as by millions of 'Abdaoui' fans) will get... shall I spell the beans? Ohkay... 100 albums! Correcto mundo, ya heard it right: One hundred albums! His post is going to be so ginorhumoungiantigargantuan!! I already started with ripping some of the album cassettes, in addition to writing a short biography full of the rarest pictures that, I am sure, even hardcore Saudi fans have never seen before.

Stay debke-ing at the mo'!

Au Revoir for now.

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.