Arab musicians of the 20th century

Growing up, the voices of Umm Kulthum, Abdelwahab, Fayrouz, Asmahan, Abd El Halim, and many more, who shaped modern Arabic songs, were a big part of daily life. waking up to the voice of Fayrouz singing “بعدك على بالي” (you still in my mind), putting قارئة الفنجان whenever going on a long car drive, and my brother playing الف ليلة وليلة on his oud in our family nights are just a few of examples of how the Arabic music of the 20th century influenced me.

here are my top picks for those of which who had a long-lasting impact on the world.

The Queen B of Arabic Music:

Fairuz 

Originally called Nuhād al-Ḥaddād, was born on the year 1934 on Beirut, Lebanon, she is a singer and actress widely considered to be one of the most celebrated Arab singers of the 20th century. Fairouz’s husband was Assi Rahbani, who along with his brother Mansour Rahbani—known together as the Rahbani Brothers—wrote and composed the majority of the songs and plays that Fairouz performed from the mid-1950s until 1970.

Fairuz is considered the musical icon of Lebanon and is popularly known as “the soul of Lebanon”.

https://youtu.be/AsarYkuAGZI

Farid al-Atrash,

October 19, 1916 – December 26, 1974, also written Farid El-Atrache, was a Syrian-Egyptian composer, singer, virtuoso oud player, and actor. Having immigrated to Egypt at the age of only nine years old with his mother who was the princesses of Jabal EL Druze in Syria, and siblings, he studied there under numerous respected musicians.

Al Atrash had a long and colorful music career lasting four decades. He composed musically diverse songs, and was a highly regarded composer, singer and instrumentalist. Al-Atrash maintained that although some of his music had western musical influence, he always stayed true to Arab music principles.

One of al-Atrash’s most unusual and distinguishable traits was his voice. High and mellow at the start of his career, it evolved into a wider, deeper sound.

https://youtu.be/O-bSQgyeVrQ

Umm Kulthūm

also spelled Oum Kulthoum, was born May 4, 1904, died February 3, 1975, Cairo, is an Egyptian singer who amazed Arab audiences from the persian golf to Morocco for half a century. She was one of the most famous Arab singers and public personalities of the 20th century.

Known as Kawkab al-Sharq (“Star of the East”), Umm Kulthūm was and still one of the greatest artists of all times.

https://youtu.be/69NvkagniYA

Abdel Halim Hasidic

commonly known as Abdel Halim Hafez (Arabic: عبد الحليم حافظ,Egyptian Arabic pronunciation (June 21, 1929 – March 30, 1977), was an Egyptian singer, actor, conductor, businessman, music teacher and film producer . He is considered to be one of the greatest Egyptian musicians along with Umm Kulthum, Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Mohamed Fawzi, and Shadia. As his popularity grew, he was given the nickname ‘el-Andaleeb el-Asmar (Arabic: العندليب الأسمر), meaning The Dark-Skinned Nightingale. To date, he has sold over 80 million records.

https://youtu.be/gb429WQuAFo