Fairuz - search/destroy

Some of the musicals are a little rough going, since there can be a lot of dialogue in them, plus there's some humor which goes past those of us who don't know Arabic.

DV, I will give you more of a response once I am at home. It's somewhat of a sore point to me that I don't own more of her music, and can't afford to do much about it at the moment. Let me see if I can dig up the thread where I gave Ned some advice on Fairouz.

Andaloussiyat: Somewhat uneven, but overall I like this a lot. The music is interspersed with readings of the poems being sung.

Bi Layl We Chiti: This is not a personal favorite. The music is on the traditional end of things, which I would expect to like, but its cold sounding to my ears. This music is by Philemon Wehbe.

Fairuz: a compilation. An odd mix of stuff, some of it very good.

Ishar: One of my favorites, sometimes despite the cheesiness of some of the instrumentation and arrangements, sometimes because of it. This has been re-mastered by EMI Arabia. Unfortunately, I don't like the programming on the re-mastered CD; and one or two of the songs are somewhat different in this version. Even the sound, though improved in some respects, seems to sterile to me. (On the other hand, the other CD release I have is pretty lo-fi.) The melodies here take off in unexpended directions, to my western ears--but I suspect they would strike Arab listeners the same way.

Kifak Inta: I don't like this much. I don't think I like most of what she has released in the last ten years. Ziad Rahbani, son of Assi Rahbani and Fairouz, has an interest in jazz, apparently, but the resultant blend doesn't work well for me.

Oriental Evening: I can't seem to make my mind up about this one. She sings here with Wadi el-Safi (who recently appeared with Sabah Fakri on an album put together by Palestinian-American composer Simon Shaheen) and Nasri Shamsedine (sp?). The theatrical aspect is a little too dominant for me, at times, but some of the music is unbelievably good. It's not one I would want to do without, but I'm not sure what sort of rating to put on it for others.

Reminiscing With Fairuz: An odd compilation of what I gather is fairly early material. I would expect to like it, but don't like it much. Nicely produced, with a good photo insert.

Soiree Avec Fairuz 2: I just copied that title from the Fairouz web-site. I'm not sure the "2" belongs there. I don't see it on the CD. This has become my favorite Fairouz CD, though there is other intriguing material on cassette that I haven't yet identified.

The Very Best of Fairuz: I don't like this very much. I'm somewhat surprised these are among her greatest hits.

Wahdon: I love the first three tracks, which feature (Lebanese style) dance oriented rhythms. I think this is a pretty accessible entry point for western listeners. The last two tracks are horribly orchestrated, in my opinion, but melodically interesting. I can't get past their overall sound, however.

I have also heard one or two children's songs by Fairouz, and they are great. I plan on getting her recording of children's songs eventually. Also, some of the Christmas songs are nice (including Arabic version of Silent Night and Jingle Bells).

incidentally, Taking Sides: Fairuz or Fairouz ?

rockistscientist, you're grebt! i wish we'd had all this info when we were being hopelessly confused in the gargantuan fairuz section in beirut's virgin megastore.

what about oum kolthoum? she's meant to be very good too.

fairuz vs. oum kolthoum: FITE!

rener, Thanks. I'm not sure how much you can trust my opinions, but you don't have too many other English language sources to turn to.

There already is an Oum Kalthoum thread. Lately, I've been more in the mood to listen to Fairouz, but that's probably most because she is easier to follow. Overall, I'd still have to choose Oum Kalthoum over Fairouz. Oum Kalthoum's performances involved quite a bit of improvisation, and sometimes she arrives at some wonderful places. The sort of compositions they sang are quite different. It sounds dopey to say it, but Fairouz is very Lebanese. I'm not sure exactly how to describe the Lebanese sound, but if you get some experience listening to Lebanese music and Egyptian music, you'll probably be able to hear the distinction (if you can't already). Anyway, Fairouz and Oum Kalthoum are very different, and there's no guarantee that if you like one you would also like the other.

The other canonical Arabic singers who I consider to be roughly in the same league would be: Asmahan, Farid el Atrache (Asmahan's brother), and Mohammad Abdel Wahab (but I am still pretty unfamiliar with his work, and have heard contradictory reports about his voice going bad relatively early). I find Abdel Halim Hafez, who would sort of be next in line, somewhat boring much of the time, though he was apparently respected by no less than Oum Kalthoum and Abdel Wahab.

I'm envious of your trip to Virgin Beirut. I would love to see that Fairouz section.

I wonder if this is the same nondescript disc I have. The catalog number is VDLCD 501. Is that it?

If so... I actually quite enjoy it--love it even. More so toward the beginning.

Bint El-Harass is Fairouz at her most twee, but I must say I love it.

(Am a little disappointed with the other CDs I bought along with this one however.)

As I've said before, I often have a little trouble with the way Arabic music makes use of chrouses, and maybe especially the male choruses. (In a funny way it makes me think of Kate Bush's male choruses. I wonder if she is a closet Fairouz fan.)

(Just stumbled across this doing a Google search to figure out which songs on the Safarbarlek/Bint El-Harass album are from the Bint El-Harss soundtrack. I don't remember seeing the last couple posts here.)

http://www.fairouz.com/fairouz/articles/icfbh.html

The soundtrack of the film is missing the instrumentals and the introductory song, Ghibi wela Teghibi which can be found on the Ana We Sahrana album. Strangely enough, it contains songs that can't be found in the film.

Yeah, well that's strange but typical.

When I was in Byblos last month, they had a Fairouz record on repeat in a restaurant. Most of the songs were relatively traditional, but what I assume was the last track was this eerie piece, slightly new age, which had a very long fade out with Fairouz reaching mystical high notes. Any idea what this song or album (assuming it was one and not a mixtape) could be?

Bi Layl We Chiti has grown on me somewhat. Still highly recommend Bint El-Harass.

http://www.fairuzonline.com/images/pic/up4_02.jpg

Re: Good Friday is about the only Fairouz CD left that I feel some urgency about buying, though I'm sure there are others out there that I'd like. (I do have a lot of Fairouz already already though.) Western orchestras pretty much just are a part of Lebanese music at this point, not that I am not sympathetic to your comment. Sometimes I like what they do with the orchestras and sometimes I don't.

Totally. That's kind of why I picked it up. Could be some 80's Nico album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUoY7pFgnWg

I love that, she's very expressive. When does it date from?

I think it's from the 60s, but I can try to figure it out more precisely if you want.

Actually, not sure why I haven't posted more Fairouz videos to this thread except that I sort of forgot about it for a while.

The tailoring certainly looks very sixties, I just wondered whether maybe fashions and colour television reached the Levant a bit later than that. I need to know much more about Lebanon, Fairuz seems a decent place to start.

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This from probably my favorite album by her, Bint el-Harass, a soundtrack obviously:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPn0XC6b-Bs

That's from "68 or something like that. (I definitely recommend starting with the 60s material and working forward, in general.)

An Abdel Wahab song (she didn't record that many of his compositions):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdWAPofe-6k

(I think that should prove her ability to handle more complicated material. I don't know music theory, but this song doesn't sound to me like something for the amateurs.)

One more? This is from comparatively late in her career:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4LqJI6J8zw

This would obviously be a tad sentimental for some listeners. I like it, and it's one of her biggest hits (judging by how many different tapes I've heard it on):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrZ8F43-4c8

I had a dream about a Fairouz song (with video, playing on a TV), but in this case it was being sung by a man. I was all like I would be in real life: "I recognized this right away, but I have no idea what it's from except that it's a Fairouz song" or something like that. I can't remember which song it might have been at this point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfJ0qNZXhMM

!!!

been wanting to listen to some Fairuz, perhaps this is the time!

love this smooth funky jam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gCZP0722gc

this is totally gonna be my musical NY resolution

I should really do a playlist for her on Spotify. I don't love close to everything she's done. Really not into most of what Ziad has composed for her, that I've heard.

I don't have the patience to do a song by song playlist and three of the albums I wanted to include on an album playlist are not on Spotify. Of the ones there, I recommend Oriental Evening (a musical with other singers), Ishar (sometimes cheese but effectively so! mostly Abdel Wahab compositions), the first three songs on Wahdon (rhythm heavy), Bi Lail W'Sheti (rarified, classical sounding, songs by Philemon Wehbe), Ya Rayeh (which is incomplete here, I think--I don't remember it being EP length), and maybe Chante Philemon Wehbe Volume 1.

Not that anyone was actually requesting suggestions.

Missing from Spotify: Bint El Hares, Soiree Avec Fairuz, and Andaloussiyat. Among others--but those are the ones I care about offhand.

Ishar: cheesy at times but pretty damn beautiful as well. How are you going to argue with these melodies?

i've heard that one! so what's like the best Spotify album to listen to come first week of '17? i am lookng fwd to reconnecting with my country!

I really like Oriental Evening but it does include other singers. Can't get much more Lebanese sounding than that album, too.

awesome. i like other singers, i grew up with choruses of singers playing in my mom's car :)

But don't listen if you can't stand Nasri Shamsedine and Wadi Al-Safi (who I have lots of time for).

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My original copy was on cassette and it had a flaw in it at the beginning, but it fit the sound of the violins, throwing in a dip where there already was a feeling of a dip in the music. (Very authentic listening experience.)

oh i might have heard of Wadi! or maybe i just have a Wadi in the family. do you know that song that translates to "the beautiful people have arrived, and they're still beautiful"

haha sorry my mom used to sing it all the time in arabic so i can't do much better

No, sorry, I usually don't know what the songs are about unless someone told me, or I read about them, or--miracle of miracles--I bought a CD which includes lyrics translated into English.

Which sometimes makes me lose patience with the musicals. I like Oriental Evening because so much is happening musically. I'm not even sure it is strictly a musical, but it sounds like it to me.

🎶🎹🎹

Her catalog is huge and I don't know it inside out. I also don't find a lot of the musical plays all that enjoyable, not knowing Arabic. And I am mostly cold to her son, Ziad Rahbani's compositions. And while Spotify is still missing at least three albums (one a two-fer, really) I consider crucial, I have made a playlist with some of my favorite material and other material that I am less familiar with but that seems pretty damn good, for what it's worth:

https://open.spotify.com/user/rudipherousoxide/playlist/0od44JlTvOpKtSf8bKGzag

The playlist kicks off with a track from the great Bint el Hares soundtrack missing from Spotify.

I don't know what happened to my Umm Kulthum playlist. I looked at it the other day and every single track was gone, so I deleted it. I suspect Spotify deleted some duplicates or something.

And it looks like Itab is the same songs as Soiree Avec Fairouz, so things are in better shape than I thought, though I'm pretty sure Itab was not present a year ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hgKrUzwmrQ