Diversity in Arab music - examples

Sabah Fakhri

(b. 1933, Aleppo, Syria)
Preeminent living tarab master

• Qul lil-maliha. A traditional mawwal. Observe: musical-poetic control, singer-instrumentalist interaction, singer-audience interaction, ambiguously evocative text, repetition, improvisation, spontaneous instrumental fills.
  

Qul lil-maliha fil-khammar al-aswadi
Madha fa`alti bi nasikin muta`abbidi?
Tell the beautiful girl in the black veil
What did you do with a pious ascetic?

• Sibouni ya nass

"Traditional Arab Music" (turath)

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Miami Band

From Kuwait.

• Habaanko. Habaanko (audio), Habbanko (video). (The habban is a traditional Kuwaiti bagpipe.)

Contemporary folk-inflected Gulf music.

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Marcel Khalife

• I pass by your name (audio)(video)
• Passport
• al-Zaghareed (from Al Andalus suite)

Marcel is a classicist, but also an innovator and politicized figure (for singing the poetry of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish)

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Ruby

Leeh biydari kidah (Why Is He Hiding His Feelings Like This?)

For nights I was calling my darling and he did not come
He doesn't ease my mind and doesn't know what's happening to me
What can I do? I love him so much
Woe is me oh my fire
When I see his image before my eyes all day and night
What can I do? I love him so much
Woe is me oh my fire
When I see his image before my eyes oh what's with me?

Then why is he hiding his feelings like this
And he is unaware like this
And I don't know
Why is he confusing me
And why is he running away from me
And I never cross his mind

Ruby represents the early manifestation of what has become the Arab pop mainstream, reinforcing the "Arab world" via satellite broadcasts - as never before.

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Alaa Wardi

Alaa Wardi is a Saudi musician of Iranian descent who trained in Jordan, sings in 5 languages, and knows how to use social media!

Check out his YouTube channel

Multicultural and global, Alaa represents even newer trends, demolishing traditional concepts of cultural boundary.