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| Farid
Ghosn |
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At
present there are very few people who know
something about this great musician, who influenced
Farid al-Atrash, taught Marcel Khalifeh, composed
for Oum Kulthoum, Asmahan and Nour al-Huda,
and was ranked with the top Arab musicians
of the twentieth century: Mohammad al-Qasabji,
Riyad al-Sunbati and Mohammad Abdel Wahab.
What is more odd is that his discs disappeared
after his death in 1985. He was not merely
a performer, but was also an innovater who
expanded the potential of the oud and fused
Arab and Western music.
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Farid
Ghosn (1912-1985) or the King Of Oud as he was called,
was born In Hayatah village in Lebanon. His original
name is Ne'mat Allah Shalalah, and he began his musical
career in Egypt, to which his father emigrated for
work. He learned the principles of music at the hands
of his greek neighgour, and in his early youth he
joined the music ensemble of the renowned Syrian violinist
Sami al-Shawa. He also worked in the band of Munira
al-Mahdiyah, and between 1932-1947 he joined Badi'a
Masabni where he worked as head of her orchestra and
composer of her musical shows. Ghosn was viewed as
one of the music masters of Egypt at that time, and
he composed songs for Oum Kulthoum (Waqaft Awadda'
Habibi, 1943), Asmahan (Ya Nar Fuadi, Isma' Elbulbul,
Eddunya Fi Idi). He also played a role in Asmahan's
musical education and was her oud instructor. One
of the most popular songs he composed was Aminti
Billah, 1939, which contributed tremendously to
the fame of Laure Daccache. He also wrote the lyrics
of this song.
In 1950 Ghosn went to Latin America where he lived
for ten years. He returned to Lebanon in 1960 and
taught at the National
Conservatory of Music.
Among his students was the Lebanese artist Marcel
Khalifeh. He also wrote two books on musical composition
and laid out a novel method for playing oud.
Above all, Ghosn was a remarkable oud player. In his
compositions, he was an innovater and expressed the
unlimited potential of the oud.
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| Abdel
Halim Nuwairah (Firqat al-Musiqa al-Arabiyah ) |
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The
most important contribution of this multi talented
Egyptian artist was the reproduction of the major
arab classical works dating back to the 19th and
early 20th
century.
With Firqat al-Musiqa al-Arabiyah, which he founded
in
1967,
and taught, trained and conducted until 1985,
he recorded the Muwashahat, Qasa`ed and Adwar
of the great Egyptian composers such as Muhammad
Uthman, Kamel al-Khula'i, Abu Khalil al-Qabbani,
Mahmoud Soboh, Darwish al-Hariri, Dawood Husni
and Sayed Darwish.
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Maestro
Abdel Halim Nuwairah (1916-1985) studied at the Institute
of Arab Music in Cairo. At the same time he received private
musical training and instruction at the hands of a number
of masters: Sheikh Darwish al-Hariri (Muwashahat), Fuad
al-Iskandarani (Adwar), Mahmoud al-Hafni (music history).
He held several teaching posts, including music instructor
at the Higher Institute of Oriental Music, and in 1945
he became the conductor of the Egyptian Radio Music Ensemble.
Nuwairah composed soundtracks for 60 films and composed
the music of a few songs for Egyptian singers, among them
were Laila Murad and Abdel Halim Hafez. After his passing
away, Firqat
al-Musiqa al-Arabiyah was renamed after him and became
known as Firqat Abdel Halim Nuwairah.
Nuwairah presented to us Arab music at its most elaborate,
sophisticated and pure form, thus helping to preserve
some most important classical compositions. Here we have
selected four Muwashahat, the first two, Atani
Zamani and Kallilee Ya Sohob,
were composed by Muhammad Uthman. Ya
Ghusna Naqa and Waghak Mushriq
go back to earlier times and their composers are unknown.
The Muwashah is a singing form that started in Andalusia
during the 10th century and was brought to Egypt by Ibn
Sana` al-Mulk in the 12th century. It continued to develop
in Egypt and reached highest points of perfection at the
hands of Muhammad Uthman during the 19th century. Dawr
Elyom Safa is also a composition
of Muhammad Uthman.
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