Nabil
Sh'ail is a popular Kuwaiti singer who is also very famous
in the Arab World. With his unique high-pitched voice,
he is dubbed the "Demis Roussos of the Arabs".
Mansak
is from his latest album, and it
has amazing beats typical of the Gulf music, which are
a mix of Arabic, Indian and East African rythms.
Huwayda
was born in the coastal city of Latakia in Syria. Ever
since her childhood, the bold and determined daughter
of a rather poor and conservative family wanted to become
a singer. She was thrust into the spotlight four years
ago, with her famous song Mandam Aleik (I Don't Regret
Losing You). She competed with Nawal El Zoghbi to get
the rights to the song, but finally both singers performed
it and both did very well. Huwayda's style is closer to
Shami folklore and she presents her fans with a familiar
sound that's inspired by traditional Syrian and Lebanese
folk tunes. In her singing, Huwayda beautifully exploits
the high capacity of her voice and she enjoys high popularity
in Syria and many Arab countries. Now she is counted among
the top Arab singers.
Hisham
Abbas is a 37 year old Egyptian pop singer whose popularity
has been rising sharply in the past few years, in Egypt
and the Arab World. His songs are happy and dancy and
you can feel his enthusiasm radiating through all his
songs. The first tune in this selection is an unusual
recording of him reciting the 99 attributes of God, the
attributes of the Divine mentioned in the Holy Koran.
Bellail
is
from his new album Gowa Fe Albi,
released in February 2002. Habibi
Dah is from his previous album, which was his first
independent production, and for which he went to India
to record Habibi Dah. In Egypt, this song won the prize
for best video for the year 2000.
Hanine
is a new Lebanese artist who has recently graduated from
the National Conservatory in Lebanon. Her first perfomance
was in Byblos Festival last Summer, where she surprised
audience with her superb appearance with
the Cuban all Stars Orchestra, in
which she sang Arabic classic hits set to the Caribean
rhythms of bolero, cha-cha-cha, son and salsa. These 2
tracks are from her first album, which has just been released.
Cantame Cantame ... Hablame Niņa
en Arabe ... Oh girl sing for me ... Speak to me in Arabic...
Tania
is a young Lebanese singer and songwriter who represents
something new and surprising in the world of the Arabic
song, in music style as well as content. Her songs emphasize
the importance of both the tune and lyrics and combine
simple
texts with sophisticated musical arrangements.
They have a message of rebillion and a call for change,
cynical
criticism of society and daily life and
tackle themes never dealt with before in Arabic songs,
such as globalization, woman's condition, love and revolution.
Tania
studied fine arts at LAU in Beirut then went to the Sorbonne,
where she specialized in music, cinema and painting.
Her first album al-Jil al-Jadeed
was released in August 2002 (tracks 2-4 are chosen from
this album). Muwashah Ya Ghosna
Naqa is a new collaboration between Tania and Charbel
Rouhana (from Charbel's new album Vice Versa).
She also collaborated with a number of Lebanese musicians:
Issam Hajj Ali, Mihran Gurunian, Mounir Khawli, Iman Homsi,
Mazen Siblini, Emile Boustani, Roger Abi Akl, Ali al-Khatib,
Toni Anka and Tony Hanna.
Hasna
is a fine Moroccan singer who appeared suddenly on the
musical scene and in no time made it to the top with a
number of superb songs. Marsoul
El Hob is her latest song composed by the Moroccan
musician Abdel Wahab el-Doukali.
