Simon Shaheen – The Music Of Mohamed Abdel Wahab (Zehra, 2022)
The Music of Mohamed Abdel Wahab is a remastered reissue of one of Simon Shaheen‘s finest works. Simon Shaheen is an acclaimed multi-instrumentalist and composer based in the United States.
On The Music of Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Simon Shaheen delivers stellar solo performances on oud, violin and viola as well as masterfully crafted interplay with a string orchestra and a superb ensemble of top instrumentalists who perform a wide range of Arabic and western musical instruments, including an irresistible layer of percussion.
The Egyptian artist Mohamed Abdel Wahab (1902-1991) was a major star in Middle Eastern entertainment. He was a highly talented singer, actor and composer and is regarded as “the father of modern Egyptian song”.
After a visit to Paris, Mohamed Abdel Wahab revolutionized the Middle Eastern movie industry by introducing the genre “musical film” to the Arabic world. The movie “The White Rose” in which he
starred broke all records and to this day is frequently presented in Cairo’s movie theaters.
In 1950, Wahab left the film industry to dedicate his time to singing and composing. Indeed, he wrote over 1800 songs (among others for the legendary Umm Kulthum, an iconic artist in the Arabic music in her own right) that were deeply grounded in classical Arabic music. However, Wahab also developed the groundwork for a new era of Egyptian music as he was open to Western musical elements such as waltz rhythms or even rock music in Abdel Halim Hafez’s song “Ya Albi Ya Khali”.
Wahab also composed several national anthems (Tunisia, Oman, Libya, United Arabic Emirates) and re-composed the Egyptian national anthem “Belady Belady Belady”, based on the original by Sayed Darwish.
Additinally, Wahab received several decorations of Arabic states, and at his death in 1991, Egypt honored its famous son with a huge military funeral at the Rabia al-Adawiya Mosque in Cairo. The six-horse carriage procession carrying his coffin was actually led by the prime and foreign ministers, followed by the ministers of defense, interior and culture.
The Music of Mohamed Abdel Wahab was originally released in 1990 on Axiom, the record label
created by influetial producer and bass player Bill Laswell.
The lineup includes Simon Shaheen on oud, violin, viola and chorus; Najib Shaheen on oud; Sheikh Taha on accordion; Anton Hajjar on ney; Paula Bing on flute; Ramzi Bisharat on tabla; Hanna Mirhige on mizhar; Michael Baklouk on daff; Bobby Farah on sagat; Ibrahim Salman on qanun; Artemis Theodos, Gabriel Palka, Nessim Dakwar, and Kamil Shajrawi on violin; Mike Richmond on double bass; Michael Finkel and Vladimir Greenberg on cello; Laura Shaheen, Louise Salman, Maurice Chedid, Nermine Rawi, and Youssef Kassab on chorus.
More about Simon Shaheen.
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.