Rest In Pease Salah Abdel Ghafour, Iraqi Legendary Singer And Intellectual

He sang in Arabic and Kurdish, this way he is very Iraqi. Not too many Iraqi singers have this kind of appeal, not only does both Arabic and Kurd love this talented and popular iconic singer, they have come to enjoy his singing in any language without regard to politics. His last album was recorded three years ago, and he has a number of unreleased tracks he has been working on. On his final days he spoke about the toxic mode in Arabia and the many tragedies that make it very hard to release new music.

Salah Abdel Ghafour is the folkloric Iraqi voice that gave Iraq one of its most hit songs that have come to define Iraqi music for decades, "Shlonak" This song of his is one of half a dozen songs the entire Iraqi nation knows like they know the back of their hands. He passed away in a tragic car accident in the Kurdish city of Erbil. One thing you need about him, even the Americans and other nationals have come to appreciate his music and his songs. Shlonak was later released in Turkey by a pop-folk singer ibrahim tatlises.

He has released 30 albums, he excelled in doing Iraqi styled songs as well as Folkloric dance songs. His first singing gig was when he was eight years old on the Iraqi TV and radio corporation he chose to perform songs of the mega Iraqi legend Nithem Al Ghazaly in 1961 "Rokin El Howa" Amateur Corner.

In 1973 he would join the national theater group and make his own path. In 1977 he want back to school to study music and composition where he learned to play the violin. He stayed in the music institute for six years perfecting his talent. He would become on of Iraq's finest voices for generations and would inspire droves of young Iraqis to make better music. He was the go to guy of Iraqi Maqam music 

To me, he was one of those artists who refused to objectify women and he spoke about it for a long time--he was very critical of sexualized music videos by many half baked Iraqi talents (for more about his opinions read here). He also released many sport songs for the national teams, and has sang for Palestine. A singer, an intellectual and patriot passes away in an accident, what's not an accident is his talent.


Shlonak - Salah Abdel Ghafour


صلاح عبد الغفور حلوة يالبغدادية.

Listen: "We Hacked You Tel-Aviv" Song Released اغنية هكرناكي يا اسرائيل علاء رضا

This is a random song by someone who has little talent yet he sings. His new song is about the anonymous hack operation at Israel. It's a current event song, that mentions even the striking prisoners. Alaa Reda has way too many lyrics for this song and his song is about bragging of the operation.

Do not know where to begin, this singer might be clueless about security systems but that did not stop him from singing about something very complicated. He does drop all kind of social media references and so on. I found this song worthy of being blogged about. President Obama even gets his names repeated in this all over the place song.

Sure the young people would find the track of interest. I do not really know what happened. alaa Reda is not the first to sing about this, but his song seems to have gone the farthest.

اغنية هكرناكي يا اسرائيل جديد علاء رضا 2013 الاغنية كاملة

Watch: This Random Egyptian Song أبو جريشة - اللي أنت شايفة

No idea who this guy is, but someone gave him a shot at making a music video that was supposed to be funny. Maybe it's meant for people with a different taste, but I do not get it. I understand it's meant to be a treat for people who like a little laughter at the expense of the common man of Egypt.

His name is Abu Greisha and he is one of the people. He wears sporty clothes, rides a bike and looks like one of those average people. He has half a dozen of kids whom are glued to him. The odd facotr is the appearance of good ball Sha'abi singer Sha'ban Abdel Rahim on the clip. Spot them as the leader of the neighborhood watch group.

The song is about making all the wrong decisions  he tells the subject of the song to go ahead and take another wrong call. Abo Greish is not star, but his voice is not as bad as some of those voices I have heard in the psst.

Abo Greisha - Elly Enta Shayfo / أبو جريشة - اللي أنت شايفة

SubeeTube Finds Comedy At Arabic Weddings Songs

Arabic weddings are a blast, too many random elements come together to create one odd party that has so much politics. I have poked fun of Arabic weddings before, but no one does a better job lampooning different wedding songs and dancing styles, like the kid in the video below

Khaliji songs are meant for shoulder dancing, Egyptian sha'abi songs are meant for the dudes, old ladies dance with hands and shoulders, young women do the hip thing. You really need to see this video and ejoy the jokes as the comedian tells them. He makes one find dancer.

The on camera person is Subhi Taha from SubeeTube, an American Palestinian from Texas, the land of natural humor. Spot on Subhi!

Arabic Weddings

The Fake Lady Meets The Scumbag Dude

His shoe has been called Almoolid, which is the Egyptian version of a country fair. They are often fun and help change any child's memory. He is Saad Al Soghayer and he happens to be Egypt's most dancing man and dirtiest too. He speaks from the gutter and pretends to be a real man where he is a dictator and everyone sucks up to him.

She is so plastic and has always been one dimension facade, self satisfied with a good voice and a shitty persona  She should have never acted in the first place. Dolly Chahine In my book she is that girl that had a really catchy song 7 years ago. She likes to take about her Brazilian Lebanese mix Now not sure what she offers.

Dolly appeared on Saad's show where he pledged to hit her if she did not listen to him and do what he asks her to do. He is wrong to say that and she is mistaken to give a low live a chance at being a TV host. This is a 2010 show that nobody has noticed until they got sued their year for copyright infrigment--there is a claim, that they show stole the idea from a poet Ahmed Abu El Footoh
دولى شاهين فى برنامج المولد 2011مع سعد الصغير

Video: Hassan & Boussy - Yalahwy Yamma / حسن و بوسي - يالهوي ياما

Egypt's poor man has finally settled on a diva, the poor man's diva is his voice, she does not speak fancy, she looks good, she is proud of her roots and she knows how to look the part. Egypt has been raving over a new Sha'abi music diva and her name is Boosy.

Boosy is the name you want in your movie if you wanted to attract people who do not have computer,s people who work menial jobs. People who do not speak languages and only know their residential area and not much beyond it. This is club music meant for poop people who only dance at street parties.

Since the Eid and she has starred in about 3 different music videos each with a unique song showcasing her talent, and her ability to stand toe to toe with other local folk grade singers popular with cab drivers. Her duet below shows her battling another local singer speaking street language and slang.

Really shame on those men and the way they dance and speak. Those songs create a hostile environment for ladies and fuel predators in public transportation   There is no honor in what they are doing, as for Boosy she is working the cards she has been dealt

Hassan & Boussy - Yalahwy Yamma / حسن و بوسي - يالهوي ياما

Yes, Let's Make Another Crappy Egyptian Song

You tongue is dripping almonds, your posture is like a banana, your cheek are apples. This is how the song starts, a guy harassing what looks like a lady. And then they wonder about the increased waves of sexual harassment in the streets. Blame such sleazy infest movies.

Women do not like a guy who dances like a clown spitting lines toward them about how good looking they are. So ban those types and maybe then you get your lowered rate of sexual harassment. The song in question is promotional song for "Abdo Mootah" a movie about gang-banger drug dealer who wants to get rich quick.

If your music video has a belly dancer, it will get views and this it will make money. If you want to promote a shitty movie, bring out the dancer and have a guy do one sh'abi style song. The worst part is when they put a talented female singer in this shitty song--she deserves more. Boosy can sing and has a happy voice and high energy.

محمود الليثى وبوسى حط ايده ياه من فيلم عبده موته

Syrian, Lebanese, Moroccan, Iraqi, Egyptian And Khaliji Song By Shatha

Shatha Hassoun is like a bridge, she is half Iraqi, half Moroccan. She bridges the Arab East and the Arab West. She works in between two cites, Beirut and Dubai. Now, here how she does it, a live appearance of hers where she sang in 8 minutes a song that covered most regional dialects and with it the musical styles.  

I must say, this is the first time I see an Arab star do such a stunt. She sounds just as fine in all those dialects. I do not know how much rehearsal she has had, but she seems to fly throw it flawlessly.
I love how she transitioned from one song into another with ease, she is good!

She knows how to party throughout Arabia. This is how good stuff is made! Live and lively indeed. Not sure how many other female songstress would be able to replicate such performance. A track that sums up Arabia in under 8 minutes! Party on

ميدلي غنائي عربي عراقي مغربي خليجي لبناني مصري سوري

This Video Is To Blame For Egypt's Troubles

There's a fad in Egypt they call folksy festivals. Auto-tuned voices of singers with little talent but a lot of personality recounting tales of life and crappy things they have seen. People living in poverty-stricken pockets of Cairo relate to those stories. Broke people who want to get married and party, hire those singers. Young people from that neighborhood and other ones as well show up to the wedding celebrating turning it to a block party--something they dub "Mahrgan"

Those people had to come up with a dance for their new muse. And I am not very impressed in what I saw, Egypt remains a male dominated societies. But to be a male is to be responsible, earn a living and be respectful. Not dance like a drunken. zombie.

These young people grinding on one another, got no jobs, live with their parents who buy them even their snappy hair gel. I do not even know how to classify this dance, martial art meets the robot man with a bit of Brazilian Capoeira.

رقص مهرجانات 2012

"سبل عيونه" One Palestine Song, Many Versions And Styles

There is no formal Palestinians song, if there is it has yet to be commercialized. There are many traditional wedding songs most Palestinians grow up listening to. They are written in our DNA and they live though us to the history of our ancestors and the land. Bless their hearts the village people for preserving the art form singing, they take their fun seriously.  

One classical Palestinians song about a guy on his wedding night, as they are getting ready to tattoo his hand with Henna. He is overjoyed and his eyes tell so many tales of his happy yet uncertain future. The song strikes a balance of happy and sad about the changes that happen.

I have included a dozen of version of the song where it comes in different singing styles and where different artists perform essentially y the same song.

اغاني العرس الفلسطيني - سبل عيونه


سبل عيونو شفيق كبها


ابراهيم صبيحات سبل عيونه


فرقة العاشقين - سبل عيونه

Oka w Ortega, The Egyptian Duo Making Poor Man's Music

There's a new singing form in the streets of Egypt, they are are called music festivals for Sha'abi music. They are a 100 percent auto-tune products. They make the songs sound weird....but there are to guys in Egypt who have been dubbed the force behind this kind of music.

The lyrics are  your average, sha'abi or folksy style. You do not have to go to school to process those words....they are straight talkers who call it as it is, no cultural filters. Take out the auto-tune and the song still sucks. Oka w Ortega have not made hit the jackpot and they have became celebrities. The video below was filmed in a TV appearance alongside the Syrian diva Asala who also hosts the show.  

Oka w Ortega used to headlight weddings, not they hold concerts and TV appearances, which might not sit well with their earlier fans. Their stage names do not maker any sense to me and sound like they are from Central America. I do not know if this singing style will last, it might be a fad. But as of this moment Oka and Oretga are the only stars we get.

Let me know what you think about this new art form.

Oka w Ortega | أوكا & أورتيجا - مهرجان " كبرتك علي سيدك " اصالة

The Sound Of Nineties vs. Eighties Pop

1990 was not a year where computers were used to make music, not in the Arab world anyway. But the music they made back then was a product of old school mixing and electric musical instruments that sounded cool back then. Such music is still hip to my ears. You can tell the 80s and 90s music right away.

It sounded like a bunch of cars trying to make music using only their horns. I am trying to say that the 90s pop music sounds like a perfect candidate for laser light shows. The song below is a remake of an old song by the dude of folksy music in Egypt---Ahmed Adawiya. Ahmed was not considered cool until 20 years later when our taste has changed.

The new voice belongs to Mamdooh Darwish, the music has been arranged by the guy who made the ear of the 80s and 90s pop possible--Hamid El Shari

والله ولعب الهوا -- ممدوح درويش


أحمد عدوية - والله و لعب الهوا

WATCH This Cool Egyptian Music Odyssey

Dude with a guitar in downtown, a singing lady in the balcony a family man in upper Egypt's Nuba sings, fishermen in in the Suez canal areas and their instrument. People in the country side at a wedding, old ladies singing. Urban kids of the city of Alexandria riding the train and rapping about being together.

People in those little villages standing in a fair and spitting ballad verses about their history. Sha'abi music festival in a block party and dueling microphones. The unlimited Sinai desert and its residence with their unique history.

This amazing and gorgeous video is about being together as people share the same land and they must get along. This is an example of a business bring people together while promoting their own brand and making a profit while telling people to stick together.
 All songs are in the local dialects played using the regional simple musical instrument of choice for that region
   أغنية موبينيل دايما مع بعض-Mobinil Ramadan song 2012 HD

The 70s Star Katkoot Al Amir Passes Away

He is no award winning artist. But he was a popular hit maker of the seventies and eighties, where he has starred in movies and singing in them folksy style that fits the slums. He had acted or appeared in at least nine movies and came in the Egypt's new policy of change under President Sadat. He was the Micro-bus star.

He was a night club star, beloved by many wealthy Arabs who brought their oil money to party in Egypt. He has a likable character and a happy voice made for parties and late night get together. He is credited to be the first link between the cinema industry and the poor people in the slums of Egypt and its mega cities.

He started as a drummer in a local band before he started signing. He had met Egypt's greatest composer Abdel Wahab who asked me to stop drumming and took it away to show off his own skills. Katkoot would sing simple words, the kind you hear in markets and the streets to bring joy into this world. He has passed away and survived by his family..

غزال الدرب الاحمر

Folksy Bosy, The Girl That Rocked Egypt's Slums

Bosy is a talented young Egyptian songstress who have chosen the folksy or sha'abi style as her go to style. That means she gets to record tons of songs for movies--mostly comedies. I find her very entertaining and actually capable of doing other styles if she wishes. I do not find myself too hot for such songs but a good voice is a good voice, the style cannot change that.

But there is no real work in classical songs, the real money in doing whatever the movie directors deem profitable. The guy who sings along her side is a clown, she is the real treat of the song as her voice hits all the right notes. She is meant to act all cute and play hard to get. But when she sings, you get to hear her talent. She has a happy voice that can fire up the masses and the party.

Not only does Bosy perform the movie's title song, she also acts in it along with the famed Egyptian dancer Dina. I believe this is not an ward wining role, but one that will keep the checks coming.



Akher Saytara - Bossy اخر سيطره - بوسى



اغنية بوسى حط أيده ياه من فيلم عبده موتة

Edward And Fifi Abdo Make A Lame Song اغنية فيفى عبده وادوارد - انا عندى شعرة

Edward is a guy you can hire for ten bucks to star in your movie. He does never say no to any movie role he gets offered  This time he joins with a has been Fifi Abdo for a comedy where the jokes are missing or the overused. Why do movie makers insist on ruining a good thing?

They are trying to appeal to the common man on the street be mimicking the poor man music known as "Mahraganat" So they hired half a dozen of actors who have starred in a movie "Game Over" with Yussra and Mai Eizdeen. The movie was lame, but made a lot of money. The title of this movie that released this week, "A New Mission In An Old Flick", I like the title, but I think the movie is a dud.

I do not know when will they stop making shitty movies, but I know when people do not buy ticksts to them, they do not make them anymore. I hate how we are supposed to laugh at weird people in Egyptian movie, we can laugh with the good looking one, but laugh at the ugly actor.

اغنية فيفى عبده وادوارد - انا عندى شعرة | توزيع فيجو

Egyptian Folksy Singer Amena Gets A Makeover كليب أمينة - إوعى تقول لحد 2012

She did not become a singer because of her looks, she did so because she has a bubbly personality, a good voice for folksy type songs and because guys do not intimidate her. Her name is Amena and she is one mighty lady that has been a force in Sha'abi music for some time now.

But it seems that Amena wants to branch out and enter a bigger pop game. She is gunning for romance and chick songs. She released this song earlier this year on a collection album put out by Melody. I thought it was a song. But a good song is nothing compared to the whole next sexy image Amena is back with. Amena is going on Turbo mode, she is upping the game to make the point, Egyptian songstress can be sexy too.

Let's see, new contact lenses, different eyelashes, a lot of makeup and creams, maybe a hair wig and I am loving it. She really looks natural for this clip and the set shows the viewer a different side of Amena. This is the same girl really but with an awesome makeover.

Guy is too busy doing his phone, not seeing the lady--she feels abandoned. The song is about swearing to take revenge on the guy. Still she has heart as she prepares to walk out, you can see her final act of kindness   It would be good to hear about Amena in concerts outside Egypt. She is an entertaining star and the media loves her.

 كليب أمينة - إوعى تقول لحد 2012 | Amena - Aw3a T2ol Lhd

Egypt, A 100 Days Of President Morsi Rule Song

Here's an effective song that showcases all the issues the Egyptian president has to confront. Very expensive cooking gas, car fuel is pricey, tomatoes is very expensive, Mango is cheap. Chicken is something most Egyptians can no longer afford.  Trash everywhere, terrorism and the Sinai peninsula. The Minister of interior is still the same, and democracy is no where to be seen. The song is the fruit of many young people's collaborating to evaluate the presidents' performance in his 100 days.

This is a fun song for the poor man, but it really states a large number of issues that he has to address and resolve. The song also flirts with the revolution and the change. I like this song it does not cross the line, they speak to Morsi like a peer--they do not do that often in most countries where dictators rule. There are so many challenges President Morsi has to address. I like the bit about social justice, and freedom in exchange for his rule.

I think people have to relax a little bit and give him a chance. You cannot invent an economy form thin air, and you cannot change the people. It's never a good idea to protest whenever we are feeling upset. Being disruptive is not even approved in most civilized nations.

‫اغنية كشف حساب للدكتور محمد مرسي‬‎